Simon Ince conquers the treacherous False Bay crossing

Cape Town - After 10 hours 42 minutes, Simon Ince, 62, touched the rocky shores of Rooi-Els and stood to claim the official title of the oldest person, and the eighth person, to successfully swim the 34km False Bay crossing.

The False Bay crossing starts at Miller’s Point and ends at Rooi-Els.

Born and raised in Somerset West, Ince said that he would like to raise funds for the Tygerberg Children's Hospital and the Red Cross to assist the children who have to spend long periods in hospitals without their parents close by.

He started his training by first completing 10km open-water swims and graduated to 12km and 20km swims in Langebaan.

“About seven years ago, on my 55th birthday, I finished my first 7.5km Robben Island crossing. This sparked the idea of swimming across False Bay. At that time many of my fellow swimmers were talking about swimming the English Channel (34km) at a cost of about R150 000. As I had grown up in Somerset West and had spent time spearfishing and life-saved in False Bay, I then asked the question, why not swim in your own country before trying to complete swims in the UK?

“When I looked at the records of the False Bay crossings, only seven people had successfully completed the distance and had swum in skins (costume, goggles and swimming cap only). I soon realise that if I swam it, then I could be the oldest person to swim the crossing and could also be eligible for a Guinness Book of Records,” he said.

He said that he began the swim departing from Miller’s Point and swam towards Rooi-Els over the dreaded Whittle Rock, which is famous for great white sharks. Fortunately, the water temperature was a cold 13.5ºC on the day and the sharks stayed away.

Ince has just started the fund-raiser and aims to raise up to R25 000.

Ryan Stramrood is currently the fastest person to swim and complete the one-way False Bay stretch in 8 hours 39 minutes 50 seconds, which he achieved on March 18 last year. His record has since been ratified by the Cape Long Distance Swimming Association and the False Bay Swimming Association.

Weekend Argus