Patrick Winkler, Daniel Takata and Guilherme Freitas have created a juggernaut in Brazil with their Swim Channel.
They have a huge Facebook audience. They broadcast on radio every day and archive the programs on Sound Cloud. 365 days a year Winkler provides insightful commentary on swimming and swimmers. They also have a wildly successful blog. And their signature media platform, a colorful magazine called the Swim Channel was deservedly the 2012 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.
The trio of Winkler, Takata and Freitas is all over the place, touching all sorts of audience on all sorts of media platforms, passionately writing and promoting the sport of open water swimming.
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.