Ventura County Deep Six Relay Team Completes First Day in Chilly California Waters in Attempt to Set World Record

PHOENIX, Arizona, September 17. THE Ventura Deep Six Relay Team has completed the first 24 hours of a marathon swim along the southern California coastline in an attempt to complete 202 miles in the frigid ocean waters.

The team of Jim McConica, Kurtis Baron, John Chung, Mike Shaffer, Tom Ball and Jim Neitz started their quest to set a new open water relay swim world record at 6:03 a.m. Thursday on the shores of Ventura, Calif., and headed northwest to Santa Barbara. According to their frequent Facebook page posts, schools of dolphins accompanied the team through their swim, fog helped keep the wind at bay and the water temperature hovered at 60 degrees. Each member swam for one hour before handing off the duties to the next swim, similar to the rules required for relay swims in the English Channel or Catalina Channel. Also, the swimmers are not allowed to wear wetsuits in order for the swim to be officially recorded.

At 8:45 p.m. Thursday, Chung reached the Santa Barbara Pier and started heading south toward La Jolla. At 6:03 a.m. this morning, the team completed their first full day of swimming, and have completed more than 60 miles. The current FINA world record for a relay open water swim is 78.2 statute miles, a feat the team expects to break before the sun sets today.

The estimated time for arrival in La Jolla is Monday morning.

If you missed our Morning Swim Show interview with all six members of the Ventura team, you can see it in the video player below or on SwimmingWorld.TV.

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