Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
“Swimming in the sea makes me feel free and alive, in intimate contact with nature,” says author and open water swimmer Miquel Sunyer. “Swimming is my own private form of meditation. I rejoice in the silence around me and relax with the sound of my own breathing. The sea is marvelous, full of life; it is crucial for our own survival and well-being. It needs to be preserved.”
Sunyer wrote 48 BRAZADAS: Solo tú marcas tu horizonte (48 Swimming Strokes: Only you set your horizons), a 230-page book written with James Manresa and published in Spanish and Catalan by Planeta.
48 BRAZADAS narrates the story of a telecommunications engineer by profession and an open water swimming by passion. Like others in the open water, Sunyer finds himself pushed to do extraordinary things. In the book, Sunyer describes his daily struggles and shares his values and challenges.
He reveals how he deals with fear and failure, and how he maintains, despite the plethora of difficulties, his motivation. His secret is never giving up, remembering that he can always aim higher, and the importance of not pursuing victory, but rather outdoing oneself.
Kilian Jornet, a Spanish ski mountaineer widely regarded as the world’s best trail runner, says about 48 BRAZADAS, “Like the mountains, the sea is one of the last places where you can truly be free. A captivating book that will transport you and give you goose bumps.”
Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association