The Tiki Swim is taking off in popularity, and sold out for the first time. There were 350 swimmers, up 50% from last year, and I'd guess there will be over 500 next year.

For finishing so far back in the field, I sure had fun! The conditions were so nice, everyone I talked to said the swim felt easy. My GPS plot says I was arrow-straight all the way up the coast - I tried to sight on far buoys, rather than the next one, and since the buoy line curved toward the coast, I saved a few yards. There were a lot more swimmers this year, and were relatively easy to draft. I'd draft unless a swimmer headed away from the straight line to the harbor. Even though the Pacific was fairly flat, you'd only see buoys every few looks, but the line of yellow caps was easy to keep track of.

The course was a little long. People commonly said it was 1/4 mile long, my Garmin said I went 2.6 miles.

Like last year, it took forever to get to the first buoy, it was a smooth swim along the beach, and felt fast down the harbor. Strava says I had a 1:49 pace everywhere but rounding the jetty.



Nothing. This swim is just plain fun. 2.4 miles in the Pacific this time of year is something I can't get enough of.

It was definitely fun to hang with friends over the pancake breakfast.

I can't wait for next year!


The promoter does a fantastic job. I couldn't recommend it more, and I'm sure our crew will be even bigger next year.