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MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Rumé Weeks (37), born and bred in Mossel Bay, swam from Robben Island to Bloubergstrand on Tuesday, 12 March.
Overjoyed, Rumé told Mossel Bay Advertiser: "It was incredible. What was amazing today was that we caught the sunrise. We met at the Waterfront and took a boat to Robben Island. We were in the water by 06:30, so as the sun came up at 06:40, we were already swimming."
Rumé, who lives in Cape Town, is the daughter of Altus and Shirley Coetzee, long-time Mossel Bay residents.
Shirley had a career at Mossel Bay Advertiser spanning 30 years. She was the sales manager when she retired in January 2018.
Park Primary School
Rumé, who swam while at Park Primary School and Point High, is part of the Cape Multisport Club (CMC).
Members of the club did the Mossel Bay Ironman in November last year.
The club has a large swimming contingent, with some highly accomplished open water swimmers, Rumé explains.
One group of 10 did the Robben Island to Bloubergstrand swim on Friday, 8 March, and the other group of eight, including Rumé, did it on 12 March.
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She said there should have been nine who completed the swim on 12 March, but one of her group pulled out during the swim because she got seasick.
Rumé said: "We train all the time for triathlons, but we went on an additional programme, where we focused on swimming.
"I swim twice a week, but for this we swam four times a week, usually three times in the pool and once in open water, because the open water conditions are very different."
Rumé's sports wristwatch recorded that she swam 7.57km. It took two hours, 23 minutes.
Support boat
She said one is not allowed to touch the support boat. "You are disqualified if you do. The main concern is the cold, but we got lucky. The water temperature was 16°C. It's often 14 and if it's under 12, you're not allowed to swim.
“There is one boat for every two swimmers. Every 30 minutes you hold your bottle up to your skipper and he fills it and throws it back to you and you swim again. He has snacks and carbohydrate mix drinks."
Rumé said that if you become disoriented or do not seem well, the skipper speaks to you and asks questions, assessing if you should stop the swim.
The swim is called the Island Escape and is hosted by Big Bay Events.
Rumé said: "They are just so awesome. Our skipper was hilarious. Every now and then he said: 'Hey girl, you're looking fine.'"
Double crossing
The most remarkable feat of the day was one swimmer doing a double crossing, without a wetsuit.
Paediatrician, Dr Andro Theart (50), who frequently holidays in Mossel Bay, swam twice to Robben Island and back, a distance of about 15.2km, in a Speedo.
"While we were swimming from the island, he was swimming back again and he is the only one in our club who has done that," Rumé exclaimed.
With a laugh, she said she and her swimming partner Annemarie Kropman were "gloating and bragging" about their achievement, when Andro arrived and said he had done it twice.
"We had a great group," Rumé said.
"You have to swim with a partner who swims at the same pace. You can't hang on to someone who swims faster than you. You do pre-swim tests to make sure you are suited to swim together."
Rumé's friend, Lauren Turnbull, also did the swim, but with different partners, because they swim at different paces.
"We used to only run but then we entered for the Mossel Bay Ironman last year so Lauren had to start swimming from scratch and I had to buy a bike."
After the Ironman their next challenge was the Island Escape.
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