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Miquel Suñer Comalat

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48 Braçades, nominee for the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year, part of the WOWSA Awards, an annual recognition of outstanding men, women, performances and offerings around the globe sponsored by the World Open Water Swimming Association
Miquel Suñer Comalat, author of 48 Braçades and co-crector of Vies Braves
Signage for the Vies Braves project along Costa Brava in Spain
48 BRAZADAS: Solo tú marcas tu horizonte (48 Swimming Strokes: Only you set your horizons)

Miquel Suñer Comalat (Miquel Sunyer or Miquel Suñer) (born in Girona in 13 February 1977) is a Telecommunications Engineer and holds an MBA. At the age of seven he joined the competitive swim team at the GEiEG club, where he excelled in backstroke. Later he joined the water polo team of the same club, combining these activities with individual swimming training. A nature and vital adventure lover, Sunyer is an outdoor sports enthusiast, particularly when it comes to swimming: he’s a marine alpinist and an aquatic explorer who has participated in several prestigious international open water swimming competitions.

Eco-Swimming

Suñer started the eco-swimming movement in Vies Braves, Spain in 2018.

Vies Braves

An ambassador of the Costa Brava and the ideologist and promoter of Vies Braves, he currently works at Endesa and co-created Vies Braves, an open water public network of marine itineraries located along Costa Brava in Catalonia, Spain.

Open Water Swimming Career

  • He completed an English Channel crossing in 11 hours 54 minutes and became the 10th Spanish swimmer to cross in 2010.
  • He completed the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 7 hours 38 minutes, finishing 6th position as the first Catalan to circumnavigate Manhattan in 2011.
  • He completed the Catalina Channel in 8 hours 11 minutes to become the 53rd member of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming club in 2012.
  • He is attempting the Oceans Seven.
  • He is the male record holder for the Menorca Channel in Spain. Sunyer swam 39.8 km (21.3 nautical miles) in the Menorca Channel from the Balearic island of Menorca to the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean Sea in 12 hours 19 minutes in 2009.
  • The first to swim from Playa Grande de Rosas to Playa Grande de Port de la Selva, 32 km, in 2013 in Spain
  • The first to swim (non-wetsuit) between Tenerife and La Gomera, 30km, in 2013
  • He completed a crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar on 12 September 2008 at the age of 31 in 3 hours 32 minutes, starting from Almansa, Spain for the 15th fastest time until that date.
  • He co-authored 48 Brazadas with James Manresa that tells "the extraordinary story of overcoming by Miquel Sunyer, the first Catalan swimmer who achieved the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming"
  • He is a frequent participant in Swim the Costa Brava event in Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
  • He completed the Robben Island swim in 2015
  • He is the Honorary President and International Representative of the Menorca Channel Swimming Association.
  • He completed the Palamós-St. Feliu de Guíxols race in 2009 in 2 hours 48 minutes.
  • He completed the Illes Medes-Formigues race (6 hours) in 2010.
  • On 28 June 2009, he completed a 15.3 km crossing of the Gulf of Roses from the Port of Roses to the Port of L'Escala in Spain in 3 hours 38 minutes; the Roses-L’Escala swim was observed by Antoni Trias in 21°C water.
  • On 23 May 2010, he completed a 22.54 km swim from Illes Medes to Illes Formigues in Spain in 6 hours in 15.7°C, observed by Josep Castany.
  • On 6 September 2013, he swam 32 km from Playa grande de Rosas to Playa grande de Port de la Selva, Spain in 8 hours 50 minutes in 21°C water.

Description

"Swimming in the sea makes me feel free and alive, in intimate contact with nature. Swimming is my own private form of meditation. I rejoice in the silence around me and relax with the sound of my own breathing. The sea is marvelous, full of life; it is crucial for our own survival and well-being. It needs to be preserved."

Menorca Channel Swimming Association Officers

48 BRAZADAS: Solo tú marcas tu horizonte

48 BRAZADAS: Solo tú marcas tu horizonte (48 Swimming Strokes: Only you set your horizons) is a 230-page book written by Miquel Sunyer with James Manresa written in Spanish and Catalan, published Planeta in April 2015.

Forty-eight strokes per minute, not one more nor less, at the same time physical technique and mental mindset. For the swimmer and adventurer Miquel Sunyer this is the inviolable limit. The key that allows him to swim in the sea for hour upon hour, survive the low temperature of the water, the currents, overcome fatigue, his fears….. and finally, to reach his goal: to reach the other side of the ocean.

Fascinated by the feats of the heroes of swimming pioneers like Matthew Webb and Montserrat Tresserras, Miquel Sunyer takes on, without a wetsuit, the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.

48 Swimming Strokes narrates the story of a normal guy who does extraordinary things. Miquel Sunyer tells about his daily struggle and shares his values and challenges: the mental and physical preparation, the constant team work. It reveals how he deals with fear and failure, and above all, how he maintains, despite the plethora of difficulties, his motivation. His secret is never giving up, remembering that he can always aim higher, and the importance of not pursuing victory, but rather outdoing oneself.

2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year Nominees

48 Braçades was nominated for the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year by the World Open Water Swimming Association:

1. 48 Braçades by Miquel Suñer (Spain)
2. Blue Journey Dangerous Waves Project by Bruckner Chase (USA)
3. Global Swim Series by Rob Kent & Dylan Kent (Canada)
4. LongSwimsDB by Evan Morrison (USA)
5. New York Open Water by David Barra, Rondi Davies & Alex Arévalo (USA)
6. Open Water Swim Academy by Dan Simonelli (USA)
7. Outdoor Swimmer by Simon Griffiths (Great Britain)
8. Sea Donkey with Adrian Sarchet (Guernsey)
9. Shark Bait by Dr. Seán O’Connell (Bermuda)
10. Swim Argentina by Matías Ola (Argentina)
11. The Channel of Bones with Toni Enderli (South Africa)
12. Travessia do Leme ao Pontal by Adherbal de Oliveira & Renato Ribeiro Barbosa (Brazil)

2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year Nomination

48 Braçades: Solo tú marcas tu horizonte (48 Swimming Strokes: Only You Set Your Horizons) is a 230-page book written in Spanish and Catalan by Miquel Suñer with James Manresa. After becoming the 53rd person in history to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, he wrote an extraordinary retelling of his aquatic journey from a backstroker and water polo player to an elite marathon swimmer. The 40-year-old engineer and ambassador of the Costa Brava and Menorca Channel Swimming Association describes his perspectives of swimming in the sea under challenging conditions and his frank intimate connection with Mother Nature]. For explaining how swimming is his form of meditation, for a brilliant recount of his daily struggles and how he deals with fear and failure, for sharing how he maintains his deeply felt motivation despite facing obstacles and difficulties both on dryland and in the water, 48 Braçades: Solo tú marcas tu horizonte is a worthy nominee for the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.

Videos

External links

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