The tradition of swimming across the Øresund strait is considered one of the oldest in the world in the category of OPEN WATER swimming.
The first recorded swim took place in 1898 but there is very little information about who the competitors were.
One of the most known Open Water swimmers is Mrs Sally Bauer who swam over the Øresund strait for the first time in 1931. At the time wetsuits for swimmers weren't invented yet so in order to protect herself of the cold water she used motorgrease all over her body as seen in the picture.
Sally Bauer also swam across the English channel twice in 1939 just days before the outbreak of WW2.
Sally Bauer was born in 1908 and died i 2001 at the age of 92.
Between 1934 and 1937, Bauer set 17 national freestyle records in events ranging from the 200-meter freestyle to the mile. But it was her distance swimming that made her famous.
The swim across the Øresund strait has been taken upon by numerous swimmers for over a century and has since 2011 been organised by Mr Magnus "Manne" Lorentzon, a Scanian resident who has great experience in Open Water swimming and was in the organisation of the Swedish triathlon cup and national championships in 2011.
In 2011 he was together with Mr Magnus Ericsson the head of the organisation of the Helsingborg triathlon and a month after the triathlon competition he took upon the task to organise the across Øresund Swim.
Mr Magnus "Manne" Lorentzon has been an active triathlete between the years 1992 to 2010 when he had a kneeinjury and sadly had to give up his beloved triathlon as competitor.
He although still practices roadcycling and Open Water swimming but more as a ecerciser.
The organisation has its own boats which are of the type SIB (soft inflatable boat) equipped with 4-6 hp engines which is sufficient for following Open Water swimmers side by side during the swim. The purpose of these SIBs are to at any given moment rescue swimmers out of the water due to fatigue or other apparent problems with the swimmer and then transport the specifik swimmer to a larger boat which also follows the swim.
Each SIB is manned by a single trained rescuediver who has proper training such as CPR and first aid at sea. The number of SIBs with rescuediver is determined as one per five swimmers.
Every SIB and larger boat has radiocontact with eachother for faster response.
At the time for an emergency rescue by one of the SIBs the swimmers are fully covered by kayakists who always stay with the swimmers in an immediate area without disturbing the actual swim.
Resting for swimmers is always available at the kayaks which follows the swimmers all the way to safety at shore.
Another task for the kayaks is to act as guides to the swimmers due to that the waves in the Øresund strait sometimes can hit 2-3 meters (9 ft) and the current can hit 8 knots which creates a problem for the swimmers ability to navigate.
For perimeter control the organisation use small and fast sportsboats in composite and the southafrican Thundercat doublerib with outboard engines on 50 hp. The topspeed of these boats are 48 knots or 90 km/h so they are very fast at sea.
Their main purpose is to gather swimmers who has come to far from the group and as a first defence overtake boats out of the swim which are to dead a head on the swimmers.
Security for the swimmers are very important in this competition. The Øresund strait is one of the top five most trafficated straits in the whole world and this puts pressure on the organisation.
The competition takes place between the two countries Denmark and Sweden and more specifically between Hamlets casle Elsinore in Denmark and just north of the Harbor in the Scanian city of Helsingborg and measures 4030 meters birds way but due to current like f ex in 2011 the distance became 8 km.
For further information about the swim please do join the Facebookgroup "Across Oresund swim" or send an email to mannelorentzon at gmail.com
