No Rest For The Weary On Carbon-Neutral Relays

Already over 40 teams, several solo swimmers and at least 6 carbon-neutral relay teams on outrigger canoes have entered the 15K Clean Half extreme marathon relay on October 10th in Hong Kong. Members of the carbon-neutral relay teams alternate swimming and paddling for the entire race.

Carbon-Neutral Relay Around Mackinac Island

Back in 2004, Dick Buist, Dennis Barber, Dave Newton and Ed Gilde completed the first circumnavigation relay swim around Mackinac Island in 5 hours and 11 minutes.

Mackinac Island is a National Historic Landmark located in Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes of North America. The small island (3.8 square miles or 9.8 square kilometers) is part of the state of Michigan and is located at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac.

In a twist to traditional open water swimming relays and a nod to the "carbon-neutral" option, four swimmers swim - and walk - around the island during the Great Turtle Relay Swim Around Mackinac Island. This year's event will be held tomorrow, July 27th.

The four swimmers of each relay rotate in the water every 20 minutes. When it is not their turn to swim, the swimmers walk around the island. Each relay member swims for 20 minutes and then walks for 60 minutes until they finish the approximately 11-12 mile circumnavigation of Mackinac Island.

Relay exchanges are done in the water and each team is escorted by a kayaker. Wetsuits are allowed with the water temperature expected to be 63˚F (17˚C).

This swim-walk relay, escorted by a kayak around an island that bans nearly all motor vehicles is another example of the growing "carbon-neutral" open water relay phenomenon. Whereas the Mackinac Island Relay is a swim-walk relay, the "carbon-neutral" option first established by Doug Woodring in the 15K Clean Half relay in Hong Kong is a swim-paddle relay where swimmers have the choice to swim and paddle in an outrigger canoe.

The Blood of Our Planet

Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Douglas Woodring, a candidate for the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year and founder of two swims on the World's Top 100 Open Water Swims list (#41 15K Clean Half Marathon Relay and the #42 2.2K Sheko Challenge**), is taking his talents to the ocean again.


"The water in our oceans is like blood for our planet," said Doug who is leading Project Kaisei's team from Hong Kong. "If we continue to fill our oceans with toxins, such as plastic, it will be to the detriment of all life on earth. We feel strongly that the presence of the floating mass of plastic in the oceans needs to be brought to everyone’s attention."

This floating mass of plastic in the Pacific Ocean is occasionally referred to as the Eighth Continent. In the Plastic Vortex (shown above), an area of the Pacific Ocean containing an estimated 4,000,000 tons of plastic waste is twice the size of Texas or nearly four times as large as Japan. It kills marine life and is growing daily, causing growing health concerns.

Project Kaisei* consists of a team of innovators, ocean lovers, sailors, scientists, sports enthusiasts and environmentalists who study how to capture plastic waste in the ocean and how to capture, detoxify and recycle it into diesel fuel. Woodring and his colleagues will begin understanding the logistics that will be needed to remove 40 tons of plastic from the ocean for experimental recycling.

Photo of turtle with plastic bottle was taken by Dr. Wallace J. Nichols.

* Kaisei (海星) means 'Ocean Planet' in Japanese.

** For more information on the Sheko Challenge, view the following:

Sheko Challenge - Open Water Swim, Hong Kong, July 4th 2009 @ Yahoo! Video

Copyright © 2009 by World Open Water Swimming Association

Carbon-Neutral Escort Boat in The Clean Half

In a world's first for a major open water swimming relay, the team of Doug Woodring, Doug Woo, Eric Helfer, Jeff Fiola, Philip Sohmen won The Clean Half marathon relay in Hong Kong by using an outrigger canoe instead of a motorized escort boat. The relay members alternated swimming and paddling for the entire 14.5K race. 3 quick YouTube clips capture the action in strong winds and heavy surface chop:

Outrigger Team Wins The Clean Half

In a world's first for open water swimming, the team of Doug Woodring, Doug Woo, Eric Helfer, Jeff Fiola, Philip Sohmen won The Clean Half marathon relay in Hong Kong today USING AN OUTRIGGER CANOE instead of an escort boat.

The Maui Channel Swim. The Trans Tahoe Relay. The Fiji Swims. English Channel relays. The global open water swimming community knows about these great relays where teams of 5-6 swimmers rotate in legs of 10-30 minutes. When they are not swimming, they are relaxing in the escort boat, cheering on their teammates, plotting the course with the pilot, eating and hydrating. But for few special teams entered in The Clean Half, there was no rest for the weary.

Under beautiful blue skies, but strong easterly winds and enormous swells, 22 five-person teams competed in the 14.5K relay around Hong Kong Island. But two teams did something special: they completed the swim in a "carbon neutral" manner. Instead of using a traditional motorized escort boat, the two teams used an outrigger canoe which required them to constantly paddle instead of relaxing on the deck of an escort boat. The swimmer-paddlers each swam for 20 minutes for the first rotation, jumped in the outrigger to paddle for their teammates and then continued with 10-minute rotations until the race finished.

Despite almost huli-ed their outrigger (i.e., flipped it), the team of Woodring, Woo, Helfer, Fiola and Sohmen won with a course record time of 3:22.35.

The Clean Half also had enabled solo swimmers to compete with the relay teams. The solo winner, Callum McKinlay, took third overall in a time of 3:34.01

Photos of the two outrigger teams and course map provided by race director Douglas Woodring.

Carbon Neutral Escort Boats in The Clean Half

Hong Kong will host The Clean Half, Asia’s only marathon swimming relay event today. 22 five-person teams and 4 solo swimmers will start from Stanley Main Beach and head 15K to Deepwater Bay.

Modeled after the Maui Channel Swim, The Clean Half offers some of the most stunning views of Hong Kong Island.


Race director Douglas Woodring offers a unique "carbon neutral" option for the relay teams. Two teams will not travel by motorized escort boat, but will instead paddle a 6-person outrigger canoe along the entire course while swimming at the same time. As the first outrigger + swimming relay race in the world, Woodring is to be celebrated for bringing his creative entrepreneurial talents to the sport of open water swimming.

Large swells are expected outside of Stanley to Round Island with scenery that is reminiscent of Hawaii. Some of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for their Save Our Seas Campaign.

The Clean Half race results to follow.