While Ned Denison is pushing a massive group of cold-water hardened channel goers and marathon swimmers around Sandycove Island in Cork, Ireland on Day One of Cork Distance Week, a different group of tropically hardened marathon swimmers held their 9th annual Summer Solstice Swim on June 20th.

The sun was out for both groups on opposite sides of the world, but the water temperature differential was over 20°C (i.e., colder in Cork, hotter in Hawaii).

In Hawaii, the Ala Moana Beach Swim Club organized its 9th annual Summer Solstice Swim on the southern shores of Oahu on June 20th, the opening day of Cork Distance Week. Photo on upper left shows the group at 6:00 am; photo on the upper right shows the group at 6:00 pm. Smiles were consistent. Photos below show the environs of Sandycove Island in Cork.

Summer Solstice Swim Rules

The unofficial non-event in Hawaii is held in Ala Moana Beach Park and has no entry fees, offers no event t-shirts, no race medals, and is conducted without any specific rules. But serious enjoyment of ocean swimming is at the core of the group.

Ala Moana Beach Swim Club has several requests, although there are no formal rules:

• Suffering is highly encouraged as is good-natured peer pressure. Please encourage at least one person to swim more than they want.
• Be respectful of other beach goers during the 13 hours.
• Practice safe sun. Wear sun protection.
• Be respectful of personal space. Bring your own sun shade, chair, food, drinks, etc.
• Always keep buoys on your right shoulder. It is your responsibility to sight and avoid collisions.

The Course

The course for the Summer Soltice Swim starts at the Magic Island end of Ala Moana Beach, next to Waikiki at Lifeguard tower 1E. Swimmers select swim distances of their own choosing, every hour on the hour, for 13 consecutive hours. The first swim begins promptly at 6 am and the last swim begins at 6 pm. Given that there are no rules, participants are feel free to swim, swim and run, paddle board, wear fins, wear hand paddles, wear fins and hand paddles, use a unicorn floaty, or just enjoy a beverage of their choosing and sit on the beach. Swimmers are free to come-and-go as they please between the 6 am start and the 7 pm finish.

13-hour Swimmers

Year in and year out, a hardened group of seriously minded 13-hour swimmers complete all the 13 legs of the Summer Solstice Swim. This year, the following swimmers swam all 13 legs.

• Melissa Harnsberber
• Ellis Garcia
• John Storm
• Cindy Hughes
• John Hughes
• Thomas Rathbun
• Stefan Reinke
• Knoll Kaneshiro
• Heather Iwasaki
• Rachel Randall
• Terri Dietz
• Alex Webb
• Deb Merwick
• Chris Chuck
• Eric Hu
• Ryan Leong
• Kelly Quinn

Ryan Leong and Stefan Reinke both ended up doing 32 km in total. Leong did 6 hours of 3 km swims and then switched to 2 km swims for the last 7 hours. Reinke did 4 hours of 3 km swims, followed by 4 hours of 2.5 km swims, and a 2 km to finish. Chris Chuck did 4 hours of 3 km swims and then 2 km swims for the last 9 hours.

Swimmers who completed at least 30 km included Thomas Rathbun, Rachel Randall, Heather Iwasaki, Alex Webb, Chris Chuck, Eric Hu, Stefan Reinke, and Ryan Leong (pictured below):

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