Open Water Swimming Almanac

A special Open Water Swimming Almanac - full of unique and largely unknown information, data, charts and photographs of special interest to swimmers, coaches, triathletes, administrators, fans and officials - will be provided to the participants in the Global Open Water Swimming Conference that will be held in Long Beach, California on June 5th.

The Almanac will include a wide variety of information including the World's Top 100 Open Water Swims in the World, the Open Water Swimming Dictionary, Rules of Open Water Swimming, America's Top 50 Open Water Swims, the 50 Most Amazing Open Water Swimming Websites, Great Open Water Swimming Books and Movies, Cool Open Water Swimming Products and Technology, Open Water Swims of the Future, the Four Feeding Steps, Pool Open Water (POW), and many other bits of interesting bits of data, charts and information.

Copyright © 2010 by Open Water Source

The Beauty Of The Waikiki Roughwater Swim

The top Australian ocean swimmers have dominated the annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim in the recent past with absolutely dominating victories by Trent Grimsey and Luane Rowe in 2008 and 2009.

What will 2010 bring in the swim that served as the inspiration of the Ironman triathlon?

The race will definitely be excited, but the real beauty of the Waikiki Roughwater Swim is that it draws people from around the world of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. A look at the 2007 Waikiki Roughwater Swim proves this point.

1. Noa Sakamoto (Honolulu, Hawaii), 43:37
2. Brendan Capell (Brisbane, Australia), 43:47
3. Vladimir Dyatchin (Russia), 43:49
4. Ous Mellouli (Tunisia), 44:06
5. Andrew Beato (Quakers Hill, Australia), 44:15
6. John Flanagan (Honolulu, Hawaii), 44:17
7. David Browne (Brisbane, Australia), 44:18
8. Kalen Darling (Honolulu, Hawaii), 45:52
9. Evgeni Bezruchenko (Russia), 47:32
10. Alex Kostich (Los Angeles, California), 47:55
11. Marcos Diaz (Dominican Republic), 49:50

Photo shows Trent Grimsey winning at the King of the Sea Challenge in Rio de Janeiro.

Copyright © 2010 by Open Water Source

Long-standing Molokai Record Broken By Chris Palfrey

Chris Palfrey broke one of the longest standing records in marathon swimming this month when he did a 12:53 crossing of the Molokai (Kaiwi) Channel, swimming from the island of Molokai to Oahu.

First crossed in 1961 by International Swimming Hall of Famer Keo Nakama, Chris broke the record of Jonathan Ezer set in 1974.

Chris said, "The swim felt great and was mostly uneventful. We started in calm conditions from Molokai at 4:04 in the morning. It took me 30 minutes to settle down in the dark [see video below]. After heading out to the channel, I hit some head winds and surface chop for an hour due to the wrap-around effect of the winds as the current was taking me north. It was quite tough for last 6 miles as I swam right into a northerly headwind."

His target time, based on previous swims, was 15-16 hours, but Chris was firing on all cyclinders. "It was total luck that I had over 3 hours with a 1-knot tail current and no discernable head current. In all honesty, my only goal was to swim fairly and touch the sand on Oahu. I'm extremely happy with that. Achieving a record is simply the luck of the draw as all long-distance swimmers know."

Notwithstanding the record channel time under reasonable conditions (10-15 knot winds most of the way), it was still 26 miles (42K) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between two relatively tiny islands. "It was definitely my toughest swim. I remember thinking that the 2010 Rottnest Channel solo was a picnic compared to Molokai."

As Chris was swimming towards Oahu, his wife was swimming away from Oahu towards Kauai. "I thought of Penny many times during my swim. I was hoping she got away from Kaena Point OK and that the conditions were good for her. I only found out at 2:00 am on Sunday because I couldn't sleep that her swim was over."

"I didn't know what to say to Penny when we met up on Kauai. So I just gave her a hug. I feel sorry for her as she has trained, lived and breathed this swim for months and we are both certain she can do it. We love Hawaii and the people we've met here, so I think we'll be back at some stage for another crack at it."

Quinn Carver prepared a video of Chris' swim here. The beauty of the deep blue ocean in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is striking.

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones

Open Water Seminar At The 2010 World Championships

FINA will conduct an all-day open water swimming seminar at its 2010 World Open Water Swimming Championships in Roberval, Canada on July 19th for its guests including athletes, coaches, trainers, physicians and team leaders participating in the championships.

The seminar, hosted by Flavio Bomio of Switzerland (shown on left) will include presentations and discussions with an international panel of experts, coaches and administrators.

The presentations will include "Preparation of Athletes for the Open Water" and "Optimal Hydration and Nutritional Needs of Open Water Swimmers". Panel discussions include "Promoting Open Water Swimming around the World" and "Training World-class Open Water Swimmers".

Panelists include Mark Perry of Great Britain, Andrea Prayer of Italy, Greg Towle of Australia and Dr. Sultan Aziz of Bangladesh.

Copyright © 2010 by Open Water Source