Meet the Mermaids
Friends in the water and on land
Rebecca and Kirstin first crossed paths in 2021 in the pool at the University of Cape Town Swimming Club, where a shared competitive streak quickly turned into a friendship. Not long after, they found themselves reunited in biology and ecology/conservation classes, bonding over a mutual love for animals, science, the ocean and swimming.As their friendship grew, so did the miles. What began as training sessions evolved into regular competitive and recreational swims, both in the pool and in open water. In 2022, they took on the Robben Island swim together, completing it in 2 hours and 18 minutes, a turning point that cemented their partnership in the water.
Since then, they’ve raced and swum across the Western Cape, including events like the Simonstown Women’s Day Mile, the Fish Hoek Mile, and the False Bay Express. Their longest swim to date came at the end of 2024 with the Langebaan Express, a demanding 12 km open-water challenge which they completed in 3 hours and 15 minutes.
United by their love for swimming, the ocean, and wildlife, Rebecca and Kirstin created this project to turn endurance into impact. With the goal of raising awareness and funds for endangered animals while taking on the Big Five Swims: the five biggest open-water swims in the Western Cape.
Rebecca Behne
I’ve been in water from day one. I don’t remember my first swim lesson, but I’ve been told I cried — and that was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with water. From the start, I wanted to move like a dolphin or a mermaid, completely at home in the ocean.
When my family moved to Limpopo at age ten, I began swimming more competitively. Living in the bush deepened my connection to nature and opened my eyes to the urgent need for conservation — witnessing the effects of rhino poaching at its peak left a mark on me that has never faded. At fourteen, we moved back to Cape Town. I continued swimming competitively, but I also started lifesaving, which introduced me to open-water swimming. At first, I was terrified of the ocean, but slowly I fell in love with it — its challenges, its freedom, its power. After finishing school, I worked as a lifeguard and became a swim coach, driven by the desire to share the joy and safety of water with others. Swimming became more than sport; it became a way of life.At university, studying biology fueled my growing passion for nature. And then I met Kirstin — we discovered we both swam, and our paces matched perfectly. From that moment, we began tackling big swim goals together. I could help build her confidence in the ocean, and she inspired me to push harder, swim faster, and reach further.
I’ve dreamed of swimming False Bay since I read [Book/Author] back in 2014, and this project feels like the perfect way to live out that dream — alongside my favorite fellow mermaid and while protecting the animals that have always shaped my life.
Kirstin Snyckers
I don’t remember the exact moment I learned to swim, but I vividly remember my mother dropping me into our pool at home when I was about a year old, and falling completely in love with the water. From then on, I was always pretending to be something else in it: a mermaid, a dolphin, part of the water itself.
Growing up, my family spent many holidays on the beaches of KwaZulu-Natal. Free-diving and exploring the rock pools. Those trips shaped me. Even though I grew up in Gauteng and didn’t have constant access to the ocean, the connection was always there. Instinctive and deeply rooted.
I began competitive swimming at the age of six, joining a club that became everything to me. Swimming taught me discipline, resilience, and belief in myself long before I understood what those things meant. By 2016, I was competing at senior national level, representing Gauteng and placing on the podium multiple times. In 2019, I received an invitation to train in the United States with the goal of qualifying for the Olympics. I ultimately chose to pursue my studies, but I never lost my love for swimming.
During my undergraduate degree, I began taking biology and marine biology courses alongside my main studies. What started as curiosity and a lifelong passion for nature quickly became purpose. Those courses helped me realise that my connection to water could be more than competition, it could be a way of giving back to the natural world.
When I moved to Cape Town in 2021, everything shifted. For the first time, I was living alongside the ocean. I fell in love with cold-water distance swimming and transitioned from a sprinter to a long-distance swimmer, swimming miles for the joy of it, alongside Rebecca. Completing the Robben Island swim changed my perspective entirely. Now, every time I look out over False Bay I think damn, I could totally do that.
