Trio take on Dolphin Coast 12km swim

A trio of dauntless gentlemen are taking on an epic swim to raise awareness of the plight of our oceans and support the North Coast Courier Orphan Fund.

Salt Rock’s Jose de Charmoy, Ballito’s Mike Oberholzer and former local Andrew Stevens will test themselves against the mighty Indian Ocean when they swim 12km from Tinley Manor Beach to Clarke Bay in Ballito next Wednesday.

The swim is scheduled to start at 7am and they expect to finish within 4/5 hours.

They are appealing to the community to sponsor the never-before attempted swim.

Banking details for donations and sponsorships are below.

A meeting was held yesterday (Wednesday) to finalise certain details such as safety and support – both from the sea and air – preparations for possible sharks and currents, emergency response plans in case the worst should happen and more.

De Charmoy told The Courier that this was hardly the first long distance swim that they had tackled, but that it was certainly going to be a challenge.

“It is important for people to understand that we are not daredevils, these kinds of swims are very dangerous and we have been in contact with the Shark’s Board and rescue services to make sure that we do this as safely as possible.

“We have tackled a few open water swims like this – we have made it from Perth to Rott Nest Island, which was 20km, and have swum the five or six kilometres from Salt Rock to Willard Beach a few times as well as the 5,5km Four Elements Ocean challenge .

“We also swam from Mauritius to the island of Coin De Mire, which earned us more than a few funny looks from locals who thought we had a death wish.”

“A swim like this does not just happen without the input of many people. To that end we would like to thank Steve Honeyset, Peter Striker, Robin Heenan, Paul Herbst, Dennis Fortune and Quentin Power and the whole SRU team for all the input they have all had and the help they are giving us.”

If you would like to sponsor these three fearless gentlemen in their challenging swim, make a donation to The North Coast Courier Orphan Fund by transferring funds to ABSA account 9109 572 488, branch code 630229 with the reference 12km swim.

Stay tuned to the North Coast Courier for updates on their progress on the day and live videos of the three pitting themselves against the elements.