2020 South32 Rottnest Channel Swim Pilots Courtesy of the Rottnest Channel Swim, Western Australia. The support boat skippers for the 2020 19.7 km South32 Rottnest Channel Swim includes the following escort pilots who guide swimmers and relays between the starting at Cottesloe Beach on the Australian mainland and finishing at Thomson Bay on Rottnest
The dedication and enthusiasm of support crew and escort pilots on marathon swims and channel swims is well-established and recognized by all. But what about those young men of the lifeguard corps from Atlantic City, Ocean City and Longport who volunteered to row for 8, 9, 10 and more in the Atlantic City Around the Island Swim that started in 1954 and
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Michael Oram (English Channel), Rafael Gutiérrez Mesa (Strait of Gibraltar), Quinten Nelson (North Channel), Greg Elliott (Catalina Channel), Captain Mizushima (Tsugaru Channel), Bob Andrieux (Santa Barbara Channel), and Charlie Gravett (Jersey) are well-known mariners of the world's most challenging open
After reading about the courageous and skilled mariners who have been inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame as Honour Pilots, we also think of many more escort pilots who should be nominated for the Hall of Fame: pilots from the North Channel, Catalina Channel, Farallon Islands (especially those pioneers in the 1960s), Manhattan
After reading a variety of analyses and comments on the 2013 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim where fewer than half of the swimmers finished (read one comprehensive example here on Freshwater Swimmer), it is clear how advanced the sport of open water swimming has become. Every year, NYC Swim conducts careful analyses of the tides around Manhattan Island and
Escort pilots are the umbilical cord between the open water swimmer and safety. Without them, swimmers literally could not swim (straight) from Point A to Point B. They are the selfless, professional guides of the marathon swimming and channel swimming world. Below is a all-too-short listing of some of the more experienced pilots around the world
