DURBAN – South African endurance athlete Sarah Ferguson began her 1 500km swim from Durban to Cape Town this week.
The swim will be done in stages and Ferguson aims to raise awareness about the impact of consumers on the oceans, and to highlight issues such as plastic pollution, shark protection and chemical pollution, amongst other things.
Ferguson, who is a Guinness World Record holder, is scheduled to undertake the swim over a period of a year.
Speaking on day three of her swim on Wednesday, Ferguson said she was happy with the progress made so far.
“We have had to be quite conservative because we had to contend with challenging currents.
“So we spent quite a lot of time in the boat yesterday and today trying to find the right current to try and swim, but overall I am happy,” said Ferguson.
Ferguson said that she aims to swim a fair number of kilometres daily, which she said was dependent on the conditions.
“It really depends on the day and on the conditions.
“I am hoping to spend four to five hours a day in the water as we haven’t managed to do that in the last two days because of currents and stuff.
“If I do four to five hours a day and I get a really good current, I should cover anything between fifteen and 25km,” she added.
Speaking on the pollution that she already seen during her swims, Ferguson said she saw several chips packets on her first day.
Ferguson called on people to change their behaviours in order to stop the polluting of the oceans.
“I just would like to encourage everyone to rethink their use of single-use plastic.
“One decision at a time and if everyone makes one change, we are going to make a big difference over time,” Ferguson said.
THE MERCURY