Local swimming trio tackle Mediterranean

The trio of swimmers who never say die have done it again.

Jose de Charmoy, Andrew Stevens and Mike Oberholzer crossed the 17km Bonafacio Strait from Corsica to Sardinia in the Mediterranean on Saturday.

Originally aiming for a time of about six hours, the three swimmers motored through the dangerous currents to finish in five hours, 17 minutes.

“After four years of dreaming and planning, it all became a reality,” said De Charmoy.

The three have a history of entering the ocean for long distance swims.They have swum the five or six kilometres from Salt Rock to Clarke Bay and Salmon Bay a few times and the 12km from Tinley Manor to Clarke Bay in Ballito, and the longest one, 20km from Perth to Rottnest Island off Australia.

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“We also swam 8km from the island of Coin De Mire to the mainland of Mauritius, which earned us more than a few funny looks from locals who thought we had a death wish,” said De Charmoy.

For this latest swim, they almost had to give up due to bad conditions.

“We had a five day window period and on the fourth day, while conditions were still not favourable we had no option but to swim as the weather would deteriorate further and the currents – which are notoriously dangerous – would become more adverse.”

Fortunately, all went off without a hitch and the three men completed their epic swim.

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