Where Do We Swim?
With 70% of the Earth’s surface covered in water, open water swimmers have a vast choice of where they swim. The world’s waterways range from warm to cold, salt to fresh, calm to rough, man-made to natural. We analyzed 1,423 open water swims in 79 countries throughout Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Americas and Africa and found the following data about where open water swims are held:Ocean or sea: 58.6% of total
Lake: 23.2%
River: 7.8%
Bay: 7.6%
Dam or reservoir: 1.7%
Canal: 0.9%
Fjord: 0.1%
Photo of Acapulco Bay which sits on the Pacific Ocean on the western Mexican coast.
Copyright © 2009 by Open Water Source
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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