Waikiki Roughwater 09

Our own Roque Santos made a quick trip out to the waters of Waikiki for the annual Roughwater swim this past weekend. Check out his blog post below!
Yes, this was the 40th annual Waikiki Rough Water Swim. The 2.3 mile swim in Hawaii inspired the 2.3 mile start of every ironman race. The Waikiki Rough Water Swim is basically why the distance of the Ironman is 2.3 miles!! A little trivia for you! This years races had the 2nd biggest turn out ever! Almost 1,000 swimmers took on the course down the shores of Waikiki. Like a lot of us at blueseventy, we just don't support the sport we love, we like to participate in them. I was able to jump in and take on the swim in my blueseventy for the 2nd year in a row! I personally love the swim. The first part of the race takes you out about 677 yards and it is typically a rough start because you are going out against the waves and the reef in some parts is really close to the surface. At the first of two orange bouys is the first right hand turn. Then the long swim down the shore of Waikiki starts. The race this year was really nice because the tide was on our side the entire way down towards the Rainbow Hilton. I also like the course because at this point in the race you can see the two twin towers that is your site and I breath to the right and on an up wave, I get a great view of the beach! And by this time most swimmers are set into a pace and I was happy to be hanging out behind a nice peloton of about 6 to 8 swimmers. The water is clear and I did find myself looking for fish as I swam along. Now, the tricky part for me is after the second right hand turn towards the shore. The direct line takes you down the boat channel. But, the issue with swimming this way is that the tide also is pushing its way out against you. So, most people angle wide to hit some waves on the way in! I attempted to do this for the second year in a row. However, as luck would have it, or my poor navigational skills, I took it too far left and missed the waves and ended up doing a big circle to get to the finish.

For me to have the opportunity to be able to swim in one of the most well know swims in the world is a great honor. To be able to race against young kids and silver bullets (aka older people) is a great honor. For the second year in a row, I was 3rd in my age group, but my time was about 14 min's faster! It was mainly because of the current. In fact, Trent Grimsey broke the course record! He was in a blueseventy leg skin! Luane Rowe, the women's champion, also from Australia was also in a blueseventy

Blueseventy is very proud to be a part of this race for the 2nd year and we look forward to expanding our involvement with this race in the future. This race it a true classic! Congratulations to all the participated and if you did not, next year is not too far away.