Courtesy of The Catalina Islander. In mid-January 1927, 153 swimmers were entered in the 21-mile Wrigley Ocean Marathon Swim from Isthmus Bay on Santa Catalina Island to San Pedro, California. The US$40,000 prize money had nearly everything to do in attracting the elite and the adventurous to the 12-15°C mid-winter water were from Southern California.
Pauline Jackson was a trailblazing black open water swimmer from New York who broke barriers in the 1920's and 1930's
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Nowadays, top swimmers are invited to race by event directors via email or mobile devices. But in the previous century, snail mail delivered the good news to athletes. In a letter dated September 16th 1926, Shier Mendelson was personally invited to the 1927 Wrigley Ocean Marathon which read in part,
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Pioneers who were honored at the 2014 International Swimming Hall of Fame induction ceremonies held on the Isle of Bute in Scotland included Catalina Channel Swimming Federation president Forrest Nelson, president of the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation, accepted the awards and honors posthumously given
87 years ago today, Canadian George Young entered into the annals of open water swimming history. The Toronto teenager was the lone finisher out of 102 swimmers in the 1927 Wrigley Ocean Marathon Swim, a 20.2-mile traverse across the Catalina Channel in 15 hours 44 minutes. "We put a covering of graphite over the grease before I put on my bathing suit to
