Swim Groupings (Triple Crown, O7, etc.)

IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
edited June 2015 in General Discussion
I read with interest in the latest USMS Swimmer magazine about a grouping of swims I'd never heard of: The Still Water Eight.

It got me thinking. What other potential groupings are there out there? How about a grouping of Down the River Swims (Swim the Suck, the Navia in Spain)? How about 'Round Island Swims (Jersey, Manhattan)? Any other ideas out there?

We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

Comments

  • njoynjoy Member
    edited March 2012
    I'm a sucker for any groupings or cutsy names for things. I have an itching to do a swim around my area that in my head I call "West to West" (West Beach to West Meadow Beach). It's about 8 miles, but I don't know if it's doable (safe), since it would cross a ferry path. Anyway, I digress; this doesn't really answer your question. How about we group swims with some kind of directional theme, in either name or actual direction? (And in my West to West swim, you actually would swim west. Hat trick!)
  • loneswimmerloneswimmer IrelandCharter Member
    Triple Crown of Prisons; Alcatraz, Spike (Ireland) and Robben (SA). I think only Gary Emich (SF) and Ned Denison and Mike Harris, (both Sandycove) are the only ones to have done the three.
    phodgeszoho

    loneswimmer.com

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    LS, how about that prison from Papillon?

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    Njoy, I like the idea of a directional grouping. Hmmm...

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • evmoevmo SydneyAdmin
    The SoCal Eight!

    San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, Santa Barbara, San Nicolas, San Clemente, and... Catalina!
    DanSimonelliphodgeszoho
  • KNicholasKNicholas ArizonaCharter Member
    Arizona Swims: A very small group of swimmers / adventurers will attempt the inaugural Arizona S.CA.R. Swim Challenge (four lakes, dam to dam: Saguaro, Canyon, Apache and Roosevelt lakes) during the month of May. Finishers will receive a growler of Epicenter Ale from a local brewery, San Tan Brewing Company.
    phodgeszohoDanSimonelli
  • Kate_AlexanderKate_Alexander Spring Lake, MichiganSenior Member
    The Great Lakes would be a natural.

    And Michigan has so many lakes you could do a mile (or whatever distance) in every county.
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    Arizona Swims: A very small group of swimmers / adventurers will attempt the inaugural Arizona S.CA.R. Swim Challenge (four lakes, dam to dam: Saguaro, Canyon, Apache and Roosevelt lakes) during the month of May. Finishers will receive a growler of Epicenter Ale from a local brewery, San Tan Brewing Company.
    I like! I probably wouldn't be able to do all four over a month. But how about something similar to the highland lakes challenge? Four swims over four days?
    The Great Lakes would be a natural.

    And Michigan has so many lakes you could do a mile (or whatever distance) in every county.
    That sounds good too. Lake Ontario is in the Still Water 8...hmmm...

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    The SoCal Eight!

    San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, Santa Barbara, San Nicolas, San Clemente, and... Catalina!
    That one's already established, Evan! At least, according to the article. And isn't one of those swims 58 miles? That one might take a few years of practice...

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • david_barradavid_barra NYCharter Member
    SIX FINGERS
    The number of Finger Lakes is either 11 or 12. I've only swum in one of them... Canandaigua for a 2 mile USMS national championship a couple of years ago. Due to a lightning event, the race was cut short and results relied heavily on the honor system. A few revisions were made days after the event, but still, I'm pretty certain I was robbed... I won't name names. Moving forward.....
    This would be a good week's work:


    SKANEATELES - 16 miles
    OWASCO - 11 miles
    CAYUGA - 40 miles
    SENECA - 38 miles
    KEUKA - 20 miles
    CANANDAIGUA - 15.5 miles
    phodgeszoho

    ...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    The Finger Lakes sound great...and not too far away from DC.

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • mrfinbarrmrfinbarr Charter Member
    I'm thinking of a lakes one for Ireland & UK, the biggest lakes in each of Rep of Ireland (Lough Corrib), Northern Ireland (Lough Neagh), Scotland (Loch Lomand), England (Windermere) and Wales (Llyn Tegid). I'm thinking the 5 ponds???
    phodgeszoho
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    Oh damn, that's a good one MrF. Wish I were stationed in the UK...

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    At lunch today the wife came up with Swims and Brews: Go to European "beer" countries and do swims and brewery tours. I got the best wife ever...
    DanSimonelli

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • swimmer25kswimmer25k Charter Member
    I think some of the groupings in general tend to be a little lame with the exception of the "Triple Crown". I would suggest the "Grand Slam" by adding something like Tampa Bay to the mix. I once heard of the Florida Triple Crown, however, there was only one Florida swim in the whole bunch (Tampa Bay). I would recommend that one to be Tampa, Key West, and Estero Island, for example. There are so many out there that it seems that the exclusivity drops because of them. The Seven Summits in mountaineering stand on its own. I'm sure there's a fan of the "Peaks of Alabama" challenge, but things like that don't sound too exciting to me.
  • Hikers and backpackers have a lot of lists, 14'ers in the west, 4000'ers in the east, etc.
    Some hiker's are into high-pointing-reaching the highest point in every state. What an adventure that would be-cross the longest tangent of the largest lake in all 50 states. Some would be easy, some would be monumental.
  • I like the idea of regional Triple Crowns-a New England Triple Crown
    Swim the Sound (maybe Block Island to Point Judith to keep it in NE)
    Cape Cod Bay
    Lake Memphremagog Crossing
    or a more accessible
    Boston Light
    Kingdom 10 miler
    ...drawing a blank, you get the idea. I don't think these swims should have accessible swims on them, it should be a remarkable achievement.
  • Arizona 6 Lake Swim Challenge: Lake Pleasant, Bartlett Lake, Roosevelt Lake, Apache Lake, Canyon Lake and Saguaro Lake.

    This is something I have organized but I hope that it becomes an Open Water Event in Arizona in the future!
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    I like the Az6 idea!

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • ZoeSadlerZoeSadler Charter Member
    mrfinbarr wrote:
    I'm thinking of a lakes one for Ireland & UK, the biggest lakes in each of Rep of Ireland (Lough Corrib), Northern Ireland (Lough Neagh), Scotland (Loch Lomand), England (Windermere) and Wales (Llyn Tegid). I'm thinking the 5 ponds???

    I love that one! What a fabulous idea.

    How about the Triple Crown of the English Channel. English Channel (England to France), Round Jersey and English Channel (Jersey to France).

    I only suggest that because I've done the EC and now fancy the other two! (Can't currently justify the costs of the original Triple Crown, i.e. MIMS and Catalina Channel).
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    Bump.

    Still liking the river idea, what with END-Wet added to the mix. Swim the Suck, END-Wet, any other iconic river swims?

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • gregocgregoc Charter Member
    IronMike wrote:
    Bump.

    Still liking the river idea, what with END-Wet added to the mix. Swim the Suck, END-Wet, any other iconic river swims?

    Um, 8 Bridges.

    david_barraphodgeszoho
  • With all these extreme groupings, I'm pretty shocked that I'm still the only person to do all the USMS championships in the same year, including all five open water championships, all five postals, and both pool nationals. I did it in 2003.

    Didn't have a name for the grouping at the time, but now I call it "the past".
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    gregoc wrote:

    Um, 8 Bridges.

    That's a great one. But which one of the 8 Bridges could be added to a River group? Looking more at a series of single river swims, like StS and END-Wet...8 Bridges itself is already a great group.

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • Niek wrote:
    How about "the rich past" ? :D

    Unfortunately it wasn't so rich, but it was an interesting experience to have under my belt. That was the year of Tempe short course nationals in 103 degree heat, and the 10K open water in 57 degree water. So, I already saw some problems with USMS and swimmer safety.
  • AquaRobAquaRob Humboldt Bay, CACharter Member
    With all these extreme groupings, I'm pretty shocked that I'm still the only person to do all the USMS championships in the same year, including all five open water championships, all five postals, and both pool nationals. I did it in 2003.

    I bet there's a couple under the radar people out there that have hit all of them. I know @evmo and I got close in 2010. We both did all 5 open water champs and SCY champs in Atlanta. I'm pretty sure I did the one hour postal that year as well, but I don't think I did the other postals though.

  • edited April 2013
    AquaRob wrote:
    I bet there's a couple under the radar people out there that have hit all of them. I know @evmo and I got close in 2010. We both did all 5 open water champs and SCY champs in Atlanta. I'm pretty sure I did the one hour postal that year as well, but I don't think I did the other postals though.

    We know nobody did it before 2003, and nobody did it up until the point when I left in 2009. If someone's done it since then, it's not something I've heard about, but it could be easily traced in results on the USMS web site. (someone else can do that, LOL!)

    As a side note, I believe one or two swimmers before me did all the long distance postal and open water championships (Bob Beach, maybe George Brunstad) in the same year, but they didn't do the SCY and LCM pool national championships those years.
  • dc_in_sfdc_in_sf San FranciscoCharter Member
    edited April 2013
    IronMike wrote:
    Bump.
    Still liking the river idea, what with END-Wet added to the mix. Swim the Suck, END-Wet, any other iconic river swims?
    I've not done it yet but how about the Portland Bridge Swim?
    phodgeszoho

    http://notdrowningswimming.com - open water adventures of a very ordinary swimmer

  • timsroottimsroot Spring, TXCharter Member
    dc_in_sf wrote:
    I've not done it yet but how about the Portland Bridge Swim?

    That swim is on my list of swims I want to do. This year, unfortunately, I don't have the time or the money to add another swim.
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    All this talk about the Triple Crown in another thread reminded me of this old thread.

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    edited June 2015

    dc_in_sf said:
    IronMike" said:Bump.
    Still liking the river idea, what with END-Wet added to the mix. Swim the Suck, END-Wet, any other iconic river swims?

    I've not done it yet but how about the Portland Bridge Swim?

    And there is the river swim in Pittsburgh I think...and/or the one near Philly?

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • suziedodssuziedods Mem​ber

    Just to be more ornery.. the 07 is also a manufactured name. Some now are calling it the "most difficult" or "most dangerous", neither of which I agree with. But that's just me being ornery.Most expensive, yes.

    evmoIronMikeDanSimonelli
  • evmoevmo SydneyAdmin
    edited June 2015

    What about a grouping that's as much about the swims themselves, as the quality of the organizations that administer/promote them. These swims must:

    • have published swim rules and criteria for ratification
    • provide independent observers for swim attempts, who produce documentation for the historical record
    • have a governing body / board of directors that is not just one guy who also happens to arrange the boat and take all the money

    These seem like the basic minimum requirements of any credible local marathon swimming governing organization. English Channel & Catalina would obviously qualify, as would Santa Barbara (with which I am most familiar) and a few others.

    (Multi-participant races are a somewhat different ball of wax than solo swims, but I would also consider 8 Bridges to have a very high level of credibility.)

    Sad to say, several legs of the "Oceans Seven" would not qualify.

    We could call it the "Credible Five" (or whatever number it ends up being). The number could expand as other organizations step up their game.

    Other criteria? Other nominations for swims/organizations?

    gregocIronMikedavid_barraDanSimonelli
  • suziedodssuziedods Mem​ber

    The event has to be fun....

    NoelFigartJaimie
  • MvGMvG MauritiusCharter Member

    The IJsselmeer crossing would qualify.
    Also the North Channel N.-Ireland-Scotland or v.v. (ILDSA).

    evmoIronMike
  • KatieBunKatieBun CornwallSenior Member
    edited December 2015

    Reading the discussion about TC, I was thinking about a sort of TC based around the EC. It would be something like EC, Jersey to France and Round Jersey. Niek thought it sounded like an EC Champion of Champions. Capital idea, Niek. :-)

    DanSimonelliIronMike
  • malinakamalinaka Seattle, WACharter Member

    Maybe a better question would be, since at the root of all marathon swims is a selfish-in-the-best-sense-of-the-word interest: what is your Triple Crown?

    What three swims do you aspire to complete or have you completed? I suppose we could let Huntington Beach, CA define our goals for us, or we could all define our own. I'm much more interested in hearing about those, or groupings like @KatieBun's TC-EC, than some arbitrary, unconnected swims strung together with a catchy name.

    For example, future me is thinking about a set of marathon swims between Puget Sound lighthouses (128k over 6 swims from Tacoma to Dungeness Spit, finishers get the title "Keeper of the Light", working title). Or along Washington State Ferry routes (149k over 8 swims if I'm counting right).

    DanSimonelligregocemkhowley

    I don't wear a wetsuit; it gives the ocean a sporting chance.

  • KatieBunKatieBun CornwallSenior Member

    ZoeSadler said:

    How about the Triple Crown of the English Channel. English Channel (England to France), Round Jersey and English Channel (Jersey to France).

    I only suggest that because I've done the EC and now fancy the other two! (Can't currently justify the costs of the original Triple Crown, i.e. MIMS and Catalina Channel).


    Sorry @ZoeSadler, @Malinaka ... not my idea. I missed this, as I wasn't a forum member in 2012. Zoe only has the shortest one of the three left to do. :-)

    malinaka
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    My 'Triple Crown' would be:

    The three routes across Issyk Kul described here.

    Or

    Three lakes in Kyrgyzstan. Probably Issyk Kul (8 or 20 miles), Song Kul (16 miles) and Chatyr Kul (13 miles).

    KatieBunmalinaka

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • JenAJenA Charter Member

    Hmmm.... From https://www.worldopenwaterswimmingassociation.com/sanctions/rules-regulations/:

    WOWSA created brands including the Half Century Club, 24-hour Club, Oceans Seven, Open Water Swimming Magazine, World Swimming Majors, World’s Top 100 Open Water Swims, America’s Top 100 Open Water Swims, Asia’s Top 50 Open Water Swims, Africa’s Top 100 Open Water Swims, and World’s Hardest Swims (North Hemisphere + Southern Hemisphere) as well as maintains the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.

  • david_barradavid_barra NYCharter Member
    edited August 2016

    Patrick McKnight just completed his Triple Crown in a record breaking 34 days.
    That's pretty cool!
    http://dailynews.openwaterswimming.com/2016/08/patrick-mcknight-sets-triple-crown.html?m=1

    pavlicovIronMikessthomasJaimieJBirrrdphodgeszoho

    ...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    Thought of this old thread again when I read the news of a new triple crown, this time in the Tennessee river! Hobbs Island (5 miles), Bridge to Bluffs 10K, and Swim the Suck (10 miles) make up the triple crown. Really looking forward to doing StS again and now those other two swims. More info on my blog and in the DNOWS.

    KatieBun

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • KatieBunKatieBun CornwallSenior Member
    edited July 2018

    18- 20 months ago, I realised I'd never manage amazing things like the Oceans Seven, so I decided to make my own bucket list..... the Swimbunny 7..... which has been a blast as a goal. Based on what I'd done already, I added a few and made it 2 x lakes, 2 x channels, 2 x island circumnavigations and one wild card.... which is booked and will be Jersey to France because I want to go back and swim with Matt and Lionheart again. I think that'll probably do me. More crewing, shorter events and kayaking will be enough........ possibly...... resolutely stops looking for irresistible swims ;) I'd be very interested to know.....if you had to choose just your own bespoke 7, what would they be?

    sosophiaphiaIronMikeJaimie
  • GlobalSwimmerGlobalSwimmer New York NYMember
    edited July 2018

    Triple Crown and Oceans Seven are a reference in Marathon Swimming, and I consider that one has to complete these or other "majors" in order to show excellence in the sport. In addition, this year I am pursuing a different grouping by doing a challenging swim in each of the seven continents ("Continents Seven") - my picks being Rottnest-Robben-Titicaca-English Channel-Catalina-HK Clean Half-Antarctica - just to take into account South America and Antarctica, and to incorporate elements like ice and attitude. But the good thing about OWS is that possibilities are endless - Happy swimming!

    KatieBun
  • KatieBunKatieBun CornwallSenior Member

    No need to argue it, @GlobalSwimmer ...... just do it! If it appeals to other swimmers, they'll also do it..... or they'll develop their own.

    GlobalSwimmer
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    @KatieBun, I had a plan to swim five lakes in Kyrgyzstan, called it Besh Kul (Kyrgyz for 5 lakes), but found that the logistics for just one (Issyk Kul) were so onerous that I would just stick to that one.

    That one being the #2 largest alpine lake in the world, I then started looking at doing top 5 largest alpine lakes. There's a 7km swim in Titicaca (#1) each year, so thought I'd hit that one in 2019. Already did #2 in 2017. Lake Van (#3) in Turkey is questionable; not sure they do any organized swims there. Tana (#4) in Ethiopia, also not sure if they do any swims there. Almost stationed there in 2014. Missing opportunity? Khövsgöl Nuur (#5) in Mongolia? Who the hell knows.

    Outside the top 5. Planned on swimming lake Sevan in Armenia with one of the Russian OW groups, but politics screwed me outta that one. And Tahoe's on my wish list.

    Bottom line, despite me starting this thread years ago, I've got no 7-count grouping that I'm now working towards.

    GlobalSwimmerKatieBun

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

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