Swimmer's Daily

  • On August 19, Eyeka.com and Speedo launched this video and photo contest, deadline on August 29, for you to share your most memorable swim with the chance to win up to £3000. You have to create a user account there, upload the video or photo, whereafter internet users will vote on it or not on www.facebook.com/UnforgettableSwims. A lot of registration and forced Facebook liking, but still, £3000 possible GBPs for something that I’m sure that all of us here on this blog have. See also Speedo page (with possibility to browse already shared videos) www.unforgettableswims.com. Via VidOpp.

    What did you do? Where did it take place? How did you feel? What were the consequences in your life or in your mood? And finally, what made your swim unforgettable to you? Show us how personal and inspiring this experience was and why you will always remember it.

  • Ouch, read SwimNews.com and see the video below …

    Former world 100m freestyle champion Filippo Magnini is back in the news after being photographed flirting with Federica Pellegrini at world titles last month. No consequence for the Italian Olympic champion but for Magnini the moment has cost him the woman he might have married. Italian papers today have Christina Nardini, the swimmer’s girlfriend before the photos emerged from Shanghai, saying: “Filippo was all ready for the wedding, we had set the date and bought a house, we also wanted a son … but I could not forgive a betrayal. I was too disappointed.” On the one hand, Magnini, she tells the media, has told her that he misses her and that he had made it clear to Pellegrini that there would be no relationship. On the other hand, Nardini had found an invitation to dine with Pellegrini hidden in a book belonging to Magnini.

  • At 70 years and four months, retired breast surgeon Roger Allsopp completed the 21-mile challenge in 17 hours and 51 minutes, beating the previous Guinness World Record holder George Brunstad (uncle of Academy Award winner Matt Damon) who swam the Channel at 70 years and four days in 2004. All for charity. Read more here on swimming.org.

    Here’s a news segment from before he completed the swim

  • Exciting news, “The Swim” will start in 1.5 hours or so:

    The weather is with us.. We go tonight. @ronanofficial leads us out at 9pm from holyhead pier!! @JoinTheSwimless than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® Favorite Retweet ReplySteve Parry
    steparry2

  • After a brush with death and nearly drowning two years ago, big wave surfer Shane Dorian began working on a wetsuit that could be instantly inflated, bringing the user back to the surface. Still only a prototype, it works by pulling a cord so that a CO2 cartridge will fill the bubble, with only drawbacks being that the wearer might be unconscious or too weak to pull the cord, and that the location of the bubble might leave the wearer face down. Hmm, I think maybe some kind of hydrostatic release mechanism like in this Danish oilskin ? Via joonbug.com.

    Billabong V1 Wetsuit from Billabong USA on Vimeo.

  • English comedian David Walliams will on 5th September start a 140 miles swim of the Thames from Lechdale in Glouchestershire to Big Ben in London, hoping to complete the effort in just eight days. His biggest swimming challenge by far, after having 21-mile English channel in 2006 and the 12-mile Strait of Gibraltar in 2008. Read more here on swimming.org.

  • Always nice to know …

    • Do not go in the water at dawn or dusk; everything is in the shark’s favor. Shark attacks around midday are very rare.
    • Avoid large groups of seals or sea lions, or if you see these creatures on the beach or near the shoreline, beware.
    • If you are bleeding, including menstruating, stay out of the water.
    • Stay clear of fishing boats.
    • The murkier the water, the easier it is for a shark to sense you without your seeing the shark. Shark attacks are more likely to occur than when the water is clear.
    • Leave the water quickly and calmly if a shark is sighted. Avoid excessive splashing or arm and leg movement.
    • Stay in a group; most sharks attack individuals.

    Read SanClementePatch

  • A 3.8 km open water charity race on Sunday round Joss Bay in Kent could according to the BBC have ended as “a very serious problem”, when “up to 80 people” were swept out to sea and had to be rescued, some of them nearly two hours after the incident. Only a few swimmers managed to finish the race, arranged by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and coaching and event company Votwo, in support of the RNLI. The rest of them had to be resqued by the RNLI, talk about proving your value, *ahem*.

    Votwo are being more casual about it, stating shortly:

    Date Posted: 29-Aug-2011

    Joss Bay Long Swim

    Well done to the two junior athletes Lauren Joy and Molly Dawson who completed the mile swim in 27:23 and 27:25 respectively.

    In the 3.8km swim Paul Richardson won with a fast time of 51:25. Paul Newson came 2nd in a time of 55:13 and said the event was great training for his channel swim in a few weeks time.

    Of the 53 swimmers that started the 3.8km swim, 25 were unable to complete the course after the tide changed and were retrieved by water safety craft. 6 completed the whole course with 22 retiring early. All swimmers were accounted for.

    The RNLI landing their hard-hulled rescue vessel at Anstruther harbour.

  • 70-year-old Efrain N. Carrasquillo was working on a car last Thursday in the carport of a home in Orlando, when the car slipped into gear, pushing him and another vehicle parked directly behind him into the pool. The vehicle either sandwiched Carrasquillo or he was dragged, but other than that it was unclear exactly how he came to his death, when this article on the Orlando Sentinel was written.

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