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Robben Island
This is the iconic swim to do in Cape Town, and offers a number of variations. You can swim to Blouberg Beach or Three Anchor Bay, or round the Island or any combination there...
read moreDassen Island
The Dassen Island swim is similar, albeit slightly longer, than the Robben Island swim. A straight line from island to the coast in chilly water. Dassen Island is situate...
read moreDanger Point
Danger Point, about 2 hours drive from Cape Town, is situated on the Southern point of Walker Bay near the village of Gansbaai, the world capital of Great White Shark diving w...
read moreCape Point
Cape Point is the southern-most point of the Cape Peninsula and the de facto meeting place for the cold Atlantic and warm Indian oceans. Treacherous seas, rocky cliffs with fe...
read moreFalse Bay
False Bay is a natural bay that stretches along the peninsula's eastern coastline from the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve at Cape Point to Cape Hangklip. It was named &q...
read moreAtlantic Coast & Other
Below is a list of other notable long distance swims around the Cape. These are mostly one-off swims that have only been done by a handful of swimmers, and for which no offici...
read morePeter Bales
Peter Bales, one of the founding members of the Cape Long Distance Swimming Association (CLDSA), is one of those legends of the sport whose personality, energy and dedication have been greatly appreciated by generations of swimmers.
Bales is now 73 years old and is still swimming and piloting with gusto. Piloting since 1969, Bales and Tucker have escorted approximately 250 swimmers between Robben Island and Cape Town over the past 45 years.
Bales is the chairman CLDSA, the official body to officiate over solo swims in Cape Town waters in South Africa and elsewhere in the country on request. Bales helped co-found the governing body together with Dennis Pearson, Coenie van Eyssen, Frank Nielsen, John Pagden and John Whitmore.
Virtually every record swim documented by the Cape Long Distance Swimming Association was piloted by either himself or Hugh Tucker. But along with the fast records swims have come others on the opposite end of the spectrum. He has piloted for people like Tony Scalabrino, another pilot who swam from Robben Island to Blouberg in 7 hours 15 minutes and Lydia Goldswain who suffers from spastic diplegia and swam in just over 5 hours for the 7.4 km Robben Island to Bloubergstrand swim.
Bales has been a steady eye throughout all his swim. Fortunately, rescues have been few and far between, but his skills and quick actions have helped prevent tragedies from happening. "Dr Derek Yach was attempting a double 22 km Robben Island-to-Three Anchor Bay swim," recalls Theodore Yach. "A Great White emerged next to him on the return trip approximately 400 meters from the end of his second leg. He attempted again on the next weekend, but was again ...

Peter Bales - 48 years as chairman of the Cape Long Distance Sea Swimming Association After forty eight years at the helm of the Cape Long Distance Swimming Association, a body he co-founded...
Blog by Hugh Tucker Swimmer in Hall of Fame 2017-12-12 06:00 Nicole Mccain @Nickymccain People's Post Fish Hoek resident Hugh Tucker was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming...
A Robben Island Swim Report by David Jones After around two years of building up the courage and a great deal of convincing from my Guide the time was finally near. Is this a small task? Yes, fo...









