Speedo Robben Island Escape December 2020 (Page 3)

Speedo Robben Island Escape December 2020:

The December 2020 version of the Robben Island Escape started with the usual nervous boat boarding for the shuttle to Robben Island at 6:00 am. Below perfectly clear skies, the sun that promised a pleasantly warm day was only now popping the top of its lazy head over the horizon.
All of this belied the unseen preparations behind the scenes that had seen the boat skippers crawling out of bed at 3:30 am to get the safety team in place.

Half an hour later the 16 swimmers had swum to shore and were touching the rocks at Robben Island, which signified the symbolic starting of their stopwatches before setting off on the 7.2 km swim to Big Bay. Water temps held constant between 13 to 14 degrees, but a wall of mist was rolling in. In the old days before GPS, the mist was a major danger, but nowadays its more of an inconvenience.

Derrick Frazer head honcho of event organising company Big Bay Events has done many hundreds of these crossings, and he was constantantly shuttling between all of the chaperone boats ensuring that skippers and swimmers were on course. How he manages to find 7 boats spread over 7.2km in almost zero visibility is quite beyond me, but there was no drama or panic, just another normal day at the office. I know its not luck because I have seen him do it often.

Half an hour later the mist was gone leaving a glaring haze behind that made photography challenging but very rewarding.

Highlights of this swim were a couple of Ocean Sunfish sightings and the usual dolphins popping in for a quick hello.

If you want to get into open water swimming, Speedo the event sponsors are running clinics in conjunction with top SA swimmer Michelle Weber. Read about them here, or jump ahead and book for the January course here.

I also have other blog posts on swimming which you can read here and a portfolio of my fave images on the portfolio page.

Robben Island Escape

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In: adventure, endurance sport, Swimming

Speedo Robben Island Escape December 2020: The December 2020 version of the Robben Island Escape started with the usual nervous boat boarding for the shuttle to Robben Island at 6:00 am. Below perfectly clear skies, the sun that promised a pleasantly warm day was only now popping the top of its lazy head over the horizon. All of this belied the unseen preparations behind the scenes that had seen the boat skippers crawling out of bed at 3:30 am toClick to read more and to see the event image gallery

IRONMAN South Africa

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In: IRONMAN, Triathlon

IRONMAN SOUTH AFRICA MEDIA STATEMENT PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa – After a challenging 2020 which saw numerous sporting events cancelled around the world, the IRONMAN South Africa team has been hard at work in making sure athletes can return to the race courses in 2021 in a safe and enjoyable manner. IRONMAN’s Safe Return to Racing guidelines will apply to all 2021 IRONMAN South Africa events and will be at the core as our team continues to develop and refine operational plansClick to read more and to see the event image gallery

Sox Trail Run

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In: adventure, Trail Running

Sox Trail Run: The SOX Trail Run is known as the most diverse 3-day trail run in South Africa and takes place in the Garden Route, with 90% of the route laid out within the South Africa National Park’s protected property. You will run on pristine hiking trails in the mountain on day one, experience the tranquillity of our lush, indigenous forest on day two and end off, with day three, along the stunning coastline of the Garden Route. TraditionallyClick to read more and to see the event image gallery

Tygerberg Mountain Bike Club

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In: Cycling, Mountain Bike

Tygerberg Mountain Bike Club: Annual Number Auction. Once a year the Tygerberg Mountain Bike Club (TMBC) has an annual auction of bike board numbers to raise funds for the Volunteer Wildfire Services. This is always preceded by an evening ride on the trails at the Bloemendal Trail Park near Durbanville. This year over R50k was raised for VWS and the club has kicked in an additional amount to make a sizeable donation. With over 120km of singletrack under their controlClick to read more and to see the event image gallery

Blooming Trail Run At Beautiful L'Avenir Wine Estate Nov 2020

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In: Trail Running

The Blooming Trail Run presented by Dirtopia at the beautiful L’Avenir Wine Estate & Country Lodge outside Stellenbosch is held every year at the end of November. It is always a reminder that the year is coming to an end. The vineyards are still bright and green yet the grasses are turning yellow-brown as the summer sun gets stronger by the day. If you want more details on future Dirtopia events then click here:  http://www.dirtopia.co.za Checkout my Trailrunning portfolio here: TrailClick to read more and to see the event image gallery

PPA, Double,century, heat

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In: Cycling, endurance sport

Brutaly high temperatures led to heat and strong winds being the order of the day at the 2020 PPA Double Century. Based in the town of Swellendam, the race meanders around Barrydale, Montague and Robertson before winding its way tortuously back to the finish via a series of 3 brutal hills known as the 3 maidens. It got so hot that at 1:00pm when the mercury officially hit 36 degrees C, while some cycle computers were showing in the midClick to read more and to see the event image gallery

A Gloriously Wet and Muddy Western Cape XCO MTB Series #3

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In: Cycling, endurance sport, Mountain Bike

This WC XCO race can only be described as a  very wet and muddy affair. These images were taken at an event and in a location that should have been a dry dustbowl in mid-October. The rain gods of Elgin had other ideas, however, producing a non-stop deluge of water here in the Western Cape for the entire week preceding the race. As a photographer, I love this kind of stuff because even though it makes it incredibly hard toClick to read more and to see the event image gallery

Speedo, open water,elgin,swimming

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In: adventure, endurance sport, Swimming

I was lucky enough to be asked to shoot the Speedo open water swim clinic at Elgin River Lodge near Grabouw. The day was a fund raiser to help get Olympic open water swimmer Michelle Weber to the 2021 Olympic Games. Participants learnt some skills and techniques from Michelle and had a practical session in the chilly Palmiet River, which due to a good rain season is full to the brim. Big Bay Events were as usual on hand toClick to read more and to see the event image gallery

photograph a dolphin

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In: adventure, endurance sport, Swimming

The Speedo Robben Island Escape Open Water Swim Event has been created to provide both, novice and experienced swimmers, with the opportunity to tick off that bucket list swim – the Robben Island crossing, while participating in a formal event. This open water swim covers a distance of approximately 7.4km from Robben Island to Big Bay, an iconic swim with a backdrop like none other. The event runs monthly from October to June every year accommodating one group of 10-15Click to read more and to see the event image gallery

South African XCO Mountain Bike Championships 2020. MTB

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In: Cycling, endurance sport, Mountain Bike

After a year of chaos, compliments of Corona, we finally kicked off the 2020 MTB season at the Computer Mania South African XCO Mountain Bike championships at Coetzenberg outside Stellenbosch. It may have been a field limited to just a few categories, and not everyone could make it at short notice, but it was a great success. Alan Hatherly and Mariska Straus won the Elite categories in the men’s and women’s categories. Luke Moir proved his sporting pedigree by beingClick to read more and to see the event image gallery