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Sarah Ferguson Picture: CRIT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS
Sarah Ferguson  Picture: CRIT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS

Last Sunday saw a sea of runners take to the road between Pietermaritzburg and Durban for the annual Comrades Marathon — just a day after hundreds of passionate people had taken to the sea off Durban for the noble cause of conservation.

Sunday, June 8, was World Ocean Day but here in SA it was Sarah Ferguson’s Breathe World Ocean Day as she championed the cause to save the planet’s oceans and keep them free of plastic pollution.

The event was staged on Saturday because Comrades was held on Sunday and it gave breathing space in case of bad weather or sea conditions.

The day saw a record number of participants, just under 450.

Featuring events over distances from 800m, through a one-mile, two-mile and culminating with 5km events, the most challenging being won by Matthew Pelser and Tayla Bruce, with Ferguson still competitive enough to take a podium place.

Breathe Conservation nonprofit organisation was the now 43-year-old Ferguson’s brainchild in 2018.

Breathe World Ocean Day activists take to the ocean in Durban last weekend. Picture: CRIT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS
Breathe World Ocean Day activists take to the ocean in Durban last weekend. Picture: CRIT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS

“I did some research and the three main threats to the ocean were plastic pollution, overfishing and climate change. At the time plastic pollution wasn’t really spoken about, so I chose that one and created my own nonprofit organisation.”

It’s hard work though, with Ferguson working towards the annual Oceans Day event for a full eight months as it grew.

After retiring from competitive swimming at national level in 2009, her physiotherapy day job took her around the continent, indeed the world, with Team SA.

But it was in Hawaii in 2011, shortly after her competitive career ended, that she fell in love with the ocean all over again and she’s gone from strength to strength, becoming the first African woman to swim the 58km Ka’iwi Channel Crossing (chillingly also known as the Channel of Bones) in Hawaii in 2017.

“In preparation for that I did local stuff like Robben Island and Cape Point swims.”

One of the most humble, down-to-earth people one could come across, her motivation after the gruelling Hawaii swim was simply that she “wanted to swim for something bigger than myself”.

“I felt I needed to do more … so I Googled where in the world is the most ocean plastic and [surprisingly] came across the fact that it was Easter Island.

“But my most memorable achievement was that Hawaii swim … nothing will ever beat it. It was so very tough that it took five years of preparation. But it was a most magnificent ocean, and the people we met, the time we had afterwards make it my most memorable swim.”

But my most memorable achievement was that Hawaii swim … nothing will ever beat it. It was so very tough that it took five years of preparation. But it was a most magnificent ocean, and the people we met, the time we had afterwards make it my most memorable swim.

She finally got to Easter Island in 2019, swimming nonstop for 19 hours around the Chilean territory in the Pacific Ocean, the first human to do so.

There’s no doubting that seawater flows through Ferguson’s veins and such is her marine pedigree that she refers to 20km efforts as “little swims”.

One of her plans was to swim from Durban to Cape Town in stages but she only got as far as Gqeberha as the promised funding did not materialise. “If I get funding in advance again, I’ll finish it.”

There’s also the small matter of a few gaps along the eastern seaboard that she wants to seal. “This year I have a 30km and 100km gap to swim which will mean I’ve swum the entire length of the coast from Mozambique to Gqeberha.”

Ferguson has grown up always hating litter but loving animals and educating children and people. “We were put on earth to protect and nurture it so it’s devastating to see the impact of our consumer culture.”

She admits it’s overwhelming but “when you’re in it there’s no way out”.

“An example is that I can remember often collecting seashells as a little girl; now you’re more likely to pick up litter than shells. Even in Cape Town, which doesn’t have major rivers contributing to ocean pollution … beaches like Fish Hoek are becoming littered, even Mauritius.”

But with the latest Breathe World Ocean Day having gone so well and raising around R200,000, Ferguson is already looking to the future.

“That will go towards our 2026 Marine Ecology programme which will allow our amazing marine guide Jama Bulwana to visit even more schools in KwaZulu-Natal next year, spreading the conservation [message] … but ideally we also need to buy a vehicle unless we can get a sponsored one.”

Their biggest goal though remains to eliminate throwaway plastic. “Personally, I like being ‘small and effective’ but for change to grow you have to expand, so I’d like to get to more schools outside KZN.”

For now though, Breathe Conservation looks forward to working on the online and film Trees and Seas initiative, not a fundraiser as such but a channel to create change.

What won’t change though is that Ferguson will still stay striving to save our seas, wave by wave.

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