To educate, entertain, and enthuse all those who venture beyond the shoreline
World Open Water Swimming Federation, a human-powered project
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Nowadays, top swimmers are invited to race by event directors via email or mobile devices. But in the previous century, snail mail delivered the good news to athletes. In a letter dated September 16th 1926, Shier Mendelson was personally invited to the 1927 Wrigley Ocean Marathon which read in […]
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Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. The 6th UK Cold Water Swimming Championships 2015 are held on January 24th in Tooting Bec Lido’s expected 3ºC water in London . Over 650 swimmers will take the plunge to compete in the 30-yards traditional head-up breaststroke, freestyle dash and a Big Splash group jump-in. The UK Cold Water
Low-temp, High-energy UK Cold Water Championships Read More »
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. The final few qualifying events for the 2015 aQuellé Midmar Mile will culminate with a weekend of racing at the Heia Safari Ranch in Johannesburg, South Africa which hosts the Time Freight Lake Heritage Water Festival on January 17th and 18th. The 1.2 km swim on January 18th incorporates
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Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Swim Around Lido Key is a 7-mile, pilot-escorted circumnavigation swim around the island of Lido Key in Sarasota, Florida. The event is organized by David Miner and Steve Butler. Miner explains, “This is a 7-mile race around the beautiful island of Lido Key. Each swimmer will have a kayak
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Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Andrea Kelly of Head to the Hills is offering a new 16.1 km stage swim series in the Lake District in the UK, the Great Lake District Swim Challenge. The Great Lake District Swim Challenge is split into the east and west. Each Lake District series is a non-stop
The Great Lake District Swim Challenge = 17+4+2+1 Read More »
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Winter swimmers from around the world will descend on Lake Memphremagog in Vermont for the inaugural United States Winter Swimming Championships in February. Event director Phil White reports, “Work begins in earnest this week to prepare for the inaugural championships on February 21st and 22nd. Winter swimmers from around
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Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Nowadays, there are plenty of 10 km marathon swims where hundreds of competitors participate around the world (see marathon swim list here), but there are very few swims that are over 20 km where hundreds of swimmers compete even in today’s emerging open water swimming world. But such as
Precursor Of The Future, 1930 Canadian National Exhibition Read More »
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. George Young was recently inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Open Water Swimmer. Young burst upon the international scene when he won the January 15th 1927 Wrigley Ocean Marathon across the Catalina Channel, but he was a fast and accomplished swimmer throughout his teenage
George Young In 1924 Read More »
Becca Mann Is Precocious On Land And In Water Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. 2016 Olympic pool and marathon swimming hopeful Becca Mann is a special person. The talented 17-year-old is not only one of the most versatile aquatic athlete on the planet, but she is also a creative author. She spoke of her
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Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. James Christie is creative and colorful, inventive and insouciant. A former pool sprinter from Trenton, Michigan, he has also enjoyed open water swimming since his early days. At his fourth Tampa Bay Frogman Swim today, Christie thought it was time to do something different. So he headed backwards. He
Looking Forward By Going Backwards Read More »