August 12th, the Furthest North open water swim in North America! Located in Sitka, Alaska.
Men's and women's age group and Relay divisions will be awarded trophies and ribbons.
Solo or relay 10k, 5k and 1k open water swims in Sitka Sound, with a water temperature range in the mid 50’s. The course will start at the Mount Edgecumbe High School ramp on Japonski Island. The course will then take the swimmers north out of Sitka Channel and westward along the Fort Rousseau Causeway State Historic Site and loop back to the Mt. Edgecumbe ramp to finish. A turnaround point in course will be available for those swimming the 5k and 1K distances.
Sanction pending with USMS.
Visit www.changeyourlatitude.org for more information.
Geog and others,
I don’t discount the human body and mind’s capacity to condition themselves to endure thermal stress, nor do I find fault with your argument as stated—though I must point out that swimmer A without a wetsuit is much harder to spot on the bottom than swimmer B who, with wetsuit, will remain floating on the surface under most circumstances. ;-) The rub comes in figuring out a way for organizers who are largely responsible for participant safety, to differentiate between those who are genuinely cold-acclimated and those who just imagine themselves to be—as in the case of our determined young competitor in SSAS two years back.
We don’t want to limit participation in our event unless we have extremely good justification. Maybe my justification is not as obvious as I had imagined. And, our discussion leads me to wonder if there are more people than I imagined who would actually want to do this event without a wetsuit—seems pretty nutso to me. Have to admit though, you don’t write like a nut. I suppose the best way to be reasonably assured we are only allowing genuine cold-acclimated skin swimmers to participate is asking for a signed statement indicating that they have successfully completed other events under similar temperature and sea conditions—and with as strong a liability waiver as we can concoct.
Your policy recommendations are very reasonable and I don’t believe the race committee would have any problem adopting them.
What else do we need to do to entice you and your kind to Change Your Latitude in Sitka-by-the-Sea?
For the record, I believe Elk Lake was in the low 60's last year with coach's strong recommendation to consider using a wetsuit. I was one of the few who did the 5K sans wetsuit, reminding me once again why I like my wetsuit so much......
Geog and others,
I don’t discount the human body and mind’s capacity to condition themselves to endure thermal stress, nor do I find fault with your argument as stated—though I must point out that swimmer A without a wetsuit is much harder to spot on the bottom than swimmer B who, with wetsuit, will remain floating on the surface under most circumstances. ;-) The rub comes in figuring out a way for organizers who are largely responsible for participant safety, to differentiate between those who are genuinely cold-acclimated and those who just imagine themselves to be—as in the case of our determined young competitor in SSAS two years back.
We don’t want to limit participation in our event unless we have extremely good justification. Maybe my justification is not as obvious as I had imagined. And, our discussion leads me to wonder if there are more people than I imagined who would actually want to do this event without a wetsuit—seems pretty nutso to me. Have to admit though, you don’t write like a nut. I suppose the best way to be reasonably assured we are only allowing genuine cold-acclimated skin swimmers to participate is asking for a signed statement indicating that they have successfully completed other events under similar temperature and sea conditions—and with as strong a liability waiver as we can concoct.
Your policy recommendations are very reasonable and I don’t believe the race committee would have any problem adopting them.
What else do we need to do to entice you and your kind to Change Your Latitude in Sitka-by-the-Sea?
For the record, I believe Elk Lake was in the low 60's last year with coach's strong recommendation to consider using a wetsuit. I was one of the few who did the 5K sans wetsuit, reminding me once again why I like my wetsuit so much......
