From Southern California to Paris to Tokyo to Hokkaido to Honolulu, and then back to California, it was an interesting 3 weeks traveling the globe. The achievements of open water swimmers was one thing, but there were many more interesting observations along the way.
Traveling in Style
A motor home was seen at Bolsa State Beach in Huntington Beach with the classic design of The Great Wave off Kanagawa [shown above].
Living in Harmony
A marriage proposal was seen on Dog Beach in Huntington Beach.
Nighttime in Paris
Beautiful.
Warm and Getting Warmer
From United Nations Patron of the Oceans Lewis Pugh on the warming conditions:
Marine-loving Canine
Lexie Kelly and Kai, her Blue Fawn French bulldog, enjoyed competing in the Naples Island Swim in Long Beach, California.
Flat As Flat Can Be
The scheduled site of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games 10 km marathon swim will be Alamitos Beach in Long Beach. The beach is located within the Long Beach Breakwater – shown in the background below – where the water is nearly always glassy flat in the mornings. In the foreground is site of the Naples Island Swim.
Olympic Waterman
18-year-old Ryder Dodd had just returned from the 2024 Paris Olympic Games with his water polo teammates with a bronze medal in a thrilling overtime victory over Hungary. He scored a total of 8 goals during the Olympics as the youngest player on the USA team. But he jumped in and competed in the 3-mile Naples Island Swim.
Marine Delicacies
Petar Stoychev, Ivan Zlatinov and I ate all kinds of delicious seafood during a trip to northern Japan where Stoychev completed the Oceans Seven.
Oceans Seven Plus One
Petar Stoychev completed the Oceans Seven and the Oceans Grand Slam with an August 14th crossing of the Tsugaru Channel in northern Japan. But now he is adding an additional swim across the English Channel this coming Friday in order to complete all seven of the channels of Oceans Seven within six months. This would be another incredible feat in the career of the 47-year-old Hall of Famer.
Coaching Commitment
Neža Klančar from Slovenia was coached by Tomaž Torkar for the last 16 years and they finally saw their Olympic dream realized when she finished sixth in the 50m freestyle at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. After they saw Klančar reach the pinnacle of her career to date, they decided that she should move to Australia and train with the fastest female swimmers in the world.
Healthful Longevity
And finally, we had to stand in awe of 70-year-old Nancy Steadman Martin (3:19.77), 70-year-old Tamara Steil (4:39.12), 75-year-old Janet Gettling (4:18.00), 76-year-old Judy Paukert (5:22.33), 80-year-old Daniela Barnea (4:17.77), and 80-year-old Ann Louise Onton (10:57.95) who all competed in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2024 U.S. Masters Swimming Summer National Championship in Mission Viejo, California. The 200m butterfly is a feat of rare strength and stamina, beautifully displayed by septuagenarians and octogenarians.
A video of the first heat of the women’s 200m butterfly is here.
© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“
A World Open Water Swimming Federation project.