The Daily News of Open Water Swimming staff always smiles when we hear someone say, “The season is almost over…” or “The season will soon begin…”
While this may be true among a specific local community, in the open water world, the season is ALWAYS on. Somewhere year-round, it is ALWAYS the season for open water swimming, whether it is in the Southern Hemisphere or Northern Hemisphere or in the tropics.
And as swimmers become more and more adventurous and acclimatized to colder and colder water temperatures, the season has even extended itself at the local levels year-round from the traditional early spring to late fall season mentality.
If we acknowledge the open water swimming season as year-long – as it truly is – then we can begin to understand how truly large our sport and our global community are.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.