Oleg Dokuchaev

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Oleg Dokuchaev of the Kosatka DV won the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year in the annual WOWSA Awards
Oleg Dokuchaev, President, Founder and Head of Kosatka DV in Vladivostok, Russia and winner of the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year
The unprecedented 50 km relay course of Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia by Oleg Dokuchaev, Maria Chizhova, Pavel Komarov, Eugene Zozulya, and Andrey Bugay on 4-5 August 2020 in 16 hours 11 minutes
Bering Strait at the Arctic Circle

Oleg Dokuchaev is a Russian winter swimmer and event organizer from Vladivostok.

Open Water Swimming Highlights

2020 WOWSA Awards

Kosatka DV by Oleg Dokuchaev was voted for the 2020 WOWSA Awards in the World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year category with the following nomination: Vladivostok is site of Kosatka DV, a winter swimming club and center with hundreds of passionate swimmers and year-round competitions led by President, Founder and Head Coach Oleg Dokuchaev. But the club's reach and renowned reputation goes far beyond the port city in eastern Russia. The club organizes and trains people for extreme swims, eco-marathon swimming relays, and other open water swimming adventures with a goal of marine conservationism and environmentalism in Far East Russia. Based on his experience organizing the 86 km Bering Strait Swim, dubbed The Most Dangerous Crossing In The World, Dokuchaev organizes four other extreme swimming adventures while balancing the highest safety protocols with difficult challenges. For organizing the 75 km Amur River Swim for an 8-swimmer relay ending in Khabarovsk and the 160 km Peter the Great Gulf Swim for a 16-swimmer relay around the Empress Eugénie Archipelago in the sea around Vladivostok, for staging the 50 km Lake Baikal Crossing by a 5-swimmer relay across the famous Lake Baikal and the 75 km Russky Round Swim around the Russky Island by 14 swimmers south of Vladivostok, and for training, leading and motivating cold water swimmers of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to challenge themselves in distant extreme eco-swimming relays in unspoilt waterways, the Kosatka DV by Oleg Dokuchaev is a worthy nominee for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.

The Lake Baikal Relay Eco-Crossing was nominated for the 2020 WOWSA Awards in the World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year category with the following nomination: Russian swimmers Oleg Dokuchaev, Maria Chizhova, Pavel Komarov, Eugene Zozulya from Vladivostok and Andrey Bugay from Irkutsk crossed Lake Baikal that holds 20% of all drinking water on Planet Earth. Situated in the southern part of the Eastern Siberia, the quintet of Russian swimmers completed the 50 km course in 16 hours 11 minutes from Vydrino, Buryatia in 30-minute rotations as the water temperature fell from 14°C to 12°C and the air temperature dropped to 5°C and the winds picked up. Conditions continued to get worse until the water sunk to 5°C over the final 2 km, ending in Listvyanka, Irkutsk where the coldest water from the depths flow out to the Angara River. For dealing with increasingly colder and tougher over the entire 15-hour ordeal, for maintaining a high level of mutual support and focus while repeatedly handling the back-to-back immersions in cold water, and for completing an unprecedented relay crossing of the deepest lake in the world, the unprecedented Lake Baikal Relay Eco-Crossing by Oleg Dokuchaev, Maria Chizhova, Pavel Komarov, Eugene Zozulya, and Andrey Bugay of Russia is a worthy nominee for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.​​

Bering Strait Swim

  • The Bering Strait Swim started at Cape Dezhnev, an American swimmer Melissa O'Reilly led out the out the first leg representing the US followed by Russian swimmers. During the swim they had to struggle with 4-5m high waves, cold wind up to 10-15m per second, sometimes rising up to 17-22m per second. Thick fog proved a difficulty for observing the swimmers,this made the organizers stop the swim several times.
  • Water temperature in the Bering Strait fluctuated from 2 to 10°C in the Bering Strait. There were several currents and flows especially between the Diomede islands and very close to Alaska coming from the opposite directions. It was decided at this point that Breaststroke was too difficult against the high waves that 30 best sportsmen who swim the crawl were chosen to push through that 18 km part of the strait. Over 2 days and many difficult moments the swimmers swam sometimes 200m @ 40 minutes. This was the combination of a team effort from the organisers and the crews working with the swimmers.
  • All of the swimmers underwent full rigorous medical observations of ECG, Cardiac, Blood Pressure and Pulse Oxygen. All swimmers had to be cleared by the chief Medical Staff before they could start and also during the event. If the medical staff were unhappy with Blood Pressure changes then the swimmer was asked to return before the next swim.
  • The Medical staff also had their own objectives. A joint medical group including experts from the Amur region and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) analyzed how negative weather conditions and low water temperature affected the swimmers. After 10 minutes, some of the body temperatures dropped to 32°C, motion activity, and spatial orientation slowed down, but this would be be expected. It was excellent to have the clinical experience so they can now document over several swims. The more rotations the swimmers underwent, the less time it took them to recover after swimming as they got accustomed to the unfavourable conditions. This research can be of great importance for military officers and soldiers who do their service in cold regions with very low temperatures in winter.
  • The chief organizers of the swimming relay were the Ministry for the Defense of the Russian Federation and the Headquarters of the Eastern Military District. Partly the project was financed by the Khabarovsk territory, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Kamchatskiy territory and the Chukchi Autonomous Area. Technically the swim was performed by the public organization “Cold water Swimming Association of the Khabarovsk Territory ‘Kasatka’” and the Amur regional public organization “’Aquaice-sport’ Federation”. The American partner of the project was Alaska consulting & trade International LLC headed by Leonid Kokaurov.
  • A highly important role in the project belongs to Arthur Chilingarov, Federation Council member and Russian President’s Special Envoy on International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic, the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Hero of the Russian Federation.
  • This international project was devoted to the 365th anniversary of the first Russian expedition to the Bering Strait conducted by Semyon Dezhnev, to the 70th anniversary of the Alaska-Siberia airway during World War II and to the 100th anniversary of the Yakutia branch of the Russian Geographical Society. It was wonderful to meet the Mayor of Nome Denise Burns who herself was so welcoming to the team once they all arrived to Nome Alaska.
  • The logistical support of the swimming relay was provided and maintained by the Eastern Military District. The Minister for the Defense General Sergey Shoigu appointed the Head of the Eastern Military District Forces Admiral Konstantin Sidenko to be the Head of the Project’s Organisation Committee.

The hospital ship “Irtysh” owned by the Pacific Ocean Fleet was assigned to be the main support ship of the project. A tugboat MB 61 together with three RIBs escorted the sportsmen while they were swimming. The crew of the ribs and the ship played a significant role to the success and the safety of the swimmers. The supervising officer of this group of boats was Victor Torbin, the chief manager of the Vladivostok-based supply vessels.

  • The Russian and International swimmers expressed their gratitude to A. Denisov, the captain of the hospital ship and the whole crew of the vessel for all the great job they had done to ensure the team’s comfortable stay on board the Irtysh. The organizers are very grateful to the group of kite surfers which included Yevgemiy Novozheev, Sergey Semenov and Denis Berezhnov who explored the Bering Strait currents and took an active part in navigating the RIBs on 10-11 August which appeared to be the hardest days of the swim. These kite surfers were successful in crossing the Bering Strait themselves as Kite Surfers so their knowledge was wonderful.

Bering Strait Swim Preparation

Admission is determined by the athletes based on the following criteria:

1. Hardening experience - at least 5 years
2. Personal achievements in sports
3. Distance swims in the icy water - at least 800 meters
4. The speed of movement in cold water - not less than 2.5-3 km per hour
5. Psychological stress by swimming for 3-4 steps per day, with a stay in cold water for 15-20 minutes
6. Having a sports doctor tolerance

Relay Members in 2013 Attempt

1. Yuri Tsiganchuk, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
2. Yuri Myagkikh, Russia
3. Vladimir Chegorin, Russia
4. Maria Chizhova, Novosibirsk, Russia
5. Elena Guseva, Russia
6. Ram Barkai, Cape Town, South Africa
7. Jack Bright, UK
8. Vladimir Litvinov, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
9. Oksana Veklich, Blagoveshchensk, Russia
10. Aleksandr Jakovlev, Jelgava, Latvia
11. Matías Ola, Buenos Aires /Tucuman Argentina
12. Henri Kaarma, Tallinn, Estonia
13. Toomas Haggi, Tallinn, Estonia
14. Nuala Moore, Ireland
15. Anne Marie Ward, Donegal, Ireland
16. Toks Viviers, Cape Town, South Africa
17. Melissa O’Reilly (‘Mo’), Lambertville, New Jersey, USA
18. Ryan Stramrood, Cape Town, South Africa
19. Cristian Vergara, Santiago, Chile
20. Craig Lenning, Colorado, USA
21. Rafał Ziobro, Krakow, Poland
22. Andrew Chin, Cape Town, South Africa
23. Jackie Cobell, Tunbridge Wells, UK
24. James Pittar, Australia
25. Paolo Chiarino, Italy
26. Aleksandrs Jakovlevs, Latvia (Swimmer, Starter & Navigator)

Proposed Relay Members from 2012 Attempt

1. Dmitri Belyaev from Russian Federation, Moscow
2. Alexander Brylin from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
3. Victoria Brylin from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
4. Daniel Brylin from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
5. Wang Ying from PRC, Hebei Province, Qinhuangdao
6. Velichko Igor V. from Russia, Khabarovsk
7. Vladimir Ganin from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
8. Godlevsky Victor from Russia, Kamchatka
9. Grishchenko Denis from Russia
10. Guseva Elena from Russia, Perm, Berezniki
11. Jack Bright from the United Kingdom
12. Zhao Rui Ping from PRC, Beijing
13. Yermilov Nina from Russia, Krasnogorsk
14. Efimov Roman from Russia
15. Zverev Stanislav
16. Koshelenko Paul
17. Anatoly Lebedev from Russia, Khabarovsk
18. Irina Makarova from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
19. Victor E. Maksimihin from Russia
20. Andrei Mikhalev from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
21. Michelle L. Macy from United States, Oregon
22. Muzhetsky Victor from Russia
23. Oleg Dokuchaev from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
24. Oscar G. Caballero Vaca from La Paz Bolivia
25. Parkhomenko, George from Russia, Moscow
26. Petshak Leonardovich Nicholas
27. Tatyana Pilipenko
28. Sergei Popov from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
29. Sinatulin Vladimir Arifulovich
30. Fatyanova Natalie
31. Jiang Liang Jie from PRC, Hebei Province, Shiyan city
32. Qu Chun I from Peoples Republic of China, Heilongjiang Province
33. Chegorin Vladimir from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
34. Daria Chervonenko
35. Chen Lung from PRC, Hebei Province, Qinhuangdao
36. Chernyshev Valeriy
37. Cherkasov, Alexander
38. Yurkov Alexander from Russia, Blagoveshchensk
39. Bill Thomas from USA
40. Gela Gelashvili Vazhovich
41. Jidkova Irina Timirshaevna (expedition doctor)
42. Zhadik Andrei V from Russia, Moscow
43. Malakhovsky Mikhail
44. Semenov, Vyacheslav V.
45. Marat Galiev Muhamedovich

Bering Strait Swim Video

Lake Baikal Relay Crossing


50 km relay course by Oleg Dokuchaev, Maria Chizhova, Pavel Komarov, Eugene Zozulya, and Andrey Bugay on 4-5 August 2020 in 16 hours 11 minutes

Externa links

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