KNYSNA NEWS – On Friday 30 December 2022, holidaymakers and residents alike were delighted to welcome the Knysna Summer Splash Festival to the Knysna Waterfront once more.
The festival is held every year in late December and is organised by the Knysna Rotary Club.
It helps raise much-needed funds for Rotary and the various projects they carry out throughout the year, including the upcoming Rotary Dent project planned for April.
The festival is made up of two events – the Knysna Rotary Open Water Swim which consists of three swimming race distances in the estuary, all beginning at the Knysna Yacht Club, and the Quack Attack Duck Race which is a race between 1 000 rubber ducks in the channel to the Knysna Quays from the Knysna Waterfront.
It's a quack attack!
In the duck race, members of the public can "adopt" a rubber duck for the race and if their duck wins, they win R2 500. While the wind and choppy waters presented a challenge to the swimmers, the wind gave the rubber ducks some extra vooma in their race. The ducks are split into two heats of 500, where the top 20 are collected to compete in the final of top 40 ducks. First prize went to duck number 897 that belonged to Daniel Coetsee; second was duck 931 adopted by Rob Carlisle; third was duck 594 belonging to Juleah Reiner; and fourth was Maria Mani's duck 457.
The Open Water Swim
While there were clear skies overhead, the wind caused rather choppy water conditions that made for tough swimming. The swimming race is co-organised by the Knysna Aquatics Club, and each distance (450m, 1,65km, 3km) had a different start time. There were strong performances by the swimmers and quite a few of the ladies ranked high up in the overall standings.
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