At sunrise on 2 December Research Vessel, Angra Pequena was the base for twenty-one swimmers and a 24 strong support team guiding them to the mighty Agulhas Current about 20km offshore from Park Rynie – to swim to Port Edward in a bid to break a world record fast 100km swim and create awareness about the decreasing number of sharks in our oceans.
Captained by WILDOCEANS’ Executive Director, Dr Jean Harris, the RV Angra Pequena was the mother vessel for the Great Shark Swim – the Madswimmer series. The RV Angra Pequena escorted and sheltered the swimmers as they made their way over the Agulhas Current, one of the fastest currents in the world. The swimmers plunged in waters with no shark protection making a strong conservation statement about shark behaviour and the species endangerment.
Founder of Madswimmer, Jean Craven explains: “We were at the mercy of nature. Weather-wise no one could predict 6 months in advance the best day to swim. Above all, the current speed varies and can change over-night. We knew from the start that we would need both good weather and a fast current on the day to attempt a record like this. Meanwhile my team had to plan as if the swim was 100% certain to go ahead on the set date. We allowed a one-week window period from the 2nd to the 8th. Swimmers from as far as Israel and Spain booked out time to be available over the full period”
On 28 November the team was warned that a Durban Eddy, and possibly, a developing Natal Pulse, was causing a reverse current. By 1 December the current was moving in the right direction again but at a slack pace of 0.6 knots/h. The swimmers needed a minimum of 2.2 knots to attempt the record. The possibility of better conditions were too uncertain later in the week and waiting meant that Madswimmer may have had to forfeit the swim altogether, if elements didn’t align and they ran out of time.
Although not what they hoped for a year ago when the idea of the swim was born, when the swimmers got word at 3am on the 2nd of December that the current speed had increased to 1.5 knots it was the green light to make the best of this once in a lifetime opportunity to swim in shark infested waters, unprotected, in the usually fast Agulhas Current to add amplify their message on shark protection.
By doing the Great Shark Swim, Madswimmer hoped to open debate, inform and expand the strategic placement of Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) such as Protea Banks, through which the swimmers planned to swim. The Protea Banks is known to have many different offshore habitats and species which are found both on the seabed and in the water column and as a result, the area has been identified as part of the Phakisa Marine Protected Area network. This reef system attracts many important line-fish species as well as large numbers of sharks and rays. Further offshore of the Protea Banks are a number of deep submarine canyons with contain important deep reef habitats including cold water coral ecosystems. At least seven different shark species are known to aggregate in the area, including hammerheads, bull and tiger sharks which attract many divers to the area.
Whilst in the water, none of the swimmers encountered a shark attack. Although, according to Dr Harris, the swim was stopped in the afternoon when the group encountered many blue-bottles causing them to be stung badly. The doctor and medics treated them at sea and all were all well enough to return to shore in the small boats they were passengers on.
“Unfortunately there was near-zero southerly current (due to a suspected Natal pulse) and they did not complete their goal, but did swim a considerable distance – about 30kms,” explains Harris.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)