Most Popular Forum Threads
evmo
SydneyAdmin
The most-viewed threads in Forum history (as of May 2014). Relative page views for each thread are shown (indexed to the Nyad thread = 100).
- 110 miles, 53 hours: Questions for Diana Nyad [100]
- Best Goggles for Open Water Swimming and Triathlon [34.6]
- 10km training schedule - 3 months out [11.1]
- Waterproof MP3 players for swimming [9.4]
- Diana Nyad's Directional "Streamer" [7.9]
- USMS OW SANCTIONING [7.6]
- You might be an open water swimmer if ... [6.1]
- Recommended Products [5.8]
- The Animal Set Thread [5.8]
- Swim Videos [5.2]
- training for a 5km swim [5.2]
- Manhattan Island Marathon Swim 2013 [5]
- What is an appropriate weekly mileage for completing marathon swims? [4.6]
- Sunscreen?! [4.5]
- Warming up after a cold water swim [4.3]
- Driven [4.2]
- Open Water Blogs [4.2]
- Diana Nyad's epic swim [4]
- What type of Garmin is recommended for tracking distance and time of open water swims? [4]
- Questions about Feeding [4]
- Do marathon swimmers breathe every stroke? [3.8]
- Craig Lenning - Farallon Swim [3.6]
- What's your next swim? [3.4]
- Should rash guards / swim shirts / full body suits (not wetsuits) be permitted? [3.4]
- Who Earns the Title 'Channel Swimmer'? [3.4]
Comments
I greatly enjoyed going back through some of these old discussions. It helped me realize how much I appreciate this forum and how much I truly admire so many of you. The world can be a tough-to-understand, rough and tumble place. Sometimes hard to see or know the truth. I love this group for its devotion to truth and honesty. Pure. Straightforward. Clear. Transparent.
I admire anyone who has the guts to sign up for a swim. You don’t know what the conditions or temperature will be the day of your swim, but you sign-up, you commit.
Anyone who has the intestinal fortitude to enter the water with the intent to do an honest swim has my deepest respect. If they fail and deal with it honestly, I admire them just the same as if they completed it. It takes much more bravery to enter the water unsure of the possibility of completion than it does to do a swim that we know is within our abilities. One of the most heroic things I have ever personally witnessed in the swimming world happened at Boston Light in 2011. There was a swimmer who collapsed at the finish – his skin was every color except normal, his body shook violently, he threw up. It took all he had and, after not completing the swim the year before, he put it all on the line – with honesty. At SCAR last week, a swimming buddy of mine (who I only know electronically) stopped during one of the swims. She made no excuses, blamed no one. She was brave enough to enter the water and swim for as long as she was capable that day. Pure. Craig Lenning getting in the water at the Farallons was a bigger deal than his finishing. It was pure, clear, straightforward bravery – whether he completed the swim or not.
Compare your reaction to these swimmers to the person who started an English Channel swim with a wetsuit and fins waiting for her on her escort boat… of course, part way through the swim she utilized both, then was written up in a popular magazine as a “Channel Swimmer”.
Compare your reaction to these swimmers to an event shrouded in mystery. I don’t believe the forum’s collective reaction to the person who claims to have swum from Cuba to Florida has anything to do with a distaste for her commercialism. Many forum members make money on this sport – nothing wrong with that. (In fact, I admire that too.) I believe it is the mystery surrounding the claim that is the direct attack on this group’s collective senses. How did she travel so fast for so long when no publicly available information supports the claim of a lucky current assist? Why didn’t she have credible Observers? Why isn’t there video? Mysteries. Mysteries that will forever taint her claim to the truth.
It is sad to me that Rules are needed, but they are. They aren’t needed for you, but for those who don’t have a faithfulness to truth and transparency.
Ever wonder why you instantly get along with marathon swimmers you are meeting for the first time? It is my belief that it is not only because you respect the efforts of your fellow marathon swimmer – it is because you know you share the same value system. It doesn’t matter the age or background or political beliefs or origin or orientation, you know you are meeting someone who has an affection for the truth.
I know what I wrote above contains many subjective opinions, but what is a fact is that many of you have taken the time to share your experiences and I have learned a lot from you. Reading through these discussions was a great reminder of how much I owe to you all.
Thank you for being who you are and sharing yourself. The community of marathon swimmers, which includes everyone who understands and supports the swimmer, is a special group… regardless of the actual swimming results. At the risk of overstatement, I feel compelled to say, among an increasingly social-media driven, truth-ignoring world, this community is a special, quiet, island of sanity and light.
Q: Where do sharks live?
A: In the ocean.
Q: What are the best swimming goggles?
A: The ones that fit the best.
Q: Did Diana Nyad cheat?
A: I wouldn't put it past her.
Q: Do I need a wetsuit to swim in [xx]-degree water? ('xx' being a random integer between 10 and 75).
A: No.
Q: How to swim a marathon?
A (in two parts): 1. Get in the water. 2. Start swimming ;-)
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