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Writer's picturechristienbradford

The Salty And Sustainable Standard: The Evolution of the Salt Rock Sunrise Swims

Friends in Ponchos at the beach at sunrise post swim
Friends in ponchos at the beach at sunrise after a swim

We started our sunrise swims at Tiffanys beach in Jan 2022. I was so inspired by all the early morning swimming going on in the freezing cold Cape Town oceans by gung-ho groups of fellow salt lovers that I thought, why not do the same here? Especially in this Lush North Coast climate where the water is bath-warm and the air is balmy well before sunrise. With a climate so conducive to this your actual only problem is that in summer to make a sunrise you need to be up at about 4am and in Winter it changes to about 6:45 which is far too late for the North Coasters haha- ok these are not real problems. So what I’m saying is we faced no problems.

Salt Rock ocean sunrise
Ocean sunrise at Salt Rock
A group of Salty C sunrise swimmers walking onto the beach to swim
A group of Salty C sunrise swimmers at sunrise

These incredible mornings started with about 3 people and grew to about 20 on some days. We’d meet at Bench coffee in Tiffanys parking lot, catch an unreal swim watching the big fiery life-giving ball rise out of the same ocean we were swimming in, have a longggg swim if the sea allowed ( or a quick dip in rougher times), potentially spot some dolphins on their morning commute, and then emerge, pop on our Salty C ponchos – it’s a cult and a ponchos is essential although we’d accept you without one but then somehow most likely coerce you into buying one; and sip on Bench coffee over conversation before work to set you up for the best day possible. Thank you Bench!!

Getting ready to head in
A group os sunrise swimmers on Tiffanys rearing to hea over to Bench for their coffee

Miki, Sam and Christie happened to be matching in their Salty C's

After months of this delightful routine my digs mate at the time, Dean who works for Dwell Properties suggested we collaborate. Dwell has a weekly Thursday morning run going – a 5km loop at 5:30am followed by Dwell Sponsored coffee from Tiki Tonga at the Dunkirk Beach Club house. We decided to collab our swims and sunrise mornings with their runs. It then became run, swim, coffee with a prize or 2 sponsored by us- usually vouchers that were stuck randomly under cups and if you got the lucky cup it was your day!!

Runners in there Dwell Sponsored Running Vests Made By Salty C
Nix of Dwell Properties with her winning cup post run and ocean swim
Nix of Dwell Properties with her winning cup post run and ocean swim

Ellaine in a salty c cap on a gorgeous morning
Our beautiful community catching up and watching the sunrise over a Tiki Tonga Coffee
Our beautiful community catching up and watching the sunrise over a Tiki Tonga Coffee
More friends enjoying coffee
Sunrises that keep you so present
Sunrises that keep you so present

Natali with her winning cup

Runners seizing the day

This tradition and originally a little marketing endeavour for us became more of a way to build relationships and sew some love and good vibes into our community as a local brand who receives such support back from this community. It has been such an incredible era (dramatic but true) and we just want to thank you all for these sunrise mornings. Thank you to Dwell for having us a little mini sponsor – for all those who swam with us and those who didn’t, for those who redeemed their vouchers and have gone on to become repeat customers, for those who ran with us and for those we drank coffee with.

Greg and Dean with winning cups

Dwell will now be collab-ing with different local brands every week who will sponsor prizes and keep you guessing! We will defs be part of the odd Dwell Dash in the future! Thank you to Dwell and the community for supporting LOCAL!


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