Women's Relay Team Completes Encinitas to La Jolla Swim

The Mermaids are the first women’s ocean swim team to complete the distance

Los angeles, CA, June 28, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Local semi-professional team “The Mermaids”, were the first women’s ocean swim team to complete the 14.3 mile relay from Moonlight State Beach (Encinitas, California) to La Jolla Cove (La Jolla, California) on June 16, 2007. The distance was swum in 6 hours, 37 minutes.

The four-person team for this event included Alexia Nalewaik (Pasadena, California), Claudia Rose (Pacific Beach, California), Joyce Tsai (Pacific Beach, California), and Nancy North (El Cajon, California). All four are established long-distance swimmers, each with some 20 years of competitive swimming successes, including solo swims across the Catalina Channel, globe-trotting relays, and individual awards (National and FINA world records). The team was escorted during the swim by kayakers Don Rasky and Lee Mench.

The Mermaids swim team is a squad of eleven female swimmers from across Southern California who excel at long-distance and cold water swimming. Their intent is to find interesting stretches of water to cross, some of which have never before been swum. The team members are amazing women between the ages of 23 and 55, who come from many different backgrounds and serve in many different roles: professionals, mothers, students, caregivers, volunteers, and more. Their example inspires others to seek challenges, set goals, grow personally & professionally, and be active.

According to co-captains Alexia Nalewaik and Claudia Rose, “It was a flawless swim, the weather was great.” With an average water temperature of 65 degrees, and very little wind, conditions were ideal for swimming offshore. The team was accompanied intermittently by marine life during the swim, including dolphins, stingrays, sea lions, and large purple-striped jellyfish. “The entire swim was perfect - we couldn’t have asked for a better day,” Joyce Tsai added in an interview after the swim. “However, I would really have liked to go farther, perhaps finishing at Pacific Beach.”

Other events scheduled for the Mermaids this summer include a relay across Lake Tahoe (22 miles) in July, and one around Anacapa Island (24 miles) in August. The team trains daily, year-round, in La Jolla, California.

The Mermaids thank corporate sponsors Sephora USA Inc. and Tyr Sport Inc. for their generous support during this swim season.

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AN Distance Swimming
Tim Thompson
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