San Diego sharkfest

I did this event for several reasons and wanted to respond to the comments above. First, I've always wanted to swim across San Diego Bay since I was a kid swimmer being driven across the Coronado Bay Bridge for meets at the old CNSA pool. There hasn't been an opportunity to do the swim. It also caught my attention because there used to be races across the harbor in the 20s and 30s so we are swimming in the footsteps(so to speak) of our predecessors. I think that's cool. Second, its not free although its less expensive if you enter early but if we don't support people who are willing to put on races, there won't be any races for us to enter. Swim races aren't going to be subsidized and the entry fees are going to have to cover the full cost of the competition including insurance for the community, emergency services stand-by and the full costs of lifeguard services. With the liability concerns, and the requirements that communities are going to impose the result will be some community based organizations like the La Jolla Roughwater, the Cove Swim Club, and others putting on some races. But most races will only survive if they are being put on by people like Envirosports, who sponsored the SD Shark Swim, and they are going to charge enough to cover all the costs and try to make a profit eventually. I can't imagine why they are going to put on races if they can't charge enough to see the possibility of a profit after all expenses. If we want those opportunities to swim, we are going to have to swim their races. $55 for early entry is about par for the course for most sports events that aren't being subsidized--the New York Swim series are mostly over $100, the rock n roll marathon is 95 for early entrants, the encinitas tri is 85 for early entrants, etc. By the way, I don't have any affiliation with anyone who is putting on competitive events except that I have a large collection of t-shirts from doing their races.

I did this event for several reasons and wanted to respond to the comments above. First, I've always wanted to swim across San Diego Bay since I was a kid swimmer being driven across the Coronado Bay Bridge for meets at the old CNSA pool. There hasn't been an opportunity to do the swim. It also caught my attention because there used to be races across the harbor in the 20s and 30s so we are swimming in the footsteps(so to speak) of our predecessors. I think that's cool. Second, its not free although its less expensive if you enter early but if we don't support people who are willing to put on races, there won't be any races for us to enter. Swim races aren't going to be subsidized and the entry fees are going to have to cover the full cost of the competition including insurance for the community, emergency services stand-by and the full costs of lifeguard services. With the liability concerns, and the requirements that communities are going to impose the result will be some community based organizations like the La Jolla Roughwater, the Cove Swim Club, and others putting on some races. But most races will only survive if they are being put on by people like Envirosports, who sponsored the SD Shark Swim, and they are going to charge enough to cover all the costs and try to make a profit eventually. I can't imagine why they are going to put on races if they can't charge enough to see the possibility of a profit after all expenses. If we want those opportunities to swim, we are going to have to swim their races. $55 for early entry is about par for the course for most sports events that aren't being subsidized--the New York Swim series are mostly over $100, the rock n roll marathon is 95 for early entrants, the encinitas tri is 85 for early entrants, etc. By the way, I don't have any affiliation with anyone who is putting on competitive events except that I have a large collection of t-shirts from doing their races.