Swimmers Honored By Santa Barbara Channel Swimming
Courtesy of Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association, Channel Islands, California. Starting on September 26th, Dan Simonelli completed an unprecedented Santa Barbara Island Hopper Swim.
He started his stage swim with a 5.8 km crossing from San Miguel Island to Santa Rosa Island in 2 hours 30 minutes, then he swam a 9.7 km leg from Santa Rosa Island to Santa Cruz Island in 4 hours 5 minutes 30 seconds, then he finished a 9 km inter-island swim from Santa Cruz Island to Anacapa Island in 2 hours 15 minutes 9 seconds as September 27th rolled in.
Simonelli and the others will be honored at the annual Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association banquet tonight in San Pedro, California.
“We will celebrate this year’s Santa Barbara Channel swims – or more precisely, any swim to, from, between, or around any of the 8 California Channel Islands, excluding swims between Catalina Island and the mainland, and swims around Catalina Island,” says Evan Morrison.
13 solo channel swims and 4 relays were sanctioned during the 2017 season with 13 successes including Selkie & the Sirens, a 54-mile relay circumnavigation of Santa Cruz Island that took the team 39 hours 58 minutes (Louise Darlington is shown above with Michelle Premeaux McConica, Claudia Rose, Carol-lynn Swol, Diana Corbin and Jeannie Zappe).
Successful solo swimmers included the following:
* Amy Appelhans Gubser (June 23rd), 6 hours 2 minutes from mainland to Anacapa Island (record swim from mainland to Anacapa)
* Angel More (August 10th), 7 hours 37 minutes 43 seconds from Anacapa Island to mainland
* Ryan Utsumi (August 21st), 5 hours 29 minutes 19 seconds from Anacapa Island to mainland
* Steven Dalke (September 16th), 7 hours 7 minutes 12 seconds from Anacapa Island to mainland
* Alice Ma (September 18th), 11 hours 9 minutes 48 seconds from Anacapa Island to mainland
* Karina Garcia (September 23rd), 5 hours 28 minutes 34 seconds from Anacapa Island to mainland (female record swim from Anacapa to mainland)
* Dan Simonelli (September 26th), 2 hours 30 minutes from San Miguel Island to Santa Rosa Island
* Dan Simonelli (September 26th), 4 hours 5 minutes 30 seconds from Santa Rosa Island to Santa Cruz Island
* Dan Simonelli (September 27th), 2 hours 15 minutes 9 seconds from Santa Cruz Island to Anacapa Island (record swim from Santa Cruz to Anacapa)
* Linda Simons (October 14th), 6 hours 9 minutes 54 seconds from Anacapa Island to mainland
* Ken Mignosa (October 28th), 9 hours 3 minutes 58 seconds from mainland to Anacapa Island
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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.
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