Workout: Open Water Swim – Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial
Posted on March 12th, 2010 in Swim Log, Workout Log | 3 Comments »
Kaimana Beach, Oahu
After work I stopped at a Kaimana beach located just adjacent to the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial. This is the same area where I did the Tinman Triathlon swim last July. The Natatorium was an outdoor salt water swimming pool built in the 1920′s and it served as a memorial to the veterans of World War I. The pool was closed for swimming in 1979 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 However, the memorial hasn’t been maintain since it was closed. There has been some discussion to rebuild it, however, due to the city budget, the project has been canned. It just goes to show how we forget about the vets that served this country. As a veteran myself, I think it is a shame. If it was maintained over the years, it wouldn’t have crumbled beyond repair.
Natatorium
Anyway, I did about 1200 meters. It was a bit choppy, but not real bad. If you research breathing techniques while swimming, many “experts” say to roll to the side and only turn you head enough to get one eye clear of the water. These folks obviously haven’t spent much time in choppy conditions because if you try that in the conditions I encountered today, you would be swallowing a bunch of water. There was also a weird current that I don’t normally experience in this particular area. In some places it was almost like I wasn’t making any forward progress at all. As anyone who has grown up surfing in the island knows, sometimes you need to change direction to escape a current. So I headed farther out until I was clear of the current then headed back on course. It was good swim session. I didn’t go for speed, I just wanted to get some open water time.
Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial - 1928
I don’t know how to do flip turns in the pool, however, today’s video shows how to to do efficient open turns off the wall. This is part 1 of 4. If you want to view the other 3 videos, you can find them on YouTube.
3 Responses
OWS! Awesome Boomer – sounds like it was fun even though you exerienced some chop! You’d be like a fish in our little ocean waves in the gulf of Mexico!
I think I saw that memorial on BING maps Birdsye view before the tsunami a few weeks ago. I was checking out Hawaiian coastline and saw that. Didn’t know what it was until now!
Hey, your Tower 200…is that the same Tower 200 that I saw advertised for $14.95, plus free shipping? Not 3 easy payments of $14.95…it was the amazing low price of $14.95. Is it worth it? What’s your honest review? That price is almost too good to pass up.
Jeff… It was nice getting back do to a training swim in the ocean.
Steve… Yeah, you probably did see it since most of the population lives along the south shore of the island where the Natatorium is located.
As for the Tower 200. Yeah, they say something about $14.95, but that is not the cost of the machine. That is just the bait. In fact, I am not sure what the $14.95 gets you. That might be a “try it before you buy it” price. Anyway, I got mine for $179. I think they cost over $200 from their site. I did the ebay thing. That said, it is worth the $179.