The Deep Enders Heading Towards The California Coast
The Deep Enders Heading Towards The California Coast
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.The Deep Enders are a group of ocean-loving adults from Ventura, California [see below]. Six of them are currently swimming from San Nicholas Island to Point Vicente on the California mainland, in an unprecedented attempt at swimming 70.1 miles (112.8 km) to shore [see a screen capture of their SwimTrack above].
According to the SwimTrack [see here] provided by the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association (SBCSA), the team of Jim McConica (64 years), Tom Ball (55), John Chung (45), Zach Jirkovsky (34), Tamie Stewart (42), and Stacey Warmuth (59) has varied their speed between a low of under 3 km per hour and a high of 5 km per hour during the early part of their relay.
The swim could potentially take the Deep Enders at least 36 hours. All the while the seas are forecasted to be 5-7 feet.
Half of the team (Jim McConica, Tom Ball, and John Chung) were also members of the famed Ventura Deep Six team (including Kurtis Baron, Jim Neitz and Mike Shaffer) who set the then longest non-stop ocean relay record at 202 miles (325 km) from Ventura to San Diego along the California coast in 2010. The effort took 4 days 5 hours 39.53 minutes and was a logistical extravaganza and open water swimming operational milestone.
Theo Schmeeckle is the crew chief aboard the 63-foot Bottom Scratcher escort boat who will be on the lookout for elephant seals and their predators (Great White Sharks) and hammerheads.
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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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