Swimmer's Daily

  • With the rise of green living, it seems like gardens are popping up everywhere: in backyards and abandoned lots and on rooftops. However, when the McClung family moved into their Mesa, Ariz. home in 2009, they took one look at the empty swimming pool in their backyard and saw an opportunity for something completely unique.

    They turned their swimming hole into something they’ve dubbed the Garden Pool, and over the past five years, it’s changed the McClung’s life, as well as foster a whole new sustainability movement.

    Read NationSwell

  • Although they have long been a treasured part of every Vermonters’ summer, as Vermont becomes less rural and more suburban, swimming holes are closed. More riverbanks get posted, more land gets developed, and more old swimming holes become newly private property — and inaccessible.

    The Vermont River Conservancy (VRC), a small organization that specializes in conserving rivers and the land alongside them, has taken note of those losses.

    “We’ve noticed that many of these really spectacular places that were used by local people were being purchased or posted,” says Stephan Syz, founding board member and guiding light of the River Conservancy.

    Assistant Director Lydia Menendez adds: “We receive calls frequently stating that a swimming hole that people used to visit has been closed.”

    Fortunately, the conservancy has not only noticed the trend but it has a plan, and a bold one, to solve the problem: to conserve for public use a swimming hole in every town in Vermont.

    “It could take us 10 years,” says Executive Director Steven Libby, “but every town should have its own swimming hole – it should just be part of that town’s public amenities.”

    Read VTDigger

  • Swimming lowers stress levels, increases muscle tone and strength, increases flexibility, and improves heart and lung health, not to mention it is low impact and great on your joints. Swimming burns 500-600 calories for every hour of swimming (depending on the intensity of your workout). Swimming is a sport for both novice swimmers and top notch athletes. Whether you’re looking to recover from an injury or preparing for an event, there is a place in the pool for you.

    Read St George News

  • Champion swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen says she’s a more spiritual person since the June ATV accident that severed her spine and left her paralyzed.

    “You’re like, you know what, there’s something bigger and better than me,” the Olympic gold medalist told TODAY’s Matt Lauer in an exclusive interview Friday. “Maybe you should focus on it a little bit — because I’d like to meet that person later rather than sooner.”

    See Today

    Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    http://youtu.be/wNamZFCRZS4

  • Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte reportedly celebrated his birthday among male strippers while in Las Vegas.

    The American sportsman is believed to have been having dinner at the Andiamo Steakhouse inside the D Casino Hotel in Sin City this week.

    According to TMZ, Lochte was dragged next door to where male strippers were performing to receive a birthday song, as well as a cake, which bore icing-filled Olympic rings.

    During the celebrations, the crowd urged Lochte to take off his shirt and he happily did so before taking a bite out of his cake.

    See SportsMole and TMZ

  • A man who was hospitalized after nearly drowning in the 45th annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim event has died.

    Race director Kaia Hedlund tells KHON a lifeguard spotted the 49-year-old unresponsive in the water at Kaimana Beach just before 10 a.m. Monday. He was brought back to shore where CPR was administered until paramedics arrived.

    Hedlund says it’s the first death in the race’s history.

    About an hour later, a 50-year-old man collapsed near the race and was hospitalized in critical condition.

    Race officials say the man wasn’t a swimmer but was assisted by private lifeguards hired for the event.

    See SFGate and KHON2

  • A teenage boy was killed and another boy was injured by lightning strikes in Pennsylvania on Sunday night, according to officials. The boys were swimming with a third boy in a creek in Lancaster County when they were struck, according to LancasterOnline. The boys were transferred to the hospital, but one did not survive.

    Source NBC, September 1st 2014

  • On September 12, 2014, the first ever 4K video captured underwater by a smartphone will be broadcast to more than half-a-million viewers live, thanks to HDBaseT technology. The operation will involve more than 200 divers, instructors, professional photographers and production crew, for a 20-m dive along a shipwreck in the Red Sea, Eilat, Israel. With the help of HDBaseT, the unique diving event will be broadcast live on YouTube and potentially allow millions of viewers around the world to take part of it, and as such set a new Guinness World Record of the “Most Viewers of a Live Shipwreck Dive.”

    The dive will take place during the 10th anniversary celebrations of the annual “Eilat Red Sea International Underwater Photo Competition.” The dive will be photographed by two high-definition Panasonic cameras (and distributed by Satlink), and also by a 4K-enabled smartphone. To deliver the live feed from the smartphone to the surface, an HDBaseT transmitter will be connected to a receiver over a simple LAN cable to be uploaded live on YouTube. No other solution in the market today can transmit 4K video transmissions over the long distances required for underwater broadcasting.

    The YouTube broadcasting is essential to break the record of the “Most Viewers of a Live Shipwreck Dive,” as there are no limits on the concomitant number of viewers. Anyone with a computer or smartphone connected to the Internet will be able to experience this dive.

    To be part of this historical moment, log into www.eilatredsea.com on September 12th, at 9:30 am GMT (4:30 am EST, 1:30 am PST, 7:30 pm Sydney NSW.) Preparations will start 30 minutes beforehand.

    Read BusinessWire

  • A 17-year-old Norwegian swimmer is gaining international fame for an online video depicting him solving three Rubik’s cubes underwater in a single breath.

    Marius Solaat Rodland, a professional swimmer who placed 14th at the 50 meter fly event of the 2014 European Junior Championship, is being hailed as a champion of another sort for completing the “Underwater Rubik’s Cubes Challenge.”

    See UPI