Workshop on observing & documenting marathon swims - March 4 in SF

evmo

The Monterey Bay Swimming Association and Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association will be co-hosting a workshop on observing and documenting marathon swims.

• Date: Sunday, March 4, 9am - noon
• Location: South End Rowing Club, San Francisco
• No charge, Open to the public

Topics covered:

• Sanctioning orgs - purpose & processes
• Role of the observer
• Marathon swimming as team sport
• Timing and documenting swims
• The "art" of observing
• Monitoring swimmer health & safety
• Specific steps to get involved in observing Bay Area marathon swims (Tahoe, Monterey Bay, etc.)

Presenting these topics will be Scott Tapley and Kim Rutherford (representing MBSA), Dave Van Mouwerik and myself (representing SBCSA), and Tom Linthicum.

Hope to see a few Forum members next weekend.

mamiller

Have you considered webcasting the workshop?

evmo

mamiller said:
Have you considered webcasting the workshop?

I'll see what we can do about that.

tbaldi

Any chance you will ever offer this at Promontory Point???

phodgeszoho

If a webcast is organised, it would be awesome if this be uploaded for repeat viewing. :-)

lakespray

I just noticed this post from NYOW on a class for observing and documenting marathon swims. I know this is the inaugural run for this class but any future thinking on making this an official certification from the MSF and than attempting to make it universal for NYOW, CROWS, BLDSA, MOWSA, NOWSA etc. ? Okay I'm a little selfish here, but I'm thinking of my future retirement, and doing some observing as a great way to travel and support something I love but knowing it would be difficult to do If I had to become certified by multiple organizations.

evmo

An MSF observer education module/certification is definitely on the agenda, but as a more general-purpose curriculum, e.g., for swims not governed by existing orgs. I'm sure NYOW, NOWSA, and other well established orgs have a much more specific idea of what their observers need to know for their swims.

evmo

In fact, I've already written the first couple questions of the final exam:

• TRUE or FALSE: It is acceptable for the swimmer to take a nap on the boat during a nonstop, unassisted swim.
• Which of the following are considered standard equipment for unassisted swims: (1) single latex or silicone cap; (2) goggles; (3) wetsuit; (4) GPS watch; (5) flippers; (6) lawn chair.

rondi

We love hosting experienced marathon swimmers at our NYOW marathon events; it adds to the level of experience and thus safety on the water. If you have experience as an observer we can definitely use your help in that arena.

lakespray said:
Okay I'm a little selfish here, but I'm thinking of my future retirement, and doing some observing as a great way to travel and support something I love but knowing it would be difficult to do If I had to become certified by multiple organizations.

CathyInCA

evmo said:
In fact, I've already written the first couple questions of the final exam:

• Which of the following are considered standard equipment for unassisted swims: (1) single latex or silicone cap; (2) goggles; (3) wetsuit; (4) GPS watch; (5) flippers; (6) lawn chair.

Definitely a lawn chair is standard equipment for unassisted swims

[Deleted User]

Lawn chair + a tall frosty drink, while you wait for your swimmer to arrive on the beach. Be sure to let the swimmer exit the water and wait for the observer to give you thumbs up before you spray the swimmer with champaign and hugs.

suziedods

All kidding aside, this was a wonderfully well put together and organized and informative presentation.
I am ASTOUNDED and pleased that there were sooo many attendees.
Never in my mind would I have thought the sport I love ( and the only one I can do really) would become so popular that you'd have people learning how to document it!
Many many thanks to MBSA and SBCSA for putting together such a complete and tidy information book.
Kudos and props.

evmo

Thanks Suzie and everyone who took the time to come. Agree, awesome turnout for such a nerdy topic :-B

Any feedback or ideas for improvement, please let one of us know and we will use it to refine future events.

I believe @Reptile got a video of the whole thing, so I'm hoping he will post that to his YouTube channel.

I also got it on my iPad but the audio quality is not so good.

suziedods

Instead of 9-12.. say 9-1 w a full 15 min break. Other than that.. I got nuthin.

Swimmersuz

To the presenters of the Open Water Workshop presentation, thank you so so much! What a well put together professional presentation on so many levels. Well thought out, timelines adhered to, bio breaks, food, geez....could not get much better in my mind. Yes probably longer and perhaps an 'issue bin' for topics that may need to be discussed in depth at later time. Open water swimming and documenting the swims have come so far and thank you to the presentation team for taking our sport to the next level.!!!

CathyInCA

Great presentation! Love the revised "Relay documentation" sheets! I agree with @suziedods 9-1 with a longer bio break would be awesome. So glad we had the opportunity to share up here in the SF Bay Area. Looking forward to helping document more swims in the years to come. I love our OW community!!

evmo

Some of you asked for a video of the observer training event. Happy to report that @Reptile got a fairly high-quality recording. I've taken the liberty of cutting the 3+ hour video into 11 segments organized by topic, and cropping so the slides are visible.

We will be further developing this as online observer education materials, with notes and other text content. For now you can click through to the MSF Vimeo account, where each of the video segments can be played

https://vimeo.com/album/5066634

phodgeszoho

AWESOME!!! Thank you.