Ice Man Cometh
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Prior to the August 15th International Ice Swimming Association 1 km South African Championships, Ram Barkai and the International Ice Swimming Association organized a qualifying swim in a local pool for the 1 km event.
32 swimmers required qualifying and entered in the 500m swim.
“I had to negotiate with the Local Fish Factory, which manufactures ice flakes for fishing vessels and for storage,” explains Ram Barkai. “The ice comes in 1 ton (1000 litre) boxes. It is fresh clean water frozen into flakes. I managed to get 32 tons on ice to lower the water temp as much as I could. We managed to get to 7°C in some places. But it was an epic fun event and an experience for all.
Kids jumped in and swam 25 meters, too.
People came out and said to me, ‘Now I understand what you are talking about.’ They were on a natural high after the swim and couldn’t believe they have done in good time.”
Barkai and crew identified a little dam in the mountains that has snow every year in mid-August. The water temperature is current around 5°C with an air temperature that varies between -6°C to +4°C.
Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association
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.
Latest posts by Steven Munatones (see all)
