Four members of the open-water, world-record setting Ventura Deep Six relay team are among the hardy 32 swimmers signed up to do the Semana Nautica 6-mile ocean swim on Sunday.
The swim starts at 9 a.m. at the Goleta Beach Pier and finishes at Hendry’s Beach.
Tom Ball, Kurt Baron, Jim Neitz and Dr. John Chung were part of a six-man team that last September set the world record for a continous open-water swim by a relay team. They swam 202 miles around the clock, starting in Ventura, traveling to Santa Barbara before heading south and finishing in La Jolla Cove.
They’ll be joined by six-mile swim veterans like defending champion Stewart Reid (1:43.50), Chip Blankenhorn, Dan O’Meara, Tim Hayes, Bill Ireland, Rick Hayes, David Pekarek.
Seven men finished under two hours last in colder water last year.
Isabel Dickinson returns to defend her women’s title (2 hours, 19 minutes, 37 seconds). She’ll be joined by returnees Diana Corbin, Claudia Rose, Natalie Merrow and Kimberly Rutherford.
