46-year-old Lois Lutz learned how to swim at a young age when she lived in the Carribean and was surrounded by water. But she didn’t officially learn to swim properly until she started doing triathlons in 2000.
The resident of Hawaii has been swimming all over the Garden Isle. “Each spot has its own wonderful nuance. If I had to pick a favorite [place to swim], it would be swimming Ke’e Beach to Hanakapi’ai simply for its beauty and dangerousness. But it is extremely open water with no lifeguards around without much of an exit if you get into trouble. You only do it when conditions are favorable. We took a visitor once, who was an open water swimmer, and he literally crawled onto the beach and hugged us because he was so relieved to be on land.”
While in the water off the shores of Kauai, Lutz has seen turtles, rays, eels, urchins, many different kinds of fish, and even a blacktip shark.
“Swimming in Poipu is amazing – the water is crystal clear and there’s so much sea life to stare at. Anini is great. It’s completely protected by reef so you can swim there year-round which we do. Treading water in the middle of Hanalei Bay and staring at the bay, the mountains and the waterfalls is nothing less than awesome in every sense of the word.”
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.