Andrew Smilley was obviously very pleased, but typically humble and easy-going when he learned that so many people had voted for his swim at the RCP Tiburon Mile as the Greatest Open Water Swim of 2009. In his soft-spoken, mild-mannered way, Andrew said, “They really voted for me?!? Wow, cool. What time is swim training […]

At the hugely successful King of the Beach Challenge (Rei Do Mar Desafio in Portuguese) on Copacabana Beach at the 2016 Rio Olympic 10K Marathon Swim course, the entire race and finish were exciting to behold. Trent Grimsey is shown in the first photograph crossing the finish line with his competitors in hot pursuit. Behind

In the very educational video below, Dr. Rob Brander of the School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Australia explains rip currents. While rip currents are dangerous for the average beach-goer, strong swimmers with ocean experience and a competitive zeal can utilize rip currents to their benefit.

Anna Wardley truly gets around, having lived and worked in London, New York, Buenos Aires, Australia and Hong Kong. Anna, former Head of Communications for Clipper Ventures, has done a variety of endurance challenges, including racing 36,000 miles around the globe in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 2003, which had to be

At the 1-mile St. Croix Dolphins Sea Swim in mid-January, the athletes start by waiting for the sound of a conch shell and then jumping nearly 7 meters off the Frederiksted Pier into the warm waters of St. Croix. St. Croix, the largest of the United States Virgin Islands, is well-known for its beautifully clear

Commander Vicki Fischbeck is one tough lady. A retired navy pilot, she flew numerous aircraft over her career, from the single-engine T-34 trainer to multi-engine transports, retiring with 4,600 flying hours and 250 (dangerous) aircraft carrier landings for United Airlines, the Embry-Riddle Center at Naval Air Station North Island and UPS. But she blushes over

Paul McCoy, the visionary engine behind Pacific Swims originally from South Yorkshire, England, randomly hands out some of the most valuable prizes in the open water swimming world: all-expenses-paid trips to Fiji. That is, if you like tropical warm water, beautifully clear and scenic reef swimming. In 2009, by partnering with his airline and hotel

Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Lake and river swims throughout Argentina are very popular and include three FINA pro marathon swims in 2010: the 15 km Maraton Acuatico Internacional Ciudad Rosario, the 57K Maraton Acuatica Internactional Rio Coronda and the 88 km Hernandarias-Parana Maraton Acuatico. The pros always entertain the crowds with exciting finishes

The world’s foremost marathon swimming historian, Captain Tim Johnson, provided interesting historical background on the emergence of open water swimming on the national level in America. In August 1925, then-American President Calvin Coolidge sponsored the national open water swimming championship in the Potomac River over a 3-mile course. It was an annual event, called the