What do you think of total immersion?

What great memories George and thank you for sharing them.

George, Perhaps you could enlighten us on a couple of points: - Why were there so many superlative Egyptian open water swimmers at that time? Did they make a mark for themselves in pool meets? What happened to them, i.e. how come we don't hear about great Egyptian swimmers today? - How did the international pro open water swimming circuit get started? Just how "big" was it? Why has it died out everywhere except Australia? I guess this is not really a TI subject, but your yarns seem to have captivated a number of us, and I'd like to continue in this vein. Hey Terry, you're a student of the sport. Can you add anything to George's reminiscences about the old open water circuit? BTW, the over 50 age groups: just stand by. I've been living in the "Mark Spitz" demographic bubble my whole life. Trust me, when I turn 50, 55, 60, etc. there will still be the same crowd of palookas putting NQTs out of reach (or at least I hope so most devoutly; I'd love to still see the Smith twins in action in their 80s and have a brew with them after). Matt

The Professional Marthon circuit started with the C N E in Canada in 1926. Ernest Vierkotter called the black shark won the Prize $50.000. In 1927 George Young was an east-end Toronto 17-year-old; his mother, a widow, worked as a cleaning woman to keep the family together. George had learned to swim at the YMCA and had begun to acquire a local reputation as a good distance swimmer. He and a friend were determined to enter the Catalina swim and, when their motorcycle broke down in Arkansas, they hitchhiked the rest of the way to California. Of the 103 swimmers who entered the water at noon, on January 15, 1927, George Young was certainly one of the most obscure; 15 hours and 45 minutes later, having battled not only the competition but sharks, oil and kelp patches, tides and bone-chilling cold, George Young waded ashore and into North American headlines. George came home to an enormous civic welcome, but at 17 the successful part of his swimming career was all but over. His longterm accomplishment was to implant marathon swimming firmly in the Toronto and Southern Ontario sports culture, so that "The Swim" became for many years the centrepiece of the sports program of the Canadian National Exhibition, attracting swimmers from all over the world and inspiring a generation of Ontario youngsters with dreams of glory. This was the historical context for one of the most unusual sporting events in Canadian history. In 1957 the Canadian National Exhibition, 30 years after the Catalina swim, promoted a Lake Ontario marathon as a showpiece for Florence Chadwick, an outstanding American distance swimmer. The scenario called for Chadwick to enter the water around midnight on the New York side of the Lake, swim all night and approach the CNE grounds by mid-afternoon, thus attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators to witness the first conquest of Lake Ontario. Instead, Chadwick had to be pulled from the water after 12 miles; by dawn, only a 16-year-old Toronto girl named Marilyn Bell, trained by Gus Ryder of the Lakeshore Swimming Club, remained in the water. Both press and radio took up the story, and caught by its intrinsic drama were both a national radio audience and many thousands of people in Toronto itself. Marilyn Bell, after 21 hours in the water, touched the Toronto shoreline to national applause. She was to go on to swim the English Channel and the straits of Juan de Fuca, but nothing in her brief career was to cap that 40-mile swim across Lake Ontario. Ernest Vierkotter was in my boat when we swam the the Cross Lake Ontario Race 33 miles in 1964. I will write about Captain Webb and the great Egyptian swimmers in the near future and the great Canadian marathon swimmers. The great Italians and dutchmen and Windmill Willie who strokes 100 strokes a minute. How the marathon cicuit started. But right now I have to get off the computer as my Grandson has just been rushed to the hospital.

Comment from Marty Sinn - during a 15 mile swim at the CNE “4th AND 5th MILES --Things are looking up. Of course after the first excitement it dawns on me that I have nothing to think about. This is a hell of a time to have your mind draw a blank. Guess it takes me a while to settle down. I’m gaining confidence. Greta’s behind the others a bit. I can pick out the others. George Park has a beautiful stroke at eye-level -- awfully smooth. Abou-Heif swims like a spastic -- he always splashes water in my face. I’ll show these fat, hairy men. This is pretty easy stuff. I’m just coasting along and I’ll bet they’re working like mad. Too bad, boys. I wish I could kick your goggles in, but I guess it’s better business to be demure.

My oldest daughter Janis remembers the day that Abou Heif was at Lac St Louis in La Tuque Quebec in 1967 helping her (when she was 9 years old) with her swim stroke. He told her to keep her arms straight, Janis said no to Abou Heif my father wants me to bend the elbows.

Up from the inner sanctums, I don't know if Abou is still with us. Does anyone know? This is the way I wanted my daughter to swim Abou wanted her to swim straight arm video.google.com/videoplay

It was supposed to improve my free style But it has not and i have less confidence in the open water like i had swimming the traditional way