Peter Bales

Peter Bales is a South African open water swimmer, escort pilot and founding figure in the Cape Long Distance Swimming Association. The Channel federation's historical record identifies him as Peter Elwin Bales and records an England-to-France solo in 1969 in 13 hours 38 minutes, aged 29. Leonard Hutchinson piloted Envictor. The source supplies the year but no day or month, so the crossing is not assigned a more precise date.

A 2005 profile of Carina Bruwer identifies Bales as the first South African man to complete the Channel and names him among the crew for her own crossing. That continuing support role also defined his work in Cape Town. The CLDSA's history credits him and two friends with forming the association in the late 1960s to officiate and record Robben Island swims; its lifetime-member list includes him.

A February 2014 profile describes Bales's piloting career since 1969 and his partnership with Hugh Tucker. It recounts support for swimmers between Robben Island and the mainland and their work with Lynne Cox at Cape Point. Bales's involvement therefore extended beyond his own successful solo into navigation, observation and the preservation of other swimmers' achievements. The association credits him with officiating hundreds of swims, an attributed record of service rather than a count of his own crossings.