Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Are you a born-digital open water swimmer or a born-analog swimmer?
You are a born-digital swimmer, if you began your open water career at a time when:
* you informed your friends, family and colleagues about your swims and training via email
* you posted information about your swims or training on social media
* your pilot escorted you via GPS
* you took photos of yourself or during a swim with a mobile phone
* you have a Twitter handle and an Instagram page
* you have a YouTube channel and a Facebook page
* you used Uber to go to the race or boat harbor
* you use # to communicate online
* you type @ frequently throughout the day
* information about yourself or your swims are stored in light archives (those that are fully accessible via the Internet
If you are a born-analog swimmer, you began your open water career at a time when:
* you either informed your friends, family and colleagues about your swims and training via hand written letters…or not at all
* you told people about your swims via a telephone anchored to a public street or hanging from a wall
* your pilot escorted you via eyesight and his mariner’s experience and knowledge
* you took photos of yourself or during a swim and had to wait for the film to be developed
* you have a photo album in your attic, basement or parents’ home
* you wrote postcards from the locations where you swam
* you faxed your information to your escort pilot or race director
* your family, spouse or friends greeted you at your arrival gate at the airport
* you used # to indicate a numeral
* you rarely, if ever, used the symbol @ on your typewriter
* information about yourself or your swims only remain in old newspaper clipping, old notebooks and letters…or in your memory
Photo shows Chris Guesdon, a born-analog swimmer, coming ashore.
Copyright © 2016 by World Open Water Swimming Association