Six cold-water veterans and up to 30 other extreme swimmers are set for one of the coldest swims in Africa - a plunge into an icy dam near Sutherland in mid winter.
Taking part in the first Speedo Ice Swim Africa on July 17, and wearing only Speedo costumes, caps and goggles, the six veterans - who include world record holders Ram Barkai and Theodore Yach - will attempt to swim a mile (1.6) in a bone-chilling dam in Fraserburg, near Sutherland - one of the coldest regions in South Africa. The dam temperature is expected to be around 5?C at the time.
Fraserburg is a five-hour drive from Cape Town.
Barkai, who holds a Guinness World Record for having undertaken the world's most southerly swim - a kilometre in an icy lake at 1°C in Antarctica in 2008 - came up with the idea because he wants to do an "ice" swim, at five degrees or below, on every continent.
Barkai said: "People told me that I would have diffi-culty finding such a dam to do an ice swim in Africa. I thought about Lesotho, but the logistics were complicated. I did research and came up with Fraserburg - a place most people have probably never heard of."
He visited the dam and made sure it was big enough to do a mile swim in.
He then invited five of his "hardcore and crazy mates" to do the swim with him.
They are Theodore Yach, who holds the record for the most swims to Robben Island; Andrew Chin, who led a team of swimmers in a relay down the entire length of the Orange River; Ryan Stramrood and Kieron Palframan, who have both swum the 34km English Channel; and Toks Viviers, a veteran Robben Island swimmer who swam around a remote Alaskan island with Barkai, Chin, Stramrood and Palframan, last year.
All of them are regular participants in the annual extreme 7.5km Cadiz Freedom Swim from Robben Island to Blouberg.
In addition to the mile, 30 other newcomers to "ice" swimming will attempt a shorter endurance swim of 600m in Fraserburg's Nuwedam. Both swims are set for the coldest time of the year in the area, with temperatures plummeting to -10°C or below at night.
Barkai said all the swimmers would need a recent medical certificate of fitness and would be vetted by a swim committee because of the real risk of hypothermia. All participants will require regular cold water training.
"This is not just a swim and then some hot chocolate afterwards. There is serious risk involved," said Barkai, who has started an Ice Swimming Association for swimmers who have done a mile-long swim in water 5?C and below.
A medical tent with an ICU facility will be set up beside the dam with doctors and nurses treating swimmers as they emerge.
There are no hot showers near the dam, which is several kilometres away from Fraserburg, so organisers are improvising to ensure swimmers are able to thaw out.
Barkai said the key to succeeding in the ice swim was mental: "It's all in the mind. Most of the time we are the main obstacle in doing things we never thought possible. So let yourself do the impossible. But respect the challenge and prepare yourself. It will be a cool event."