After another summer with two visits to Dover and the Global Open Water Conference taking place in Cork, some additions have been made to my little autograph book. And unfortunately I missed some autographs last weekend. The book continues to grow and seems to spawned at least two by other swimmers, the sincerest form of…
Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 No precept is more sacred to marathon swimmers than the forbidding of a deliberate touch between swimmer and anything else; boats, people or equipment other than feed supplies. That is the way we disqualify ourselves or how we signify that a swim is over. Until you have been there, until it…
Parts 1, 2, 3. I’m really sorry that this is taking so long, I have better things to do myself! I’ve found it difficult to distil this subject down to essentials. I’ve written long series before, and there’s no way I’m giving Diana Nyad more blog parts than more important subjects like Understanding Cold Adaptation in…
Parts 1& 2. As I said previously, I endured three hours of the panel on the telephone before bailing out about thirty minutes before the end. You are surely thinking to yourself, only three hours compared to this unending series? Yes, that’s how I feel also, actually. 🙂 Swim promoter, panel organiser, Moderator and former Observer…
Part 1. Let me start with a note: this series is growing all the time as I write. I had no plans to turn this into the Infinite Jest of marathon swimming, but the words keep pouring out. I have no idea how much longer it will be right now, or if I will have…
Once I finally decided to go ahead with this series of posts, I decided to wait until the “Quiet MIMS” swim of Saturday the 24th of August was finished, as I did not want it to in any way interfere with any of the swimmers. A marathon swim is always a challenging prospect for swimmers…
Part 1. Introduction Part 2. Opening Opinion Part 3. Start timing and boat availability In Parts Two and Three, I raised a question, a question that overshadows much of the discussion of the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim and so needs to remain to the forefront. What is the significant entry fee ($2150) per swimmer actually…
Part 1. – An outsider’s opinion – Introduction Critical Start Timing and Boat Availability Timing is critical for MIMS as swimmers and applicants are essentially told, as a MIMS Selection Committee Member points out; “MIMS is timed very precisely – on a specific kind of tide, at a specific point in the cycle – to give…
Acting as Official Observer for a swim that has no governing association can still require an Observer’s Report. There are too many details to keep track to ensure you will remember them all. A full observer’s report can act as a checklist. It’s primary function is to capture all the relevant detail of a…
The previous two posts dealt with the physiological and environmental limiting factors of marathon swimming. As noted in Part One, non-swimmers and those unfamiliar with the sport tend to see the physiological factors as the greatest hurdles for swimming further distance, often imagining that marathon swimmer’s have some physical capability beyond the average person whereas…
In Part One I covered the physiological limiting factors in marathon swimming. The various environmental aspects of a swim are not insignificant. They are especially important in that they all lay outside the swimmer’s control and often even outside the control of the support crew. Water Temperature This is generally a known factor prior to a…
The northern hemisphere summer swimming season is on the horizon , though it doesn’t feel like it here in Ireland where we’ve been having the coldest spring “since records began” (that phrase we are all familiar with from the past few years). there will be big swims, both attempted and successful. Before genuine and extravagant…
If the wind gets worse, I’ll have to give up, If the sun doesn’t warm, I’ll have to give up, If the water gets rougher, I’ll have to give up, If the boat breaks down, I’ll have to give up, If my shoulder gets bad, I’ll have to give up, If I get hypothermia, I’ll have to give…
During the recent Diana Nyad swimming circus, and some discussions around the place and online, I went for a swim. And we know what happens out there, don’t we? Yeah, stupid ideas. On the marathonswimmers forum there was an excellent suggestion that we (an unaligned but traditional-rules-following group of marathon swimmers) agree some guidelines for…
Practice everything. Do nothing new on the day. These are the two corollaries of the long distance swimmer’s maxim about preparation. Experienced swimmers learn it early. Plan. So for planning for something like a 24 hour pool swim, experienced swimmers like Lisa & Danny first think about what they will need, and will go back to previous…
LoneSwimmer 