Santa Barbara Channel swims 2014

evmo

One more week 'til the May 1st early-bird deadline for Santa Barbara Channel swim applications.

We have marathon swims to suit any goal or ability in the SB Channel, from:

- a 5.6-mile inter-island swim between Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands
- a 12.4-mile channel swim from Anacapa to the mainland -- this is a fantastic opportunity for a first-time channel swim & stepping stone to Catalina or the EC
- 26-, 27-, 40-, and 52-mile channel swims that have been done only once each (by Penny Palfrey, Marc Lewis, Penny Palfrey, and Tina Neill, respectively)
- a 61-mile swim (San Nicolas Island to mainland) which would be one of the greatest swims in our sport's history

Check out the various possibilities here:
http://santabarbarachannelswim.org/maps.html

Ever swum in a National Park? You can, in the SB Channel. San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz Islands are all part of Channel Islands National Park.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions about swimming with the SBCSA.

Sully

Why hasn't San Nicolas been done yet? Distance, temperature, wild-life, $, permits? Is there one main reason or just lots of smaller deterrents that add up?

evmo

Permits are an issue, yeah.

But also, because there's only a small handful in the world who are capable of pulling off a swim of that distance, in that water temperature, and none of them have tried it, or even put out feelers about it.

How many people have ever done a 3-way EC? That's the caliber of swimmer who'd have a shot at San Nic. It's not a large group.

evmo

This is an interesting story.

World-class Sumo wrestler Kelly "Man of Fat Steel" Gneiting is on his way to a new longest time-in-water record for an Anacapa Island swim in the Santa Barbara Channel.

http://dailynews.openwaterswimming.com/2014/07/kelly-gneiting-sumo-swimmer.html?m=1

Here's his GPS track. Swim start 6am Pacific time.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0bOGBeryBBIHZtRkcNnG7qHlOScpLfYDF

Looks like some pretty burly uphill currents today... not often that an SB Channel swim resembles the EC on the GPS.

dc_in_sf

evmo wrote:

This is an interesting story.

World-class Sumo wrestler Kelly "Man of Fat Steel" Gneiting is on his way to a new longest time-in-water record for an Anacapa Island swim in the Santa Barbara Channel.

http://dailynews.openwaterswimming.com/2014/07/kelly-gneiting-sumo-swimmer.html?m=1

Here's his GPS track. Swim start 6am Pacific time.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0bOGBeryBBIHZtRkcNnG7qHlOScpLfYDF

Looks like some pretty burly uphill currents today... not often that an SB Channel swim resembles the EC on the GPS.

How did this end up @evmo ?

evmo

Kelly pulled himself after about 12.5 hours of swimming, with 4.5 nm remaining. Winds had picked up to 17+ knots (typical afternoon/evening conditions). Per observer Theo Schmeeckle:

It was an epic swim. The man would not give up unfortunately neither would the ocean. Every time he would make a push the Ocean matched. Even though he didn't complete the swim the heart he showed was truly amazing.

dc_in_sf

thanks @evmo , a 12.5 hour swim is a heroic effort for someone who I would assume is a beginning marathon swimmer.

IronMike

Dang, that's rough. Great effort Kelly!

evmo

Jim McConica well on his way from Santa Rosa Island to the mainland. This is one of the bigger SBCSA swims, 27.4 statute miles to Coal Oil Point in Goleta. It's only been soloed once before, by Marc Lewis in 2008.

http://santabarbarachannelswim.org/tracking2.html

More info about Santa Rosa Island swims here:

http://santabarbarachannelswim.org/islands/santarosa.html

Edit: And, just as I posted that, the swim has apparently been aborted.

Looks like it's pretty rough out there:

WATERS FROM PT. SAL TO SANTA CRUZ ISLAND CA AND WESTWARD 60 NM
INCLUDING SAN MIGUEL AND SANTA ROSA ISLANDS-
855 AM PDT TUE JUL 29 2014

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT

TODAY
NW WINDS 10 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT...STRONGEST IN
THE AFTERNOON. COMBINED SEAS 4 TO 6 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 8 SECONDS.
PATCHY DENSE FOG WITH VSBY 1 NM OR LESS IN THE MORNING.

evmo

Congrats to the "Laguna 6" Relay on completing a 24-mile swim between Santa Barbara Island and Catalina in 15 hours, 53 minutes. To our knowledge this route has never been swum before by any human or team of humans.


Laguna 6 Relay: Julian Rusinek, Lynn Kubasek, Scott Zornig, Tanya MacLean, Tamie Stewart, Cherie Edborg.



Still quite a few "firsts" out there in the California Channel Islands region! PM me for more info, or visit http://sbchannelswim.org

evmo

This was a pretty cool swim:



Peter Hayden circumnavigated Anacapa Island (a first), then without stopping or resting turned toward the mainland and swam to shore. Total swim 23.4 miles in 12 hours 40 minutes.

evmo

Video by @Lynnkub

evmo

The SBCSA just had its last scheduled swim of the year, and it was another good channel swimming season. We added nine successful swims off Anacapa Island -- including Forum members @pennypalfrey, @happyhelen, and @AnthonyMcCarley. There have now been a total of 55 successful swims off Anacapa.

Anacapa is a 12.4-mile swim with similar conditions to Catalina but only 60% of the distance. Nonetheless a "real deal" channel swim, and a great option for highly experienced swimmers (e.g., Penny and Anthony), and a perfect stepping stone for swimmers bootstrapping from 10Ks into the EC/Catalina range.

Though the water was unusually warm this year (and in fact it's still 69F / 20.5C at Anacapa as we approach Nov 1 - almost unprecedented), we had some challenging weather that frustrated several other swims, including two very ambitious/exciting attempts that were scuttled at the last minute.

In our sport, of course, the ocean always wins. Occasionally she allows us mortal humans to take a round or two... just to keep it interesting.