The Vaal
River rises in eastern South Africa and flows about
1,207km (750 miles) southwest to the Orange River.
It has 5 dams and is the largest tributary of the Orange
River in South Africa. It is basically a plateau
river and occupies a shallow bed with fresh water and no
currents.
Much appreciation to
Malcolm Hall, a former South African living in Australia,
who did all the organising from late November, 2004, to
March, 2005, prior to my swim. He did an enormous
amount of phoning and emailing with his mates from
Johannesberg, South Africa, to accommodate us, drive us
all around, drive the boat and time keep.
My 25km swim started at a
dam known as The Barrage in an area known as Millionaires
Bend, swimming 13kms away toward a dam area known as
Lochvaal and swimming 12kms back. Saturday, March
26, 2005, was Easter weekend; and there were many speed
boats, water skiers and party boats enjoying the river.
I started the swim at 8am
with my support crew. Narelle Simpson, my coach, and
Matt Logan, my personal trainer, traveled with me from
Australia to South Africa. Malcolm and his mates from
Johannasberg, Stan Wallace, boat driver, Neil Powell,
official timekeeper, and Colin Simpkin rounded out my
crew.
I anticipated the swim
would take about 8 hours; however, I had never experienced
swimming in a fresh water river without currents.
Also, the speed boats made it difficult at times for me to
hear whistle blow directions.
It was an all day swim with
many drink breaks with gues mixed in along with magnificent
words of coaching and encouragement from Narelle and
Matt.
After swimming 10 hours and 47 minutes, I made
it back to the Barrage in the dark, a sore but happy person
that I completed a 25km swim in the continent of South
Africa.
Thank you to
all who helped me both on the day and leading up to it.
