Speedo diplomacy

From Openwaterpedia

Fidel Castro celebrating the Swim for Peace by Walter Poenisch in 1978, together with Fay Poenisch

Lynne Cox swimming from Little Diomede (U.S.A.) to Big Diomede (Soviet Union) across the Bering Strait in 1987 as part of her Speedo diplomacy

Lewis Pugh in Five Swims In Antarctica for 1 Reason in the Southern Ocean in an act of Speedo diplomacy. Photo by Kelvin Trautman

The 2017 Pan-American Colibrí Swim between Imperial Beach, California, USA and Playas de Tijuana Mexico is a 10 km cross-border swim and an example of Speedo diplomacy by a group of ocean swimmers from five nations with the purpose to raise awareness and funds for the Colibri Center for Human Rights in the Pacific Ocean

noun - Speedo diplomacy is a politically-sensitive swim or actions based on an unprecedented open water swim that results in positive action by governments or leaders or organizations around the world, especially among those with fundamentally different perspectives and viewpoints.

Contents

1 Origin
2 Speedo Diplomacy Swims
3 Pan-American Colibrí Swim
4 External links

Origin

Ping-pong diplomacy (Chinese: 乒乓外交) refers to the exchange of table tennis (ping-pong) players between the United States and People's Republic of China in the early 1970s. The event marked a thaw in Sino-American relations that paved the way to a visit to Beijing by President Richard Nixon.

Speedo Diplomacy Swims

1950: Jose Cortiñas, Leo Vigil, Rolando Elejalde and Luciana Nunez attempted a relay crossing across the Florida Strait between Bahia Honda in Cuba to Key West, Florida to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Cuban flag on 1 July 1950.
1978: Walter Poenisch completed his Swim for Peace, the longest ocean swim of 128.8 miles (207.2 km) across the Straits of Florida from Cuba to The Little Duck Key in Florida on 11 July 1978 under the rules of the International Federation of Ocean Swimmers and Divers.
1987: Lynne Cox swam across the Bering Strait from the island of Little Diomede in Alaska, U.S.A. to Big Diomede, then part of the Soviet Union, in 2 hours 6 minutes where the water temperature averaged around 4°C (40°F). She saw it as a way to open the U.S.-Soviet border for the first time in 48 years.
1993: Skip Storch attempted a swim across the Straits of Florida from Cuba to Florida, U.S.A. that ended in 25 hours.
2010: Lewis Pugh completed a 1 km unprecedented high-altitude swim on Mount Everest in 22 minutes 51 seconds at 5,200m altitude that drew attention to the importance of water rights and climate change that is affecting millions of people throughout Asia.
2013: Diana Nyad swam across the Straits of Florida from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida, U.S.A. on 31 August 2013 in 52 hours, 54 minutes that helped reduce the tensions between Cuba and the U.S.A. since the 1960s. Nyad dealt directly between United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Cuban senior leadership.
2013: The International Relay Swim Across The Bering Strait was an unprecedented 6-day relay swim across the Bering Strait from Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka, Russia, to Cape Prince of Wales in the state of Alaska, USA (via Big Diomede and Little Diomede Islands). The swim started at 4:24 p.m. on 5 August 2013 and finished at 4:52 p.m. on 11 August 2013.
2014: Lewis Pugh completed the Seven Swims In The Seven Seas For 1 Reason in order to put Marine Protected Areas: 10 km in the Mediterranean Sea, 15 km in the Adriatic Sea, 10 km in the Aegean Sea, 40 km in the Black Sea, 15 km in the Red Sea, 10 km in the Arabian Sea, and a 100 km stage swim in the North Sea.
2015: Lewis Pugh completed the Five Swims In Antarctica for 1 Reason that helped pave the way to establishing the Ross Sea as the world's largest Marine Protected Area. The swims included swims on 13 February 2015 on Campbell Island at 52º South, on 19 February 2015 at Cape Adare at 71º South, on 22 February 2015 at Cape Evans at 77.6º South, on 28 February 2015 at Bay of Whales at 78.5º South, and on 7 March 2015 at Peter 1 Island at 69º South.
2016: Dead Sea Swim, a 16 km cross-border swim across the Dead Sea between Jordan and Israel.
2016: Malvinas/Falklands Islands Challenge, a tandem swim of the Unir el Mundo project between West Falkland to East Falkland in Argentina that was completed by Matías Ola from Argentina and Jackie Cobell from Great Britain in 2 hours 37 minutes in 6ºC water.
2017: Pan-American Colibrí Swim is a 7.9 km 3 hour 3 minute cross-border swim by a group of ocean swimmers from five nations with the purpose to raise awareness and funds for the Colibri Center for Human Rights in the Pacific Ocean between Imperial Beach near San Diego, California, USA and finishing at Playas de Tijuana in Tijuana, Mexico held on 5 May 2017, starting near the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve. Its members include Kimberley Chambers (New Zealand), Oded Rahav (Israel), Jean Craven (South Africa), Antonio Argüelles, (Mexico), Nicolene Steynberg (South Africa), Rene Martínez Saenz (Mexico), Ben Enosh (Israel), Ryan Nelson (USA), Melissa King (USA), Kamini Moodley (South Africa), Neil Macaskill (South Africa), Luc Chetboun (Israel), Nora Toledano (Mexico), Mariel Hawley (Mexico), and Ben Enosh (USA/Israel). They will be supported and escorted by escort kayakers Dan Simonelli (USA), Billy Carlson (USA), Matt Donoghue (USA), Haden Ware (USA), Anna Lopez and the Out of the Boat Team (Mexico), Kala Sherman-Presser (USA), Tom Hecker (USA), and Kevin Eslinger (USA).
2018: Lewis Pugh completed The Long Swim, a 560 km stage swim across the British coast of the English Channel that he finished after 49 days and resulted in the British Government committing to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by the year 2030.
2019: Nejib Belhedi plans an unprecedented 141 km cross-border swim from the island of Lampedusa, Italy to the Mahdia coastline of Tunisia at the age of 67.
2019: The International Swim across the La Pérouse Channel is a 2-day, 2 stage swim relay with swimmers from Russia, Japan, and South Africa between Sakhalin, Russia and Hokkaido, Japan.

Pan-American Colibrí Swim

External links

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