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.
OK, I am starting to see the light and the double rainbow over Redoubt helps. With additional merit-based qualifications it is likely we will be able to relax our position on wet suit requirement. And, although we now understand that kayak escorts are NOT required by USMS sanctioning policy for either 5 or 10K, given our course and water temps and regardless of attire, it still may be prudent to require either a kayak/canoe escort OR a swimmer safety device like the Safe Swimmer bag. Since our event is not only an adventure swim, but also a race I'm wondering if die-hard racers would get all bent out of shape about this. Seems that if we have an option--either or--then it wouldn't be a problem, and we have substancially resolved the issue of escort craft being a limiting factor to participation.
Navigation without an escort will be fun as the proposed course has only two hand-set rounding bouys, with other waypoints defined by prominent rocks, small islands and existing navigational markers. Sounds like you could pack the course chart, a GPS unit and your lunch in the swimmer bag, so another issue resolved.
Furthermore, we are considering an official OOPS award for those who make a wrong turn--or maybe we will have several on hand just in case.....
Everyone's feeback on this thread has been so amazingly helpful. Please take it one step further and spread the word so that we can get a handle on actual participation numbers--and plan accordingly.
I'm sorry that we have not been able to post the course and description quite yet on CYL 57*N website. Kevin, our web guy/race director/BBSC coach has the team at an away meet in Anchorage.
OK, I am starting to see the light and the double rainbow over Redoubt helps. With additional merit-based qualifications it is likely we will be able to relax our position on wet suit requirement. And, although we now understand that kayak escorts are NOT required by USMS sanctioning policy for either 5 or 10K, given our course and water temps and regardless of attire, it still may be prudent to require either a kayak/canoe escort OR a swimmer safety device like the Safe Swimmer bag. Since our event is not only an adventure swim, but also a race I'm wondering if die-hard racers would get all bent out of shape about this. Seems that if we have an option--either or--then it wouldn't be a problem, and we have substancially resolved the issue of escort craft being a limiting factor to participation.
Navigation without an escort will be fun as the proposed course has only two hand-set rounding bouys, with other waypoints defined by prominent rocks, small islands and existing navigational markers. Sounds like you could pack the course chart, a GPS unit and your lunch in the swimmer bag, so another issue resolved.
Furthermore, we are considering an official OOPS award for those who make a wrong turn--or maybe we will have several on hand just in case.....
Everyone's feeback on this thread has been so amazingly helpful. Please take it one step further and spread the word so that we can get a handle on actual participation numbers--and plan accordingly.
I'm sorry that we have not been able to post the course and description quite yet on CYL 57*N website. Kevin, our web guy/race director/BBSC coach has the team at an away meet in Anchorage.
