JUST ME & THE SEA

Schoolgirl Amber-Rose is the youngest female to have swum the False Bay crossing and she says there's nothing quite like being in the ocean

- NOKUTHULA ZWANE-EJIKE

AS A little girl she was terrified of water and refused to submerge her face - but as she grew she faced her fears and dove into the deep end.

And there's been no stopping her since.

Amber-Rose Berry has been making a splash in swimming circles after becoming the youngest female to complete the gruelling False Bay crossing, covering an icy stretch of water from Miller's Point near Cape Town to Rooi Els in the distance.

The race has been dubbed the Everest of Cape swims due to strong and unpredictable currents and the 16-year-old is one of only a handful of swimmers to have finished it.

On top of that, Amber-Rose, who is going into Grade 11 at Rhenish Girls' High School in Stellenbosch, took on the challenge while writing her year-end exams - and she had a maths exam the following day.

She was meant to do the False Bay crossing on 18 November, but a longterm marine weather forecast predicted choppy seas and strong winds and the swim was moved to 3 December.

Amber-Rose set off from False Bay at 5am with her coach, Clinton Le Sueur, and Derrick Frazer from Big Bay Events, who followed her journey in a safety support boat.

The swim is a continuous event, which meant Amber-Rose couldn't leave the water and was handed an energy or electrolyte drink and peanut butter balls every 30 minutes to keep hydrated and energised.

At 3pm she arrived at Rooi Els, having completed the 33-km stretch in just nine hours and 40 minutes.

"Every time I talk about it I feel a sense of absolute disbelief,' she says. "Almost a year's worth of training is over. I must find something else to do now."

 The crossing is the latest feather in the remarkable teen's cap. She started taking long-distance swimming seriously about three years ago and has done the Robben Island swim twice - at the age of 13 and 14.