Summer is made for water sport, but “ice swimming” may remain the domain of a select set of superhero swimmers. Jacques Marais freezes his butt off while trying his best to get into the erm… swim of things.

You certainly need some kind of superpower to survive the annual Speedo Ice Swim Africa, and it seems the guys in the Rooikat Bar in Sutherland have just the solution. “Old Brown Sherry, and lots of it,” mumbles a guy with a beard big enough to hide a badger while he pours himself a liberal tot.

The fact that he won’t be taking part in the endurance swim in the morning seems well lost on him, but there’s no point in taking issue with him. It’s Saturday night in the middle of as near to nowhere as you can get, and despite both the roaring fire and liberal application of various alcoholic beverages, one wouldn’t have been surprised if a polar bear popped its head around the bar-room door just then. We eventually manage to dodge the local bonhomie and adjourn to the freezer masquerading as our room in this charming old hotel in the centre of the Village of Stars. The swimmers I’m here to shoot have already trekked further into the Karoo and are currently bunkered down in Fraserburg, a town rumoured to be even colder than the infamous Sutherland.

Daylight sees us cruising a meandering gravel strip through stunted scrubland punctuated by the occasional contorted thorn tree, with the temperature gauge on the Jeep registering at a mean -8°C. When we get there, the dam itself is ringed with ice and cloaked in mist rising up from the freezing water.

Ram Barkai, chairperson of the International Ice Swimming Association and all-round main dude, ventures into the water with a giant thermometer to test the temperature (or lack thereof) while the other swimmers huddle around the medical tent. The locals are out in full force as well, and there’s a bit of a festival atmosphere as they set up their braais and blankets in anticipation of the suffer fest that will play out here on Nuwedam.

Word of the first Speedo Ice Swim Africa has obviously spread, and I’m sure informal bets are doing the rounds as to the survival of the 30-odd swimmers. Six of them plan to swim a mile, and they watch the red line anxiously as Barkai submerges the thermometer in the water. This hovers at around 3°C for a few seconds, and then slowly creeps up to 4°C … Brrr!

I slip into my surfing wetsuit, cursing under my breath for leaving my booties behind, and take up position with my waterproof camera near one of the buoys. “Think like a polar bear,” I think to myself, but all to no avail. My breathing goes totally erratic, my toes turn into ice blocks, and certain inviolable parts of my anatomy decide to migrate as far north as is physiologically possible.

The half-mile swimmers set off first, batched into groups of six to ensure that the Medi-Clinic teams and rescue personnel are fully able to deal with any critical emergencies. They survive the ordeal, but you can see the conditions taking their toll as they stumble, unable to talk, into the medical tent in order to be ‘defrosted’.

While I wait for the mile swimmers to put their bodies on the line, I char-grill my feet over the fire drums set up around the dam’s edge. The “big six” are all established aquatic action men – Ram Barkai, Toks Viviers, Kieron Palframan, Andrew Chin, Ryan Stramrood and Theodore Yach – and they’ll be in the water for a minimum of 30 minutes.

In this time, their core temperature will drop by several degrees, and if this isn’t monitored, it can very easily lead to life-threatening hypothermia. This is cold that bites to the bone, and the medical personnel in the super-heated tent will measure the temperature of each swimmer as they emerge from the water.

According to Theodore Yach, who’s completed near-impossible swims such as the 30km Three Anchor Bay to Robben Island crossing, the Speedo Ice Swim Africa redefines “extreme”.

“This verges on the very outer limits of what the human body can endure,” he shivers after the mile, “and it will take a team of wild horses to get me back in the waters of Nuwedam!”

Check out www.speedoiceswim.co.za for more information on cold-water swimming.

Ice swimming 101

Licensed to swim: All six the mile swimmers became honorary members of the International Ice Swimming Association. You can too – all you have to do is swim a mile in water colder than 5°C! And with Fraserburg now on the international swimming calendar, you can be there next year to make sure you add your name to the honour roll…

Get the picture: Okay, not that easy… To get up close and personal, you’ll need a waterproof camera or housing for your DSLR. Plus, you better make sure you have a wet suit and booties to ensure you don’t die while trying to get the shot. If you have a long lens, it’s possible to shoot from the water’s edge, but make sure you position the sun behind or to the side to avoid reflections.

Cold squad: The cold Western Cape waters offer prospective “ice swimmers” the perfect opportunity to face fears, and every weekend increasing numbers of superheroes push the envelope by taking to the icy Atlantic. Camps Bay on any given Sunday morning, usually from 9am, will see groups of between 20 and 100 swimmers braving temperatures as low as 9°C. This is excellent training for the annual 7.5km Cadiz Freedom Swim to Robben Island on 7 May.

Going beyond: South Africans are fast developing a reputation as ice-swimming pioneers in temperatures below 5°C. Currently, five local swimmers are in Patagonia attempting three of the world’s most challenging cold-water swims during a two-week window. Ram Barkai, Toks Viviers, Andrew Chin, Ryan Stramrood and Kieron Palframan will attempt crossings of the 5km Strait of Magellan, the 2km Beagle Channel and a world-first mile swim around Cape Horn – all in temperatures as low as 3°C. Check out www.facebook.com/patagoniaswim for more details.

The best time of year: Winter – need I say more? Cold-water swimming, however, can be practised year round, but care should be taken to only do it if you’re an experienced open-water swimmer and when weather conditions are beneficial to your swim.
SA’s top five swims: These are the events to go and check out once you’ve honed your aquatic skills. These are not all cold-water swims but rather represent South African swimming events that have become internationally renowned.
1. Midmar Mile: www.midmarmile.co.za

2. Cadiz Freedom Swim: www.freedomswim.co.za

3. Speedo Africa Ice Swim www.speedoiceswim.co.za

4. Nelson Mandela Bay Bell Buoy Challenge: www.bellbuoychallenge.co.za

5. SA International Invitational Championships: www.swimsa.org