During his 1000K swim, the Iranian swim coach added a protective cage to his wetsuit, paddles and fins in the 20°C Strait of Hormuz.
After a 25.9K swim the day before, he started his 23rd stage at 11:40 am under sunny skies and generally flat conditions at the Aftab Port near Kish Island and finished 5 hours 30 minutes later at Chiroyeh Port in Hormozgan after knocking off 21.6K en route to his swim to Iran.
He was followed by a flotilla of passenger boats, a safety boat, fishing boats and freight boats as interest continues to build on his swim.
During the stage swim, he stopped for a cumulative total feeding time of 50 minutes to down coffee, dates, soup, local fish and a banana. In addition to encountering plenty of jellyfish, he was also followed by turtles and sea gulls.
His support team attached a protective mesh in the front of the cage to help brush away the blooms of venomous jellyfish.
A towline from the 7-meter-long cage was connected to the tug boat as the structured was pulled along proportional to the speed of swimmer.
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.