blogs

Aaron Peirsol's second annual Race for the Oceans will take place on the weekend of October 10th and 11th in Fort Myers, Florida. (It's hard to believe it's been almost a year!)

Like last year, the event will consist of an All Ages Clinic, a Jr. Swim, and a 1K and 5K Challenge. Last year was a great success, so register now to see if you can splash past the gold medal Olympian.

Aaron has, once again, beaten his own world record in the 200m backstroke! Swimming in the World Championships in Rome, Aaron won a gold medal with a time of 1 minute and 51.82 seconds, more than a full second under his previous world record set only three weeks ago at US Nationals. Although he lagged behind fellow American and defending Olympic champ Ryan Lochte at the beginning of the race, Aaron pulled ahead in the last half of the race for the win.

After Oceana requested information about the use of antibiotics in Chile’s salmon industry, Chile’s Ministry of Economy revealed for the first time ever that Chile used about 718,000 pounds of antibiotics in 2008 and 850,000 pounds in 2007. In an article titled “Chile’s Antibiotic Use on Salmon Farms Dwarfs That of a Top Rival’s” in Sunday’s The New York Times, Alex Munoz, Oceana’s vice president for South America, was quoted criticizing Chile’s overuse of antibiotics in its salmon farms.

It's been quite a week for Aaron Peirsol.

After Spain’s Aschwin Faber broke the world record last week, Aaron has reclaimed his 100-meter backstroke world record at the US swimming championships! Swimming the race in a speedy 51.94 seconds, it was the sixth time Aaron has lowered the world record in the event. Congratulations!

In addition, Aaron announced on Wednesday that he would award $3,000 of his own money to the winners of his Race for the Oceans swim in Fort Myers, Florida. Each winner in the men’s and women’s divisions will win $1,500. In turn, several other Olympic swimmers have also contributed to the cause and event as well.

I’m sure you can remember the first time you saw the movie Jaws. In fact, I bet the theme song is playing in your head right now. Tuesday marked the 35th anniversary of the filming of that infamous July 4 beach scene.

Crowds of bathing suit-clad extras screamed and ran from the water over and over again until the scene was perfect. Yet, here’s the thing: Jaws is a movie. And those extras were simply acting. Because the truth is, despite the ever-present hysteria—see "Sharks as Serial Killers? Try Again” on the Oceana blog—that beach scene is probably never going to happen to you. And what's more, we're the ones putting sharks in danger of extinction.

Aaron is back in the news, even though the 2012 Summer Olympics are a ways off. At the Charlotte UltraSwim a few weeks ago, he defeated Michael Phelps in the 100-meter backstroke.

Watch video of the race and hear what Aaron had to say about it:

"I was getting texts and emails from people I hadn't heard from in a long time saying congratulations," said Peirsol. "I got more attention from this meet than most national meets that we go to."

It's charity report card time again, and Oceana just scored an A+.

Charity Navigator, an independent charity evaluator, released its latest rankings and we received four out of a possible four stars, which means Oceana "exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities in its Cause."

Charity Navigator rates charities by evaluating indicators of organizational efficiency and organizational capacity. As their website states, "Our ratings show givers how efficiently a charity will use their support today, and to what extent the charities are growing their programs and services over time."

You may have read about the around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race on our OCYC blog, but here's a first for the race: as the NYT reported, the seven remaining yachts had to make a detour to go around a whale sanctuary near Boston this past weekend.

The boats, which can reach 30 mph, sailed around the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the North Atlantic right whales that are feeding in the area. Due to the boats' speed, a collision with a whale can be disastrous for both parties -- the animal may be killed and crew members could be thrown into rigging (that's the sailing apparatus, for all you non-sailors).

Marine mammal collisions are increasingly a problem. Several sailors in the recent Vendée Globe race sustained severe damage to their boats after hitting what they believed were marine mammals. And one sailor in the Artemis trans-Atlantic race last May had to abandon his boat after he reported striking a large sea mammal.

Mark your calendars! The second annual Aaron Peirsol's Race for the Oceans has been scheduled for October 10-11, 2009 at Fort Myers Beach in Fort Myers, Fla.

Part of the proceeds from the event will again go to Oceana's efforts to protect the sea.

Aaron will, of course, host and participate in the event and NBC Olympic broadcaster Rowdy Gaines will serve as master of ceremonies for the event.

As Aaron told Swimming World Magaazine, "This is a great chance for people to experience the joy of swimming in Florida's warm ocean waters and raise awareness for an important cause."

Aaron was interviewed last week for NBC's Todayshow.com about RFTO and the Fort Myers event. Check out the interview below!

Q: When did your relationship with the water really begin?

A: I have always had a very natural connection to the water, and that connection stems from the ocean itself. I think a more pertinent question would be “Did I ever not have a relationship with the water?”

Q: Can you give a quick rundown of the ocean/water preservation programs and organizations you’ve been involved with?

A: I began working with Oceana, which is the largest international organization that is dedicated to solving the oceans’ problems, about three years ago. As opposed to spreading themselves thin over many environmental issues, Oceana's decision to solely work on the world's oceans enables them to work toward achieving measurable change by conducting specific, fact-based campaigns with fixed deadlines and articulated goals.