Semana Nautica
Semana Nautica is an annual celebration of marine sports in Santa Barbara, California that includes a number of open water swimming competitions.
Contents
Distance
1 mile, 3 miles, 5-mile biathlon, 6 miles
Type
Ocean
Location
City Goleta Beach, Santa Barbara
State/County/Province California
Country USA
Region Americas
Contact
Name Jane Cairns
Email janeswims@juno.com
Event Information
Month: July
Event Date: July 3, 2011
Website: http://www.semananautica.com
Origin of Semana Nautica
For more than half a century, Santa Barbara has celebrated the Semana Nautica Festival surrounding the 4th of July holiday. The festival originated in 1933 when the local populace challenged the crew of five U.S. Navy battleships, moored outside the harbor, to a series of contests along the beach. Dubbed Fleet Week, the resulting enthusiasm inspired the City Council to charter the event on a permanent basis the following year and change the name to Semana Nautica in honor of the town’s Spanish heritage.
2011 3-Mile Swim
Australians Max Halson (57:10) and Luane Rowe (1:03:31) took the top honors in the Semana Nautica 3-mile Swim. Halson was in a lead group of four swimmers, which included former champion Alex Kostich around the final buoy. Halson noted that the sport is very popular in his native Australia, "A lot of big-time swimmers are celebrities. My goal is to compete in open water swimming at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil."
Rowe is a seasoned swimmer, having won the Waikiki Roughwater Swim three consecutive years, been on three straight winning women’s relay teams at the Maui Channel Swim and has won Australian races like the Cole Classic and Macquarie Big Swim with plans to do the English Channel later this year.
2011 3-Mile Swim
2009 6-Mile Swim
