New Website Location For The Daily News

The Daily News of Open Water Swimming that covers professional marathon swimming, solo swims, relays, charity swims, ecoswims, mass participation swims, adventure swims, stage swims, channel attempts, world record swims and open water swimming tours, camps, clinics and conferences can be followed here.

For the latest and most comprehensive news coverage of exploits, personalities, trends, commentary, records, services and products of the open water swimming world, get your daily fix of open water swimming at the new Daily News of Open Water Swimming.

Copyright © 2011 by World Open Water Swimming Association

Open Water Swimming In Oceania

What a better place for open water swimming than Oceania.

The 2010 Oceania Swimming Championships 5K and 10K races will be held in Faleausiu on the island of Upolu in Samoa in June. But there are an incredible array of open water swimming opportunities - competitive, solo and relays - throughout the region.

Previously, the 5K and 10K races have been held in Brisbane, Australia (1998), Noumea, New Caledonia (2002), Suva, Fiji (2004) and Cairns, Australia (2006) with swimmers from Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, American Samoa, Hawaii, Northern Marianas and Tahiti competing in the Championships.

The inaugural Oceania Masters Swimming Championships 5K race was held in Fiji in 2005. A 5km open water event is included on the Championships program.

The quadrennial South Pacific Games includes a 5K race since it was first introduced in the 1999 Games in Guam with swimmers from New Caledonia, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, American Samoa, Northern Marianas and Tahiti taking part.

The Micronesian Games, originally started in 1969 in Saipan, holds a 3K race where athletes from the northern Pacific region (Micronesia, Guam, Palau, Northern Marianas, Nauru and Kiribati) compete. A 3K race was held for the first time at the 2006 Games. The 2010 Micronesian Games will be hosted by Palau.

The biennial Arafura Games are held every two years in Darwin, Australia is billed as a meeting of "Sporting Neighbours" and attracts competitors from all parts of Australia, nations throughout the Asia Pacific and beyond. Participation had soared to more than 3,000 athletes representing 32 nations with competition in 30 sports including 5K and 10K races.

In addition to the international championships, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji hold their own annual national open water swimming championships. The Australian Masters Games also includes 5K and 10K races.

And there are hundreds of informal and formal races including the 3K Cocos Island Crossing in Guam, the 3K Saipan Ocean Swim in Northern Marianas:, the 3-day open water Fiji Swims festival, the swims of the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series and the Pacific Swims in Fiji and Vanuatu and everything in Australia from the Cole Classic to the Rottnest Channel Swim

According to the sport's leading authorities in Oceania (including FINA Bureau Liaison Dennis Miller of Fiji, Chris Guesdon of Australia and John West of New Zealand, "...despite a limitation of resources (both human and financial), a concerted push to recognize open water swimming as a part of regional and continental aquatic events has seen an increased profile for the discipline in recent years."

Copyright © 2010 by World Open Water Swimming Association

Triathlon And Open Water Swimming - Exploding With Growth

In the sports world, triathlons and open water swimming can be considered like cousins – different, but with a strikingly similar DNA. Both sports are experiencing unprecedented growth and popularity around the world.

When we analyze the growth and demographics of the two sports, the similarities abound.

According to USA Triathlon (USAT), there was a sizeable shift in triathlon's participation base from the 30-34 age group to the 35-39 age group during the late 1990’s.

Since that time, the greatest growth has occurred in the 35-39 and 40-44 age groups. USAT believes triathlon's growth will continue because those age groups are looking for new outlets of participation and fitness. Similarly in the open water world, the largest age groups across swims in the 81 countries we surveyed range between the ages of 30-49 with the bulk in the 35-44 year age groups

Like triathlons, based on the number of newcomers, we believe that the vast majority of adult open water swimmers are looking for new athletic outlets just like their triathlon counterparts.

USA Triathlon confirmed their sport’s growth has been consistent in all age categories over the past decade - which is also absolutely true in open water. Like USAT , we believe the size of both sports – even in times of a global recession – will continue to increase as more events are being established throughout every region in the world, including areas outside the major metropolitan areas.

Reasons for Growth

USAT’s data shows that since 2000, the female membership has grown from 27% of its total to over 38% at the end of 2008.

USAT's believes this growth is based on society’s acceptance of active women, women feeling more comfortable living an active lifestyle, the growth of women’s-only events like the Danskin and Trek Triathlon Series, and more races that focus on charity involvement and fundraising. While there are only a few women-only open water swims around the world (e.g., Sweden's Vansbrosimningen and in Iran), many open water swims have women-only heats and, although our data is not as detailed as USAT, it is obvious that the fastest growing demographic group in open water swimming is women over the age of 40.

In fact, if we look at the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation data from the 2009 English Channel season, there were 62 successful crossings (including one two-way crossing) with 22 of those crossings made by women (or 35% of the total which closely mirrors the overall percentage of women who participate in all forms of open water swimming). But, a number (to be confirmed) of these women are on the north side of 40.

Participation Numbers

While competitive pool swimming in the U.S. has consistently and largely mirrored the general population growth in the U.S. for the last few decades, with a few exceptions, triathlons and open water swimming are experiencing explosive growth. The USAT data shows that triathlon participation in the U.S. is at an all-time high, following unprecedented growth over the past ten years. From membership numbers between 15,000 and 19,060 from 1993 to 1999, USAT membership surpassed 115,000 in 2009.

Similarly, the antidotal evidence in open water shows similar growth with the average number of participants in open water swims increasing from 156 in 1999 to over 280 in 2009. Several open water swims are representative of this growth:

For example, the Midmar Mile in South Africa has experienced this consistent growth under the leadership of race director Wayne Riddin:

1974 - 153 swimmers
1975 - 220 swimmers
1976 - 634 swimmers
1977 - 1,021 swimmers
1978 - 1,426 swimmers
1979 - 1,892 swimmers
1980 - 2,500 swimmers
1981 - 3,000 swimmers
1982 - 3,000 swimmers
1983 - unknown
1984 - 2,555 swimmers
1985 - 2,454 swimmers
1986 - 3,200 swimmers
1987 - 3,500 swimmers
1988 - 3,916 swimmers
1989 - 3,700 swimmers
1990 - 4,000 swimmers
1991 - 4,890 swimmers
1992 - 4,400 swimmers
1993 - 4,724 swimmers
1994 - 5,027 swimmers
1995 - 6,140 swimmers
1996 - 6,925 swimmers
1997 - 7,774 swimmers
1998 - 9,600 swimmers
1999 - 10,045 swimmers
2000 - 10,045 swimmers
2001 - 12,214 swimmers
2002 - 13,218 swimmers
2003 - 16,050 swimmers
2004 - 17,332 swimmers
2005 - 17,087 swimmers
2006 - 16,696 swimmers
2007 - 16,853 swimmers
2008 - 19,013 swimmers
2009 - 17,575 swimmers

Where swims are limited in size due to local ordinances, the maximum number of participants is now quickly reached (in the matter of minutes) in numerous swims including the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in New York, the Chesapeake Bay Swim in Maryland.

Additionally, there are now several events around the world such as the Rottnest Channel Swim in Western Australia which are so popular that a lottery system is now in place to determine what swimmers are the fortunate to get in the swim.

And, of course, series such as the Sovereign New Zealand Ocean Swim Series, the Great Swim Series in Britain and the Axxess DSL Ocean Racing Series in South Africa are growing by leaps and bounds and did not exist in the early 21st century.

Wherever only a few dozen swimmers previously participated in long-distance swims in Lake Windermere, the definition of open water swimming has expanded, enabling fields for the Great North Swim to exceed 6,000 participants in only its second year.

Differences in Triathlon vs. Open Water

There are some differences, however. In 2006, USAT required mandatory youth memberships which helped its membership double from 40,299 in 2002 to 84,787 in 2006, but outside of a few passionate coaches (Siga Rose), organizations (Ohio Swimming), events (OceanKids of New Zealand) and federations (British Swimming), open water swimming remains primarily the sport of adults, which indicates that the potential for continued growth in open water swimming remains high and largely untapped among the younger demographic groups.

But, like triathlons which saw 280,000 individuals purchase a one-day membership to compete in USAT sanctioned events in 2007 (growing from 100,000 in 2000), open water swimming enjoys a vast number of enthusiasts who only do one event per year. This may be due to the fact that, relative to other swims, there are so few open water swims available. But, it is also a possible indication that as the number of events increases, these one-event-per-year swimmers will start to participate in more events.

Reasons for Growth

USAT believes that the growth of triathlon popularity is partly due to its appearance in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. On the Olympic stage for the first time, the publicity of the sport was unprecedented. The media interest sustained momentum through the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Magazines, newspapers and online media continued to cover triathletes, helping position the pros as incredible Supermen and Superwomen and making it cool for the average participant to be seen as a triathlete – at any level. Training for a triathlon has become a badge of courage and competing in an Ironman – no matter how fast or slow – elicits the respect and awe of the triathlete’s family, friends and co-workers.

Lure of Olympic Gold

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, over 70 countries broadcast the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim live. While television coverage of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim paled in comparison to the Olympic triathlon in the U.S., a total of over 46,000 people in the U.S. logged on live online, late at night, to watch NBC Olympics’s live online coverage of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim.

USAT believe the following factors all play a part in triathlon’s continued popularity:

• Society’s interest in fitness and living a healthy lifestyle
• The growth of the number of total races across the country, making races easier to get to
• The growth in the number of the more accessible shorter sprint races, which made the sport more accessible to those with fewer hours to train each week
• Media attention on the sport
• Growth in the 30-49 age groups who are looking for varied outlets for fitness
• Peer pressure from friends who have tried the sport
• The ego reward of saying you are a triathlete
• Increase in clubs, which create a community concept for men and especially women who enjoy the group training and support atmosphere
• Increase in resources (websites, books, magazines) that provide assistance/education in getting started
• Growth in multisport shops and triathlon specific training and racing gear
• Marketing and communications efforts of USA Triathlon
• Growth in the number of USAT certified coaches who are able to provide training plans and individual attention for athletes who need guidance and motivation

We also have stated similar reasons for the growth in open water swimming in a previous article that can be seen here, but the allure of Olympic gold on the athletes and sporting public is both tangibly large and intangibly motivating and inspiring.

Growth of Events

Event-wise, the number of USAT-sanctioned races, camps and clinics have climbed from 1,541 in 2004 to 2,804 in 2008 (a 181% growth) – which also mirrors the growth of open water swims in the U.S. from 220 in 1999 to over 700 in 2009 (a 320% growth). USAT also points out that multi-sport events such as duathlons (run-bike-run), Aquabikes (bike-swim-bike) and Aquathlons (run-swim-run) have also seen excellent growth. Again, this is similar to the growth in stage swims, solo charity swims, professional prizes of all sorts from the RCP Tiburon Mile to the Flowers Sea Swim and expedition swims in the open water world which are largely performed outside the sanction of established governing bodies.

Short vs. Long

USAT triathlon also points out that biggest growth continues to be at the shorter sprint distances, which have surged from 818 in 2004 to 1,338 in 2008, but growth at other distances (including Olympic, Half Ironman and Ironman) has also been consistent during that time. Similarly, most of the open water events are short-distance (85% are under 5K in distance in the U.S.), but the 5K-10K Olympic-distance events (4% of the total) and marathon-distance events (11% of the total) have also carved out their own niches and ardent practitioners.

USAT also estimates there are approximately 500 triathlon events that are not sanctioned by USAT in the U.S. (e.g., conducted by universities and YMCA’s). Similarly, but to a much larger extent, the open water world offers numerous events that are hosted by a various of organizations outside of the traditional national governing bodies. It is interesting to note that USAT and other triathlon organizations are being very successful in sanctioning open water events that have traditionally been sanctioned by swimming organizations.

What is also interesting is the data from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) that has included triathlons in its national participation studies since 2006. The SGMA data shows that a remarkable 921,000 Americans participated in at least one triathlon in 2006, while that number jumped to more than 1.1 million in 2007. Even more remarkably, the growth of core participants (i.e., those athletes who compete in more than two events per year) increased from 550,000 in 2006 to 746,000 in 2007 – a growth rate of 35.6%. And, by definition, 100% of those triathletes do open water, albeit many of the triathletes view open water swimming as something to get over with as quickly and painlessly as possible before doing the "real" (and bulk) of their endurance activity.

Triathlon Advantages

Admittedly, triathlons enjoy several key advantages over open water swimming on a variety of levels.

1. Many young people view triathlon as a real sport – not a fringe sport as it was early on. However, open water swimming, in our opinion, is still 10-20 years behind triathlon’s growth and, as such, we believe open water swimming is still seen by many – including most competitive pool swimmers – as a fringe sport.

2. NBC Universal, Versus and many smaller sports networks regularly televise triathlon events while open water swimming’s televised events are few and far between. [Note: the obvious exceptions are the Great Swim Series televised in Britain, the World Swimming Championships televised by Rai TV in Europe and a few professional swims sanctioned by FINA.

3. USAT and other national triathlon federations have very successfully marketed the sport to its younger participants while the focused, nationwide open water swimming efforts by national swimming federations is more limited.

4. USAT spent money on conducting a study on The Mind of the Triathlete that revealed new data on the demographics and spending habits of multisport athletes in the U.S. However, research studies on the Mind of the Open Water Swimmer has largely been the solitary work of passionate individuals such as Dr. Julie Bradshaw, Jen Schumacher and Sakura Hingley. So whereas USAT was able to get more than 15,000 triathletes to give 20 minutes of their time describing their experiences, lifestyle, habits and backgrounds, open water swimming’s in-depth research is still in its infancy.

5. Triathlon’s growth is more institutionalized among national federations and supported by a vast greater amount of capital and human resources.

Open Water Swimming Advantages

Open water swimming’s obvious strength is in the grass-roots level where its growth is percolating and simmering, quietly and without the vast sums of capital and, by and large, without the corporate support or organizational infrastructure that the sport of triathlon currently enjoys.

Open water swimming will also be able to tap into the increase in crossover athletes or those from the triathlon and pool swimming world who support and participate in open water swimming. We believe that open water swimming is just beginning to tap into the crossover pool swimmer, on the age-group, masters and elite levels.

Open water swimming has just begun to tap into its potential for creating destination events held in gorgeous waters in beautiful locations, both tropical and temperate.

When we consider that the International Paralympic Committee will hold its third world open water swimming championships in 2010, when the Special Olympics will have its first 1.5K world open water swimming championship at its 2011 World Games in Athens, when wetsuit-acceptable events like the Great Swim Series capture the attention of over 6,000 swimmers in its second year, when the largest television broadcaster in Latin America, Globo TV, and other broadcasters around the world are scheduled to broadcast even more open water races, when wild swimming is taking off, an when masters swimming is wholeheartedly supporting the open water swimming movement, we know the sport is on its way to healthy success.

In summary, the outlook for both triathlons and open water swimming remains bright – extraordinarily bright.

Photos of Sara McLarty who has represented the USA in both triathlon and open water swimming world championship events.

Copyright © 2009 by Open Water Source

Open Water Swimming Word Of The Day - Expedition Swimming

Expedition swimming (noun): Swimming in natural or man-made bodies of open water including oceans, lakes, rivers, bays and reservoirs, together with teammates or swim buddies, usually as part of a guided tour with or without escorts. The swimmers enjoyed their expedition swim where they encountered many dolphin on their first day. Synonyms: wild swimming, open water swimming, free swimming.

Definition excerpt from the Open Water Swimming Dictionary (English version 2009).

Photo of swimmers exploring the Irish water around Sandycove Island.

Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source

Developing Young Open Water Swimmers

The October issue of Swimming World Magazine includes an article about developing young swimmers with examples from renowned American coaches like Sid Cassidy and Siga Rose of Mission Viejo Nadadores.

Photo shows Siga motivating her young swimmers from Mission Viejo.

Copyright © 2008 by Open Water Source

Amazing Feel-Good Factor at the Queenie Festival

The Isle of Man holds a series of ocean swims during its Queenie Festival. Recently, Olympic 10K Marathon Swim silver medalist David Davies visited the Isle of Man to encourage others to take part in the Scallop Shell Swims in June and July.

The Isle of Man holds a series of ocean swims during its Queenie Festival is an annual event held to celebrate one of the Island’s local seafood, the Queen Scallop, or as it’s more commonly known on the Isle of Man, the Queenie.

The Scallop Shell Swims will have three events between 0.5K and 1.6K with or without wetsuits. David talks about the elite world of open water swimming, "It's not for the faint-hearted. It's hard work, but the feel-good factor, the sense of self-satisfaction, is amazing."

Scallop Shell Swims organizer Mark Gorry comments, "The idea behind the swims is to encourage people to have a go at swimming in our idyllic bays, from club swimmers and triathletes to anyone who has ever looked out across the sea on a sunny afternoon and thought it looked inviting, but just needs a little encouragement. The weekday events are set in the evening to allow people to come down after work, while the final event is on the Sunday afternoon of the Tynwald bank holiday weekend, with beach-based fun events as well. We're also interested in encouraging those who fancy a new challenge, and are more than happy if people want to take part to raise funds for local charities."

Photo shows David Davies at the end of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim.

Inspirational Designs in the Open Water World

In the course of our reporting on open water swimming, we shoot the breeze with wetsuit and technical swimsuit designers and marketers. We ask them where they get their inspirations and ideas from.

Now you know.

Show Your Love on Valentine’s Day

"That’s amazing."

I will always remember those words when I first described open water swimming to one of the world’s greatest swim coaches and motivators, Richard Quick.


His eyes were focused on me. I could tell he was taking in everything I was saying as he was trying to understand - and picture in his mind - the nuances of drafting, training, feeding and pacing of open water swimmers.

After I finished the explanation of FINA World Cup Marathon Swims, he smiled and started to ask a number of questions.

I felt his warmth of his personality and his intellectual curiosity envelope me as I continued to describe cold water acclimatization, escort boats, yellow flags, disqualifications, beach starts and in-the-water finishes at open water swims.




A passionate coach of some of the world’s greatest swimmers, including Rowdy Gaines, Dara Torres, Jenny Thompson, Steve Lundquist, Summer Sanders, Misty Hyman, Richard also coached the USA Olympic Swim Team in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004.

But Richard was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and the swim community is rallying to his aid. Valentine’s Day is being promoted as Swim Quick Day for the purpose of raising money in the fight against cancer and for the healing of the swimming community's great friend.

Swim Across America is organizing this event to prove what Richard already knows and what he has taught his swimmers over the years: the mind and its emotional content can change anything if we focus hard enough on a specific task.

The concept of Swim Quick Day is to swim in practice or competition, devote your energy toward Richard’s good health and donate money in his name.

"We're currently in the process of looking for the best care possible to fight this. I want to thank the countless individuals that have passed along their well wishes, thoughts and prayers."

From the very first day we met when you engaged me in a wonderfully entertaining and insightful conversation about open water swimming, you have always impressed me.

You are indeed in our thoughts and prayers, Coach.

London 2012 Open Water Race in the Ocean

The News Press of Ft. Myers, Florida reported today that the International Olympic Committee decided that the open water swimming in the London 2012 Olympics will be held in the ocean.

The Olympic 10K Marathon Swim at the Beijing Olympics were held in the Olympic rowing-canoeing basin.

"Open water swimming has almost done a 360 (degree turn) with the decision about the London Olympics. Now, we provide a venue that no one else can provide," said Swim Florida coach and open water promoter Gregg Cross at the Aaron Peirsol's Race for the Oceans event this weekend in Ft. Myers.

Confirmation of the IOC announcement is being immediately sought.

World Record Swim Attempt in Western Australia

On November 29, 2008, the swimming community of Western Australia will attempt to set a Guinness World Record in the category of "most participants in an open water race". In January 1998, the community of Lorne, Victoria in Australia set the current record when 3,071 swimmers completed the Pier to Pub race.

The ECU West Coast 1000 World Record Swim hopes to field up to 5,000 participants to swim 1km in the inaugural ECU West Coast 1000.

Participants will be seeded in groups of approximately 500 swimmers and will depart Cottesloe Beach on foot to the starting point at North Cottesloe. Each swim group will enter the water at timed intervals for the return swim to Cottesloe. All participants will be timed electronically so that the world record and category winners can be verified.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association

2009 World Swimming Championships in Rome

The 13th FINA World Championships will be held in Rome from July 18th to August 1st. The organizing committee has a extensive website with information on all the aquatic disciplinces and several beautiful open water swimming photos shown here.



The open water swimming competitions (5K, 10K and 25K races) may be held in Lido di Roma in Ostia (Harbor of Ostia).

Champion Mindset Open Water Swimming Tips

From the mid-1980's and the early 1990's, Shelley Taylor-Smith was the Larisa Ilchenko of her time. Like Ilchenko in contemporary times, Taylor-Smith completely dominated the sport of marathon swimming. Taylor-Smith was ranked No. 1 for 7 consecutive years by the World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation, won 4 world championship 25K races and even was ranked No. 1 - for both men and women - by the World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation in 1991.


Taylor-Smith, currently a motivational speaker and Honorary General of the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee, gave her insight and advice on Open Water Swimming as the season gets underway in the Southern Hemisphere:

The Open Water Swim season is here and you’re getting ready to compete this morning. As you arrive at the event, there's a cool mist in the air. As you were driving to the event, you heard the weather report: perfect skies, sunny, and 25 degrees... You couldn't ask for better weather to compete.

You look around at your competitors and then gaze out over the ocean as you slip on your swim cap & goggles. You felt really relaxed and confident as you were driving here. You've been training for months and feel like today could be the day you set a new PB (personal best).

But then as you're staring out over the ocean, you start getting that old feeling again….

A feeling of nervousness and butterflies.

You start thinking about the distance you have to swim. You begin wondering what the water conditions will be like today. Will the water be smooth... or rough? Perfectly warm ... or shockingly cold? Are there any currents? Is it the tide coming in or on the way out?

You look around at everyone else getting ready for the swim. It looks like today's event will be ‘chock a block’ with competitors.

You remember your last open water swimming ‘experience’ and start thinking all of the splashing that happens as everyone hits the water at once with that dreaded beach start. There will be so many arms and legs flailing around you... you can't help but wonder if you'll get accidently bumped into by another swimmer and survive the first turn buoy.

You remember how tired you were after last time. As you were training, you kept telling yourself that this time, things would be different. You trained hard — probably the hardest you ever have.

But you never gave a second thought to thinking that open water swimming is that different to pool swimming.

….And you suddenly realise that it's always been that way…as it is in life…what separates the greats from the rest…EXPERIENCE….yikes!

…Well I am here to tell you it is not too late. The Open Water Swimming season is here and hotter than ever. Never before has there been so much interest in open water swimming since the 10km Marathon Swim made its debut in the Beijing Olympic Games in August 2008.

Let’s turn your ‘love-hate’ relationship of open water around with you becoming a passionate open water swimmer, begging for more than chlorine and that black line.

One of the first things to consider would be the difference in open water swimming (OWS) versus the pool where you probably have done most of your training. The big variable in OWS would be the conditions. You would rarely have 1 metre waves nor 50 others swimmers in your swim lane at your squad training or masters club practice.

The best tip for handling some of the conditions is experience. The more that you have been exposed to various conditions in open water the more comfortable you will feel on competition day. So with that being said here are a few additional tips to consider…

It’s time to Befriend the Swim with ‘Tips for Open Water Swimming’:

BEGINNERS: (you love the idea but you have a fear of the ocean; not being able to see or touch the bottom)

1. Pre-Competition Day – Never practice open water swimming alone. No matter how
good a swimmer you are you should never swim alone. Swim with another person or
swim at an area with a lifeguard. In addition to safety having another person around can help you with technique.

2. Getting Ready: Wear your goggles underneath your swim cap. This will avoid your
goggles being knocked off your head at the start and around the turn buoys. I always
raced with 2 swim caps. (First the cap, then the goggles and finally the 2nd swim cap.)

Wear bathers or approved skins (blueseventy) that you have worn previously. Avoid
wearing a brand new swim suit on competition day. Why? The salt will rub in places
you never thought it would. Trust me!

3. Know the Course: Look at the map of the swim or go to the lake, river or ocean itself and figure out which direction you will need to swim and when.

4. Review the Course: take another swimmer and have a light swim from the start to the first turn buoy and look down the course for your marker buoys that will guide you throughout the swim.

5. On Your Marks: Stay Relaxed. Don’t Panic. You’re Not Alone! Also cold water can make you breathe rapidly which may make you feel like you are so nervous your breathing is being impacted. If the water is cold and this happens, relax; your body is adjusting to the water temperature and with time will adjust. Concentrate on breathing deeply, visualise yourself handling each turn buoy calmly and seeing yourself completing the swim with a big grin!. This will help you greatly.

6. The Start: Talk to people who have previously done the race (in past years). Pay attention when the waves (groups of swimmers) in front of you go and watch the pattern they are swimming in. Start at the back of the pack and this will be less stressful for you.

7. Which stroke do I swim? – You are allowed to swim more than one stroke. Breaststroke, backstroke, and side stroke can all be used both to give you a rest from freestyle and help you to stay on course. Using breaststroke and backstroke can also help you adjust to the colder water.

8. Rounding the Turn Buoys – no breaststroke please. This helps avoid the person behind being kicked by you in the face or other private parts of the anatomy and you not having the guilts for the rest of the race.

9. Be prepared for the next wave of swimmers. Don't swim right on the course as there are more waves to come; especially if the swim is in age groups or time categories. You will most likely end up in collision with a pack of swimmers or with faster swimmers. It is easier just to stay to the side a little and not get run over.

10. Don't draft/slipstream if you have not practiced the skill or only practiced it a little bit. At least not yet as a beginner. As a beginner if you get to close to someone’s feet, you can end up getting kicked in the face and/or loose your goggles as noted in tip #7. It also doesn't allow you to enjoy the experience and concentrate on your swimming-your stroke and your pace.

INTERMEDIATE: (you’ve completed a few OWS events but not achieving your potential)

1. Know the Course - Check out the layout of the course. Locate the first and last buoys, wave conditions, swim direction, sun direction, etc. It is often beneficial to site those first buoys from water level so you will know what they will look like when the swim starts.

2. The Start - Don't start at the front or middle of your wave if you are not a strong swimmer. This is a frequent mistake made. The natural tendency is to start further up so that you have less distance to swim, but it can be quite rough in the front or middle of the pack if you don't have much experience with open water swimming. You might also swim the first part too fast and get tired. Also don't start right behind someone try to stagger yourself so you don't get kicked by their feet when you start.

3. Concentrate on technique or ‘form’. With all the other swimmers and trying to stay on course this can be tricky and you may only be able to focus on one element of technique to correct which is fine. It gets easier over time though.

4. Learn to breathe on both sides – Known as ‘bilateral breathing’; not only does it split the effort of certain muscle groups by 50%, but it’s good to be able to turn away from the sun while swimming with clear goggles and avoid the waves and wind smashing in from one direction.

5. Slipstreaming – There is no FINA rule for drafting. Think cycling and tuck in behind a competitor or mate that that you know is a slightly faster swimmer and this will reduce your overall effort. If you are close enough to feel the bubbles of their feet you are in a prime position. Just a few points of courtesy, don't tap their feet and be sure to thank them after the competition.

ADVANCED: (you think you know it all…but there’s always room to learn, improve or refresh)

1. Review the Course: Check for rips and currents when reviewing the course. Taking the fastest route via a ripe may not necessarily be the straight line off of the beach but it will get you to the turn buoy in record time.

2. The Start: Avoid that "centre field" "middle of the pack" position on the beach. Outside start position with a clear line to the first buoy is more advantageous.

3. Slipstreaming – the best position is on the outside preferably behind someone’s feet. Avoid getting boxed in the middle or you will get hammered on both sides. Think horse racing; the worst position is against the fence as you cannot get out. If you cannot get out; stop and duck under and out of the way and go to the back of the pack or onto the outside of the person next to you.

4. Open Water ‘Sighting’ - The key to proper navigation. Lifting your head, too often you will slow down, not enough and you may get off course. A good school of thought would be to ‘sight’ every 5 or 6 strokes. If you have a naturally straight swimming stoke you may go to every 10 strokes. Most swimmers ‘sight’ as exhaling, then lower their eyes back into the water, turn to the side for a normal breath. The key will be to only lift your eyes high enough to see the buoy or other landmark that you are using for sighting. It's good to practice this move in the pool. Practice the drill in the middle 20metres because the walls at either end can be less forgiving.

5. The Final Sprint – You’ve rounded the last turn buoy and you’re heading back into the beach/finish. This part of the swim is when the previous 90% can not be fair. So far you have been using primarily your upper body muscle group. Now it's time to bring in the legs and lower body. To help get the blood to move to the lower extremities increase your kick the last 100m of the swim. This will help you get your "running legs” for the finish quicker. Keep swimming until your hand touches the bottom, then you will be able to stand up and run more efficiently out of the water to the finish.

I hope that some of these tips will help you with your next open water swim. Certainly practice and experience will help you gain the confidence to perform more effectively in open water swimming.

Copyright © Champion Mindset Consulting 2008

Swimming Smarter Against The Best

The dominance of Larisa Ilchenko has stymied her competitors since she first won the 5K world championships in 2004. Like the anchor leg finish of Jason Lezak, everyone knows Ilchenko's blazing finish will come...they just can't seem to do anything about it. Fast pace, slow pace, ocean, lake, Ilchenko comes through every time.

At the Singapore leg of the FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup, former world champion Shelley Taylor-Smith asked Ilchenko's competitors how they plan to dethrone Ilchenko.

Fourth-place Olympic 10K finisher Angela Maurer told Taylor-Smith, "The difference between Larisa and the rest [of us] is not that she is faster, but that she swims smarter than the rest of the competitors."

Brazilian open water swimming coach Igor de Souza said of Ana Marcela Cunha, the youngest swimmer in the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim, "Anna is young. Not just her age, but in 10K racing, she is young compared to Larisa and many of the experienced marathon swimmers like Angela Maurer, Britta Kamrau and others. So we will now go back and prepare Ana Marcela to focus on becoming a 'smart racer'. She must learn to race. Speed is important, yes. But thinking like a 10K marathon swimmer is what wins. I believe that is what it is going to take to beat Larisa."

Photo by Satiro Sodré/CBDA shows Ana Marcela Cunha at the Olympic 10K.

Open Water Swimming in the Americas

The Union Americana de Natacion (U.A.N.A.), translated into English as Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas, is a FINA-recognized sports organization with responsibilities in pool swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming, masters swimming and open water swimming in the Western Hemisphere.

UANA is the continental governing body recognized by FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation), the world's governing body for aquatics.

Here one can find a variety of information about the swimming activities throughout the Americas.

The Spanish-language UANA open water swimming (or agua abiertas in Spanish) pages are here.

The English-language UANA open water swimming pages are here.

Swimming World Magazine also occasionally provides updates from the UANA member countries, its events and athletes.

USA Swimming Open Water Video

Under the leadership of Dave Thomas of USA Swimming, all 2,800 swim clubs registered with USA Swimming will receive a nice open water swimming Christmas present. Thomas has arranged for the teams to receive a USA Swimming Open Water Swimming DVD that covers all aspects of competitive open water swimming.

The video, currently in post-production, was shot at the USA Swimming National Open Water Select Camp in Ft. Myers, Florida. It was a collaboration by national team coaches Rick Walker of Southern Illinois University, Catherine Vogt of USC and Steven Munatones. Dean Ekeren, USA Swimming National Events Director and Gregg Cross, inspirational race director of numerous national championships in Ft. Myers, also assisted in the production of the video.

The educational video covers in-pool training for open water swimming, open water swimming drills and skills, drafting, feeding, starts, finishes, buoy turns, setting up an open water race and safety.

Photo shows the top female open water swimmers at the 2007 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships, all of whom have participated in the USA Swimming National Open Water Select Camps where the best pool distance swimmers are given an opportunity to receive a comprehensive and intense introduction to open water swimming.

FINA Website Traffic During the Olympics

FINA, the governing body of water polo, pool swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and open water swimming, announced that 285,282 users visited the FINA.org website almost 10,000 times per day during the month of August. During the peak days, the number of unique visits per day to its website was nearly 21,500.

During the 9 days of the pool swimming events in Beijing, from August 9-17, the FINA website registered 7,712,148 hits (or an average of 856,906 hits per day or 138,367 unique visits) in total.

The peak day for FINA website traffic was August 11, when America's Jason Lezak ran down Alain Bernard of the French team in the epic 400 freestyle relay. 21,000 visitors went to the FINA website.

During the two days of the open water swimming events in Beijing, the FINA website had 742,430 hits on the day Larisa Ilchenko won the women's Olympic 10K Marathon Swim and 738,912 hits when Maarten van der Weijden won the men's Olympic 10K Marathon Swim.

10KSwimmer makes two observations of this FINA website data:

1. The new Olympic sport of open water swimming was only slightly less popular than the glamour sport of pool swimming: 856,906 hits per day vs. 740,671 hits per day on average.

2. Ilchenko wins in a website traffic comparison over the men.

Photo of Ilchenko in Singapore with Valerio Cleri by Shelley Taylor-Smith.

Hard to Miss That Turn Buoy

At the FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup in Singapore, the race organizers made sure the turn buoys were visible to the swimmers. Yuri Kudinov, 3-time world 25K champion and 2nd fastest English Channel swimmer of all time, is shown leading the pack as he rounds one of the turn buoys.

The FINA World Cup swim was eventually won by Kudinov's teammate, Daniil Serebrennikov, and Valerio Cleri who tied in a time of 2:09.20.25.

Photo provided by Jane Ng of the Singapore Swimming Association.

California Open Water Swimming Clinics

John Dussliere, coach of Olympian marathon swimmer Mark Warkentin, and Jay Thomas, a FINA-certified official, gave a 2-hour open water swimming presentation at the Southern California Swimming Fall Clinic to 175 officials, coaches and parents.

Dussliere, who designed and produced the creative feeding sticks used by USA Swimming's Olympic and national open water swimmers, explained open water swimming on the national and international level and Warkentin's Olympic 10K training and preparations.

Thomas covered the rules and procedures of domestic and international FINA World Cup competitions and gave an open water swimming officiating clinic with specific training in Timekeeping and the responsibilities of Finish Judges, Turn Judges, Clerk of Course Assistants and Assistant Referees.

Their next presentation will be in Napa Valley, California in January, 2009.

Photo shows Dussliere (middle) at the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships with fellow British and Australian open water swimming coaches.

The Joy of Victory in the Pool and Open Water

The exuberance of the Olympic medalists is a joy to see. The world's photographers truly captured the swimmers' triumphant exhilaration at the Olympics.

Swimming World Magazine’s October 2008 issue with Michael Phelps on the cover shows pages and pages of photos of ecstatic swimmers. Arms raised, fists clenched, shouts of joy and the adrenaline of Olympic victory can beautifully captures.

In stark contrast, the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim medalists appeared to be totally spent after they finished their races. There were no smiles, no arms raised to the sky and certainly no jumps for joy immediately after the finish. Instead, when the marathon swimmers cross the finish pads and swim to the dock, they gave a quiet acknowledgement through eye contact, exchanged respectual hand shakes and meak smiles with their competitors and the crowd.

The temperate joy of the open water swimmers shown at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing was definitely much different than the exuberance shown by the pool swimmers in the Water Cube.

“We gave it all we had,” explained Thomas Lurz of Germany, the bronze medalist in Beijing. “Open water swimming is so much different than swimming in the pool. We swim hard for two hours and have no more energy left. But, when we win an Olympic medal, we are happy inside.”

Giving it all one has…a mantra that is well-known to solo, channel and open water swimmers worldwide.

Upper photo of Peter Vanderkaay, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte after the 4 x 200 freestyle relay by Simon Bruty of Sports Illustrated.

Lower photo of Olympic 10K gold medalist Maarten van der Weijden by Pei Qingsheng.

World's Best Open Water Swimming Feast

It would be very hard to beat the Tiburon Mile post-race smorgasborg. While most open water swimming events offer fruits and juices for the athletes after the race and some offer a nice pot-luck or great barbeque lunch, the Tiburon Mile really goes all-out.

Race Director Bob Placak and his team provide an expansive buffet for the athletes. A gourmet of wraps, sushi, Indian curry, specialty salads and sandwiches, chocolate-covered strawberries, a variety of chicken, specially designed cupcakes, fruits and juices on the shores of San Francisco Bay.

A 50-meter tent with two buffet lines is lined with all-you-can-eat food and drink from the following sponsors: Bordenave’s of San Rafael, Bungalow 44 of Mill Valley, Café Z Epicerie of Greenbrae, E&O Trading Company of Larkspur, Ebisu Japanese Sushi of San Francisco, Foodnicks of Tiburon, Frosting Bake Shop of Mill Valley, Guaymas of Tiburon, Il David of San Rafael, Indian Village of San Rafael, Insalata’s of San Anselmo, Joint Juice of Santa Cruz, Judy’s Breadsticks of Marin, Kashi Company of La Jolla, Marin Produce of San Rafael, Michael’s Sourdough Sandwiches, Milano Restaurant of Tiburon, OWater of San Francisco, Perry’s Deli of San Rafael, PF Changs China Bistro of Corte Madera, Servino Ristorante of Tiburon, Small Shed Flatbread of Mill Valley, Sweet Things Bakery of Tiburon, Sweden House Bakery of Tiburon, The Melting Pot of Larkspur, Whole Foods of San Rafael and Mill Valley, and Zola of San Francisco.

The race finishes at Sam’s Anchor Cafe, a shoreside restaurant whose owner was the first supporter of the RCP Tiburon Mile in 1999. The owner event sets a webcam that provides live updates every 60 seconds of the finish line.

The event surely provides the world’s best post-race feast.

Photo of Sam’s Anchor Cafe near the finish of the RCP Tiburon Mile by Panoramio.