There are several hot spots of open water swimming around the world. From Melbourne and the Serpentine to Cape Town and Honolulu, these are wonderful oases where open water swimmers can find like-minded athletes and plenty of events.
Two hot spots: Faros, Croatia and Rosario, Argentina have surprising ties.
Human migration are the common bonds between the Croatian International Long Distance Swimming Championships and the long-running Argentine stage of the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix in Rosario.
Germán Vaché is shown above handing the memorial book for the Faros Maratón that race director Janez Maroević provided to Drazen Juraga, the Croatian Consul in the city of Rosario.
“Drazen enjoyed the book a lot. With the beautiful photography, he explained about the history of Faros and talked about how many people from this island in Croatia immigrated to Argentina many years ago and their descendants now live in the city of Rosario.”
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.