Courtesy of Nuala Moore. Like Ireland’s Sandycove among Channel swimmers, like Cape Town for pioneer swimmers, Tallinn, like Perth for competitive ocean swimmers, Estonia has developed into an epicenter of a niche in the open water swimming world. The Prita River is the venue where many accomplished cold water swimmers emerge. The 6th Pirita Open
Photography and reporting courtesy of Nuala Moore of Ireland. Elina Makinen led off a blazing fast 4 x 25m freestyle relay with the Viimsi Veeklubi relay at the recent Pirita Open, 2015 Estonian Winter Swimming Championships. Makinen, Henri Kaarma, Bruno Nopponen and Andres Olvik finished in 54.19 seconds over second-place Ujumise Spordiklubi in 54.50
Reporting and photos courtesy of Nuala Moore of Ireland. Elina Makïnen was non-stop at the recent Pirita Open, 2015 Estonian Winter Swimming Championships. She completed the 450m endurance swim in a quick 6 minutes 33 seconds. She completed 1,100m in 18 minutes. She led off the winning Viimsi Veeklubi relay team with Henri Kaarma, Bruno Nopponen and
Henri Kaarma, 2014 World Open Water Swimming Man Of The Year Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. There may not be a more unselfish man in the open water swimming world than Henri Kaarma. As one of the the most accomplished - and certainly the fastest - ice swimmers in history, the Estonian was voted by the public as the 2014 World Open Water
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Just as ice swimming requires certain rules (e.g., no flip turns, experienced re-warming procedures), we believe that tropical swims demand certain considerations and protective rules in order to maintain safety. In an apparent contradiction, we also believe that rules pertaining to swims in the 50-82ºF
Photos of Henri Kaarma courtesy of Nuala Moore. Close-ups of Henri Kaarma of Estonia are most telling. He almost looks normal diving and swimming in the water above, but these photos show the Estonian ice swimmer on his way to setting a record in swimming 2,400 meters (1.49 miles) in 0.8ºC water in 41 minutes 57:09 seconds at the Tyumen Open Water
When we watch the different sports at the Winter Olympics, we see athletes who are daring and dedicated, athletic and artistic, entertaining and exciting. They are a delight to watch as these Winter Olympians inspire and surprise us with their athleticism and hard work. We could not imagine ourselves ski jumping or snowboard crossing or ski sloping or
We had absolutely fascinating discussion and lunch with Juan Enriquez, a former swimmer and water polo teammate who was the founding director of the Harvard Business School Life Sciences Project. He is written on global nucleotide data flow, gene research and national competitiveness, and was a member of Celera Genomics's marine-based team that collected
The International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) is the recipient of the 2013 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year for its work in governing and supporting the emerging sport of ice swimming on a global scale. Founder Ram Barkai provided the following statistics regarding the official ice swims accomplished to date, including the number of
At the recent Tyumen Open Winter Swimming Cup in Siberia, Russia in water just above its freezing point - 0.8ºC (33.4ºF) - elite ice swimmer Henri Kaarma of Estonia channeled his inner strengths - both physical and mental - to do what appeared to be the impossible. The 39-year-old Estonian, nicknamed the Iceman, makes his achievement sound so doable,
