Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
One day a year, the Istanbul Strait lies quiet. The other 364 days of the year, the world’s most narrow strait used for international navigation is busy with boat traffic and marine vessels of all sizes and shapes.
But in the summer, the link between Asia and Europe that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara in Turkey is temporarily closed to boats and open to swimmers only.
Bosphorus is the world’s most narrow strait used for international navigation and enables participants to claim they swam between Asia and Europe.
The 6.5 km course of the Samsung Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim starts from Kanlica off a boat on the Asian side of the Bosphorus and ends at Kuruçesme on the European side of the Bosphorus.
This year’s race was held on July 24th where thousands of swimmers were greeted by the National Olympic Committee of Turkey.
The long version video of the Samsung Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim is shown above; the event is among the nominees for the 2016 World Open Water Offering of the Year:
1. Prison Island Swims (International)
2. KIM SWIMS (USA)
3. Samsung Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim (Turkey)
4. Ocean City Swim Club Unified Team / Legion of Ocean Heroes Surf Lifesaving Festival (USA)
5. KAATSU Aqua (Japan)
6. Hawaiʻi Tiger Shark Tracking (USA)
7. OceanFit (Australia)
8. The Power of Swimming or Simma med Stjärnorna (Sweden)
9. Wildswim.com (United Kingdom)
10. Instabeat (International)
11. Terroir Project Collection (Denmark)
12. Agar Plasticity (Japan)
13. Swimming in the Sink: An Episode of the Heart by Lynne Cox (USA)
14. Global Alert Platform by the Ocean Recovery Alliance (Hong Kong)
15. Blue Mind Summits by Dr. Wallace J. Nichols (International)
To vote in the WOWSA Awards, visit here. Online voting continues until December 31st 2016.
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