David Barra, Rondi Davies, and Alex Arévalo [shown above] announced the New York Open Water is taking applications for all of their many open water swimming opportunities in, around, and near New York City [see here].
The trio explained, “All applications submitted by January 31st 2024, will receive full consideration; there is no need to rush to apply. Our 2024 calendar includes the following marathon swims:
- More than 25 dates in 7 tidal windows for solo or tandem swimmers for the famed 45.9 km 20 Bridges Swim Around Manhattan, continuing the quiet swim format with a small number of slots per date. The season extends from early June to late October and – based on the successes of 2023 – also includes night swims. Experience in comparable cold and/or dark conditions will be necessary for any early/late-season and/or night swim assignments. Swimmers with availability for multiple windows (and appropriate experience) will have the greatest likelihood of acceptance.
- Note for 20 Bridges Swims: each window allows for weather-related delays. If a swim start is not feasible on any scheduled swim day due to hazardous weather such as thunderstorms, all remaining swims in that window will be moved to the next day with a start that is approximately 45 minutes later.
- Up to 6 slots for solo or tandem swimmers to attempt all seven stages of the 193 km 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim plus single-stage swims if space permits.
- 1 date for the 91.8 km 40 Bridges Swim Around Manhattan.
- 1 date for the 25.9 km Ederle-Burke Swim.
Acceptances will be posted by February 28. If your application is accepted, you will be assigned a date for your swim. I f we are unable to accept all qualified applicants, we will also post a waitlist. A US$750 non-refundable deposit will be required by March 14th 2024, to confirm your entry. Registration for paddlers, observers, and support crew is planned to open in the spring.
We are hoping to be able to revive at least one of our shorter, mass-participation events in 2024 at long last and will share details if/when available.“
Q&A list is here.
What is most incredible is the gradual global acceptance (expectations!) of these great distances – from the early 1980’s when the 45.9 km Manhattan Island Marathon Swim competitions first began (since renamed to 20 Bridges) to the eventual addition of the 91.8 km 40 Bridges Swims (double Manhattan Island) to the frankly audacious 193 8 Bridges adventure, a brain child of Dave Barra. Barra – who never sees a distance as being too great – explained below a year of prolific swimming that gave rise to the term Barraesque. Now the term can describe the exploits of many marathon swimmers around the world who frequently enjoy their own Barraesque years of swimming (topped off by 2022 when Joe Zemaitis swam 807.7 km (501.25) miles as he officially documented 250 hours 30 minutes in the open water – excluding all his training distance and hours).
Barraesque was first used in 2010 to describe Barra’s various swims that totaled 212.1 km during 2010 – a sum total that seemed incredible at the time – and now seems almost commonplace among the highest echelon of marathon swimmers around the world:
- 28.1 km Ederle Swim between New York and New Jersey
- 15.9 km Maui Channel between Lanai and Maui
- 38.6 km Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in Florida
- 45.9 km Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in New York
- 32.3 km Catalina Channel between Catalina Island and Southern California
- 12 km Boston Light Swim in Massachusetts)
- 33.5 km English Channel between England and France to complete the Grand Slam of Open Water Swimming
- 5 km CIBBOWS Aquarium (New York)
© 2023 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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