Bill Ireland

From Openwaterpedia
Bill Ireland of SCAQ
Aquaboomers with Tracy Edwards, Dan Leonard (Captain), Bill Ireland, Brad Magit, Steve Lowe and Bruce Thomas
Participants of the 2013 Kaiwi Channel Swim on Sandy Beach with event directors Jeff Kozlovich and Steve Haumschild. Photo courtesy of Kaia Hedlund

William "Bill" Ireland (born 16 October) is an attorney and waterman from Los Angeles who travels the world to compete in competitive open water swimming events.

Open Water Swimming Highlights

  • To date, he has participated in over 400 open water swimming events from Fiji to Bermuda and Haiti in various lakes, rivers, bays and oceans.
  • He started to compete in open water swims doing the youth races at the La Jolla Rough Water Swim in 1970.
  • During his five summers as a beach lifeguard for San Diego City, he started competing in lifeguard races and other open water swims, which he has kept doing with great regularity over the years.
  • An age-group swimmer and water polo player in his youth, one of his college swim coaches at Pomona College was Penny Dean, the English Channel and Catalina Channel record holder.
  • has done a lot of open water races in locations ranging from California, Hawaii, Bermuda, Fiji, Oregon, Ohio, Florida, New York, Maryland, Texas, New Jersey, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, St. Croix, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, Massachusets, Illinois, Australia, New Zealand, Haiti and Nevada.
  • He has a medium/large collection of Maui Channel towels (14 at last count, and unlike Lou Caron, a 100% Towel Rate), an even larger collection of race t-shirts, and has in over 40 years of racing, won two or three races.
  • His biggest victory was selecting a year (2004) to do the Boston Lighthouse Swim when no one who was faster than he was competing.
  • He has circumnavigated Liberty Island and Governor's Island, which total less than 3 miles between them.
  • He competed in the 10 km race in the 2012 Swim Across America Long Beach event.
  • He finished third overall in the 10 km Swim for Haiti on 28 January 2018 in 3 hours 0 minutes.
  • In 2011, he did the Bondi to Bronte swim in Sydney, NSW, and was 76th of over 1900 swimmers.
  • In 2012, he did the Auckland New Zealand TransHarbor Swim in the non-wetsuit division.
  • He was 141st of about 1500 mostly wetsuited swimmers.
  • In 2013 and 2014, he was in the top 10 in the Cancun to Isla Mujeres Por Libre Swim.
  • In 2012 and 2013, as well as on four separate earlier occasions, he won the SPMS Open Water Series held in Southern California.
  • He participated in the inaugural 28-mile (45 km) Kaiwi Channel Swim as part of The Veterans team between the islands of Molokai and Oahu in Hawaii on 24 August 2013.
  • He is a member of the Santa Barbara 6 Mile Swim 10-time Finisher club.
  • He finished sixth in the 3.3 km race at the 2017 Barbados Open Water Festival.

Oceans Seven

Ireland has completed 2 Oceans Seven channels as a relay member:

Reason for Swimming

"Swimming helps me to stay more focused, energetic and relaxed. If I don’t get a chance to swim or get some form of exercise, I’m pretty miserable company. I also have a lot of friends from swimming, which is hard to explain to people who don’t swim. It’s not hard to explain that I have friends—it’s hard to explain why it’s fun to swim with others—and hard to swim by myself."

One of my favorite swim stories is the first time I did the Waikiki Roughwater Swim. I’d reached the second and final turn buoy. I was being hit in both sides of the head by two swimmers—and I realized that I recognized both of them. I had Pat Dixon, a long-time swimming friend hitting me on one side, and Parks Wesson, another long time swimming friend hitting me on the other side. Both are guys I train with regularly. I realized that we probably could have stayed home, had the same experience and saved some money. But I was still glad we had gone. Both beat me to the finish by the way—something that happens with some regularity.

Kaiwi Channel Swim

Ireland was part of The Veterans, six ocean swimmers who completed the inaugural Kaiwi Channel Swim in 9 hours 53 minutes between the islands of Molokai and Oahu on 24 August 2013, escorted by Michael Twigg-Smith:

Kaiwi Channel Swim Video


Southern Pacific Masters Swimming Open Water Series

The SPMS Open Water Series is a 10-race series for registered swimmers of Southern Pacific Masters Swimming in Southern California.

2012 Series Schedule

1. Seal Beach Rough Water Swim, 1 mile
2. Seal Beach Rough Water Swim, 3 miles
3. Semana Nautica, 6 miles
4. Balboa to Newport Pier-to-Pier, 2 miles
5. Nadadores Rough Water Swim at Salt Creek, 2.4 mile
6. OptimisSport Distance Swim Challenge, 1.2 mile swim
7. OptimisSport Distance Swim Challenge, 2.4 mile swim
8. Don Burns Corona del Mar Swim, 1 mile
9. Slam the Dam at Lake Mead, 1.2 mile loop
10. Slam the Dam at Lake Mead, 2.4 mile loop

2012 Series Winners

Female
19-24 years: Carri Cook
25-29 years: Lexie Kelly
30-34 years: Jessica Krick
35-39 years: Tanya MacLean
40-44 years: Vanessa Mesia
45-49 years: Melissa Latt
50-54 years: Lynn Kubasek
55-59 years: Veronica Hibben
60-64 years: Carol Hayden

Male
35-39 years: Craig Gutjahr
40-44 years: James Bergen
45-49 years: Bryan Buck
50-54 years: Bill Ireland
55-59 years: James Hardie
60-64 years: Hubie Kerns
75-79 years: Bill Cooke

2013 Kaiwi Channel Swim

Ireland participated in the relay called The Veterans that won the 28-mile channel crossing across the Ka'iwi Channel between Kepuhi Beach on Molokai and Sandy Beach on Oahu in 9 hours 53 minutes together with Karen Schmidt, Amy Dantzler, Brent Blackman, Bruce Thomas, and Dianne Gleason.

External links

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