How in the world, in a country composed of over 700 islands, can fewer than 20 per cent of the children know how to swim? It’s not as though I’m talking about inhospitable, cold waters but rather the warm, amazingly clear and blue waters of the Bahamas.

Drowning deaths in the Bahamas are the second leading cause of accidental death, with only traffic accidents causing more. The rate of drowning per 100,000 inhabitants is six times greater than in the United States, and an astounding 17 times higher than in the United Kingdom.

World Conference on Drowning Prevention in October 2019, Durban, South Africa

Back in 2017, Bryan and Dena attended the conference in Vancouver when SwimTayka was still a young emerging brand in the world of Charities and NGOs, and we were still finding our feet.

So attending this conference 2 years later, we were more focused on what we wanted to get from the event and the people we wanted to meet.

By Kieran Smyth – Channel Relay Swimmer

The team assembled in the car park at Dover Harbour between 9-10 pm on Thursday 1st August, we were all buzzing with nervous anticipation! We boarded Anastasia and met the pilot Eddie and his crew as well as our CS&PF observer Geoff. We stowed our belongings and set off for Samphire Hoe where our challenge would officially begin. Once at Samphire Hoe, Alan jumped in and swam to the beach and, at the sound of the claxon, he re-entered the water and our relay was officially underway! The time was 11:23 pm. 

So what was it like? We met at Dover Marina at 10 pm on Thursday 1^st August, ready for our tide before midnight. Our team was reduced to five swimmers: one of our members, Lucy, was already part of another relay team, and as Team SwimTayka was delayed a fortnight by bad weather, the inevitable happened, and her team got called on the previous tide to us. So here we are, the five swimmers in the team and Bryan Avery at the front, one of the directors of SwimTayka who has also been our manager over the past nine months since the team first did our trials in a pool in the Cotswolds.

I was beginning to wonder when it would happen so I didn’t want to risk believing it when we were told it was happening Thursday. My plan was to just carry on as normal so that meant a very tough Spin class followed by an abdominals class on Thursday morning at 6.45am followed by work.

I would like to thank everyone who sponsored me in the Charity Cross-Channel Swim Relay. The team set off at 11:23 pm on Thursday 1st August from Abbotts Cliff, Dover. Swimming through the night and into the dawn. All five of us had to be ready at the start and then took turns of one hour each. We finished east of Wissant Town beach, northern France 15 hours 7 minutes later. Each of us had to pick up a pebble from the beach and then swim back to our boat to return to England – we are only allowed on French soil for ten minutes!

The SwimTayka Project is done for this year in Itacaré, Brazil. ETIV-do-Brasil organised a final massive celebration in Ribeira Beach, where more than 80 children had the opportunity to practice the skills they gained during the course. They got to swim in open water with the supervision of our fantastic SwimTayka teachers and volunteers. Everyone had a great time and we are so thankful to SwimTayka for helping them bring this incredible opportunity to the children of Itacaré!

TWENTY young Biminites gained increased confidence in the water and new in-sight into its vital importance during the third annual Swim and Eco Camp hosted by Save The Bays (STB), Waterkeeper Bahamas and international group SwimTayka.

This week we rounded off the SwimTayka programme with a trip to Praia Ribeira! The programme has been both an awful lot of fun, as well as a giant learning curve, for bot children and teachers. There were some 80 kids that signed up, and this number only grew and grew throughout the 2 months, and all participants are now strong and capable swimmers.