Steven Munatones

Steven Muñatones was an American water polo player, a collegiate swimmer, and an open water swimmer from Huntington Beach, California who has been as an athlete, coach, administrator, writer, race director, kayaker, paddler, official, observer, author, lifeguard, reporter, Olympic commentator, aquapreneur, and adviser in the the sport of open water swimming.

In addition to founding the World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Oceans Seven, WOWSA Awards and Openwaterpedia, he founded KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Foundation and serves as an ambassador for the American Heart Association. He has written 20,344 articles on open water swimming, water polo and KAATSU to date.

Honors[edit]

1982 State of California Letter of Commendation for creation of the Citrus Corps
1984 recipient of Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award given to "an individual whose interests are not bounded by academic or institutional structures. A joyous, deeply-rooted affirmation of life, disdain for the purely conventional; a love of adventure, and desire to learn by experiencing; the ability to respond creatively to difficult situations: these are the qualities which John Imrie exemplified through his actions, and which we feel represent a style of life that will forever be worthy of recognition.”
29 July 1990 Guinness World Record for the fastest swim crossing of the Tsugaru Channel in Japan in 6 hours 11 minutes 17 seconds.
2001 recipient of the Open Water Swimming Committee award from USA Swimming
2002 inducted as an Honor Swimmer in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, Class of 2001
2005 recipient of the Open Water Swimming Committee award from USA Swimming
2007 recipient of the USA Swimming Glen S. Hummer Award
2007 recipient of the Open Water Swimming Committee award from USA Swimming
2010 recipient of the Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame
2010 recipient of the Glen S. Hummer Award from USA Swimming
2016 recipient of the Poseidon Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame
2018 member of the Vermont Open Water Swimming Hall of Fame member
2019 Honor Contributor - Media of the Ice Swimming Hall of Fame
2021 Member of the ISHOF Open Water Nomination Screening Committee.
2022 Dale Petranech Award for Services to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame

Glimpses[edit]

A glimpse into the life of Steven Munatones - post heart attack - given at the Science Center at Harvard University on June 2019. He experienced a ventricular fibrillation arrest, atypical thrombus (clot) and a MI (myocardial infarction) in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, otherwise known as a widow maker, before his 17-year-old son saved him with Hands-Only CPR and he came out of a coma in May 2016.

Advisory Roles[edit]

He served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee from 2009-2011.
He served on the judge panel for the 2012 H2Open Awards organized by H2Open Magazine, an award designed to celebrate achievement in open water swimming, and provides assistance on the sport of open water swimming to the Guinness Book of World Records.
He served as the Technical Delegate for the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece and created plans for the inaugural 1.5 km international open water swimming championship for Special Olympics athletes.
He participated on the USA Triathlon Swim Collar Task Force.
He founded the World Open Water Swimming Association, the WOWSA Awards, the Tsugaru Channel Swimming Association, the Swimming Wellness and Swimming Is Medicine programs, and the Open Water Swim Club in Huntington Beach, California.
He created concepts such as the Half Century Club, Openwaterpedia, and the Oceans Seven that was showcased in a film called Defeating Oceans Seven by Red Bull Media House.
Between 2010 and 2016, he served as the Chief Administrator and a voting member of the board of directors of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
He compiled a vast amount of historical information on the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame inductees and created its first website (www.imshof.org) in 2003.
He is a Patron of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
He presented at the 2022 American Swimming Coaches Association World Clinic, 2022 World Congress of Sports Medicine.

Aquatic Career[edit]

In addition to a decade of playing water polo including a member of the USA Water Polo Junior Development Team and the All-East Team at 2 National Sports Festivals, Munatones has completed several open water swims.
On 27-30 April 2022, he won the SCAR Buckle for winning all 4 races in the SCAR Swim, a 4-day stage swim in Arizona, finishing in 16 hours 8 minutes 30.0 seconds.
- He finished a crossing of Saguaro Lake in 3 hours 14 minutes 3.6 seconds on 27 April 2022.
- He finished a crossing of Canyon Lake in 3 hours 44 minutes 26.2 seconds on 28 April 2022.
- He finished a crossing of Apache Lake in 6 hours 30 minutes 34.5 seconds on 29 April 2022.
- He finished a 10.15 km crossing of Roosevelt Lake in 2 hours 39 minutes 25.7 seconds on 30 April 2022.
He finished 3rd in the 7 km Hawaiian Christmas Looong Distance Invitational Rough-H2O Swim in Waikiki, Hawaii in 1:34:51 at the age of 24 on 21 December 1986.
He completed an unprecedented 29 km circumnavigation swim around Yonaguni Island in Okinawa in 7 hours 8 minutes in October 1994, televised on NHK-TV in Japan.
He completed an unprecedented triathlon, the Mount Fuji Triathlon Challenge in 5 hours 17 minutes in a course around and across the Five Lakes of Mount Fuji where the swim legs were across Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Sai, Lake Shoji, and Lake Motosu in 1992 televised on NHK-TV in Japan.
He completed two 19.5 km crossings of the Tsugaru Channel between Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan on 30 July 1989 televised on Asahi Television and NHK-TV.
- 6 hours 11 minutes 17 seconds from Honshu to Hokkaido, the second person in history in a time that remains the record.
- 6 hours 39 minutes from Hokkaido to Honshu in an unprecedented crossing.
He completed an unprecedented 42 km crossing of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan, in 1988 televised on NHK-TV in 10 hours 36 minutes.
He completed a 38 km crossing between Ishigaki Island, Iriomote Island and Taketomi Island in Okinawa, Japan in 1993. The Okinawa Triangle Swim was televised on NHK-TV and completed in 10 hours 16 minutes with Yuko Matsuzaki as the observer.
His planned crossing from Kunashiri Island, Russia to Hokkaido, Japan has been halted by the Japanese government in 1994 to the current time.
He completed the 45.9 km Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in New York City in 1984 in 7 hours 52 minutes, finishing 2nd to Paul Asmuth.
He completed the 32 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean in Quebec, Canada in July 1984 in 9 hours 32 minutes.
He completed the 6th 34 km La Traversée Internationale du Lac Memphrémagog in Quebec, Canada from Newport, Vermont, U.S.A. to Magog, Quebec, Canada in 9 hours 13 minutes 42 seconds on 22 July 1984.
He completed the 7th 34 km La Traversée Internationale du Lac Memphrémagog in Quebec, Canada from Newport, Vermont, U.S.A. to Magog, Quebec, Canada in 9 hours 16 minutes 42.0 seconds on 21 July 1985.
He completed the 24-mile Cabo San Lucas International Swim around the tip of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 1984 in 8 hours 47 minutes.
He completed the 36.2 km Atlantic City Around the Island Swim around Absecon Island in New Jersey in 1985 in 9 hours 23 minutes.
He won the 26 km Windermere International Championships across Lake Windermere in England on 7 August 1982.
He won the 10-mile USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships in Seal Beach, California in 1982.
He won the 10-mile U.S. Masters Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships in Seal Beach, California in 1991.
He completed swims across the Maui Channel, between Cayman Brac and Little Cayman in the Cayman Islands, and in 46 different countries around the world.
He helped plan the Pan-American Colibrí Swim, a cross-border swim between the USA and Mexico and a charity swim to raise awareness and funds for the Colibri Center for Human Rights in the Pacific Ocean between Imperial Beach near San Diego, California, USA and Tijuana, Mexico on 5 May 2017, starting near the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve.
He was named one of the 10 Most Impactful People of 2018 by Swimming World Magazine.
On 10 June 2022, he pioneered the 24 km Palos Verdes Peninsula Swim from Cabrillo Beach to Redondo Beach in 6 hours 1 minutes 48 seconds at the age of 59 with escort kayaker Quinn Fitzgerald.
On 31 July 2022, he pioneered the 24 km Palos Verdes Peninsula Swim from Redondo Beach to Cabrillo Beach in 6 hours 35 minutes at the age of 60 with escort kayaker Chris Morgan.
On 26-29 April 2023, he will compete in the SCAR Swim Challenge, a 4-day stage swim in Arizona at the age of 60 with escort kayaker Chris Morgan.

Coaching Experience[edit]

He was the USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Team coach at the following competitions:
- 2001 FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan
- 2003 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain
- 2004 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal, Canada
- 2007 FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia
- 2005 USA Swimming national team training camp in Lake Placid, New York
- 2006 USA Swimming national team training camp in Fort Myers, Florida
- 2007 USA Swimming national team training camp in Fort Myers, Florida
- 2009 USA Swimming national team training camp in Fort Myers, Florida
- 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Yokohama, Japan (manager)
- 2016 United States Masters Swimming National Coaches Clinic
- 2010 United States Masters Swimming Open Water Swimming Safety Conference
He has kayaked, paddled, escorted and coached several swimmers in numerous channels and lakes around the world including the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Japan, South Pacific and the Hawaiian Islands. He has also given coaching clinics and camps throughout the USA, Canada, Mexico, Cayman Islands, Greece and Japan.
He also provides advice to many marathon swimmers, professional marathon swimmers and channel swimmers who attempt swims around the world including Penny Palfrey, Mike Miller, Rick Heltzel, and Diana Nyad.

Writing Career[edit]

Since 1982, Munatones has written several cover stories and dozens of articles for Swimming World Magazine, U.S. Masters Swimming SWIMMER Magazine and Competitor Magazine.
He authored Open Water Swimming, a comprehensive tome on open water swimming, published in June 2011 by Human Kinetics.
- Open Water Swimming (book) was published and translated from English into German and Polish.
- Swimming World Magazine describes the Open Water Swimming (book) as, "Whether you are planning on racing in an ocean, lake, river, canal, bay, dam, or reservoir, Open Water Swimming is your best guide to success. Steven Munatones wrote the perfect book for athletes of all levels who want to compete in the open waters of the world."
He was a contributing writer to the Science of Swimming Faster, a comprehensive book on competitive swimming published by Human Kinetics in 2015.
He was a contributing writer to Swimming with Shivers, a book co-authored by Claire Bunker-Fellingham and Gary Standen published in 2017 about true stories from, by and about open water swimmers doing cold water swimming, winter swimming, and ice swimming.
He has prepared open water swimming materials used by NBC, USA Swimming, Beijing Olympic Committee, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, National Public Radio, Outside Magazine, and National Geographic Magazine in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics 10 km marathon swim.
He wrote the script for Out of the Box, USA Swimming's 90-minute educational DVD on open water swimming and The Tactics and Techniques of Open Water Swimmers.
He served as an adviser to the American Swimming Coaches Association's Journal of Swimming Research.
He is the creator and editor-in-chief of the Daily News of Open Water Swimming where over 19,000 articles were written from 2005 - 2020.
He is the creator and editor-in-chief of the monthly Open Water Swimming Magazine.
He is the creator and editor-in-chief of the KAATSU Magazine.
He wrote KAATSU Training: KAATSU Military Edition, March 2020.
He wrote KAATSU Training: Dr. Cory on KAATSU, April 2020.
He wrote KAATSU Beauty Edition, June 2020.

Administration[edit]

Munatones served as the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Vice President and Chief Administrator between 2010 and 2016.
He created the original International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame website and researched and authored all the Honoree biographies in 2003.
He was formerly a member of the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee (resigned due to differences in opinion with FINA's decisions on safety in 2011).
He was a long-time member of the USA Swimming Open Water Swimming Committee.
He participated in the open water swimming task force of USA Triathlon in 2013.
He conducted numerous other clinics for swimmers and triathletes in California, Hawaii, Quebec (Canada), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Athens (Greece), and Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands) as well as created Certification Programs for coaches, administrators and referees.
He established and managed the Citrus Corps in Orange County that was recognized by the State of California in 1980.
He established and managed the Holy Grille within Harvard University in 1982.

Guinness World Records[edit]

He established a partnership between the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) and the Guinness World Records (GWR) where WOWSA serves as GWR’s advisor on open water swimming records and information regarding the sport. WOWSA and GWR support the open water swimming community to verify and celebrate the most significant superlative achievements in this wide-ranging series of open water disciplines.

Films and Television[edit]

Munatones appeared in a number of documentary films:
- Defeating Oceans Seven featuring Stephen Redmond about his quest to achieve the Oceans Seven
- Driven featuring Evan Morrison, Cherie Edborg and Fiona Goh about their quest to cross channels
- The Other Shore featuring Diana Nyad about her quest to swim between Cuba and Florida
- Tactics & Techniques of Elite Open Water Swimmers, a DVD outlining the strategies of elite open water swimmers
- Kim Swims featuring Kimberley Chambers and her quest to achieve the Oceans Seven
- The Science of Diana Nyad's Swim from Cuba to Florida, a documentary film by Thiago Da Costa and Tim Wheeler about Diana Nyad's swim from Cuba to Florida
- On 6 August 2017, he appeared on The Weather Channel program called Top Ten: Extreme Adventures about Darren Miller's Oceans Seven journey.
- He appeared in Body, Mind, Soul Heroes In The Catalina Channel, a film by Lucas Rivet of La Fabrica Films about Matías Ola and his Oceans Seven journey.
He served as the NBC Olympics' Commentator for the 2008 men's and women's Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Beijing, China.
He wrote the content for the USA Swimming Out-of-the-Box open water swimming video and the Tactics & Techniques of Elite Open Water Swimmers DVD.
He consulted for Alan Goldberg in the creation of The Torture Swim for 60 Minutes Sports.
He wrote a review for Sea Donkey, a documentary film about Adrian Sarchet's crossing of the North Channel.

The Science of Diana Nyad's Swim from Cuba to Florida[edit]

The Science of Diana Nyad's Swim from Cuba to Florida, a documentary film by Thiago Da Costa and Tim Wheeler about Diana Nyad's swim from Cuba to Florida

Tactics & Techniques of Elite Open Water Swimmers[edit]

Tactics & Techniques of Elite Open Water Swimmers is an educational video written by Steven Munatones and produced by Marc Randall, filmed at the 2010 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships in Marine Stadium, Long Beach, California.

Open Water Swimming Conference[edit]

Munatones organized the 2-day Open Water Swimming Conference sponsored by U.S. Masters Swimming in San Francisco, California:

2019 Open Water Summit Introduction Video[edit]

With Quinn Fitzgerald, Megan Melgaard, Steven Munatones

Top Ten: Extreme Adventures about Oceans Seven[edit]

about Darren Miller on the Oceans Seven

Body, Mind, Soul Heroes In The Catalina Channel[edit]

A film by Lucas Rivet of La Fabrica Films and Asociación Argentina Gestión y Desarrollo del Deporte about Matías Ola and his Oceans Seven journey

North Shore Lifeguards[edit]

On the North Shore of Oahu

Open Water Swimming Brands & Terms[edit]

He authored Open Water Swimming, a text book on open water swimming as well as created or popularized the following:

Race Director and Advisor[edit]

Munatones has served as a race director and helped organize dozens of open water swimming competitions, clinics and camps around the world including the following:

2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games: Technical Delegate where he organized the first open water swimming event in Special Olympics history
1985-1988 Waikiki Roughwater Swim: President and Committee Member of the Waikiki Roughwater Swim Committee
1987-1988 Atami Open Water Swim Race in Atami, Japan
2010 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships, Long Beach, California: Race director
2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Long Beach, California: 10 km marathon swim race director
2009 Distance Swim Challenge, Santa Monica, California: race director
2005-2008 USA Swimming national open water swimming camps, California, Florida: coach
1989 Atami Open Water Swim, Atami, Japan: advisor
1987-1988 Honolulu Waterfront Triathlon: Swim Coordinator
2011 U.S. Masters Swimming Open Water Swimming Safety Conference, San Francisco, California: Organizer and promoter
2010 Global Open Water Swimming Conference, Long Beach, California: Host and organizer
2011 Global Open Water Swimming Conference, New York: Host and organizer
2012 Global Open Water Swimming Conference, Queen Mary, Long Beach, California: Host and organizer
2017 Pan-American Colibrí Swim, a cross-border swim between the USA and Mexico and a charity swim to raise awareness and funds for the Colibri Center for Human Rights in the Pacific Ocean between Imperial Beach near San Diego, California, USA and Tijuana, Mexico
He advises race directors from California to New York, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Fiji, Greece, Mexico and Japan and advised U.S. Masters Swimming on open water swimming.
He serves as an ambassador for the American Heart Association and has given speeches for the American Heart Association on the benefits of hands-only CPR in Newport Beach, John Wayne Airport, Angel Stadium, and at the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiovascular Care Conference in 2018.

Pan Pacific Swimming Championships[edit]

Munatones organized the 2011 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships and the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Long Beach, California where Tactics & Techniques of Elite Open Water Swimmers was filmed.

Special Olympics World Summer Games[edit]

Munatones was the Technical Director of the 1.5 km open water swimming competition and POW exhibition at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games which was nominated for the 2011 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year:

Vermont Open Water Swimming Hall of Fame Induction[edit]

Steven is a marathon swimmer and contributor. It’s hard to imagine an international open water swimming community without Muñatones and his work for the Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Openwaterpedia, WOWSA, the Global Open Water Swimming Conferences and others. Steven is an indefatigable presence reporting on the big and the small of open water swimming news around the world, round the clock, seven days a week and quietly assembling an online historical record. His presence and voice regarding Vermont’s open water swimming scene may not be so well recognized, but his impact should not be underestimated. He has been a competitor and covered the professional swim, la Traversée internationale du lac Memphrémagog. swimming the length of Lake Memphremagog in 1984 in 9 hours 16 minutes and 9 hours 13 minutes in 1985. And, he was there right from the start covering the first Kingdom Swim in 2009, the establishment of Be Kind to Your Yacker Week in April, the formation of NEKOWSA on a very cold weekend in January 2010, the inauguration of the Willoughby Swim, the re-opening of international swimming between Newport and Magog, In Search of Memphre, the creation of the NEK Swim Week in 8 lakes over the course of 9 days totaling 46 miles, the first winter swim and the cutting of a two-lane, 25-meter pool in the ice of Memphremagog, and the opening of The Clubhous in Derby, Vermont in 2013 as the nerve center for open water swimming and winter swimming in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Steve’s coverage has been broad, frequent, relentless and unequivocally supportive. He identified Kingdom Swim as one of the top 100 swims in the world, Willoughby and In Search of Memphre as two of the top 100 swims in the US, and Memphremagog and Willoughby among two of the top 50 open water swimming venues in the Americas. Steven had such a large & positive impact on Vermont Open Water Swimming, he has offered encouragement and support to swimmers and event directors, volunteers and organizers in such a way that has exponentially aided the growth of our great Vermont open water community.

WOWSA Awards[edit]

He has hosted the annual WOWSA Awards along with the annual International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and the Global Open Water Swimming Conference in various places around the world:

Huntington Beach, California, U.S.A.: 2008 WOWSA Awards
Huntington Beach, California, U.S.A.: 2009 WOWSA Awards
Long Beach, California, U.S.A.: 2010 WOWSA Awards
United Nations Building, New York City, U.S.A.: 2011 WOWSA Awards
Queen Mary, Long Beach, California, U.S.A.: 2012 WOWSA Awards
Cork, Ireland: 2013 WOWSA Awards on 11-13 October
Isle of Bute, Scotland: 2014 WOWSA Awards on 20-21 September
Tunisia: 2017 WOWSA Awards on September 11-13
Redondo Beach, California, U.S.A.: 2019 WOWSA Awards

Origins[edit]

He was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California, is a graduate of Harvard University, can speak, read and write Japanese and some Chinese, and currently resides in Huntington Beach, California where he coaches, researches, writes and promotes open water swimming and water polo.
He and his wife Rieko have four children (Sabrina, Skyler, Sydney, and Sofia Munatones). One of Munatones' ancestors was Don José de Mazarredo y Salazar de Muñatones Cortázar, considered to be one of the best Spanish naval commanders of all time who was born in Bilbao, Spain where the Muñatones Castillo is located.

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Honors[edit]

Glimpses[edit]

Advisory Roles[edit]

Aquatic Career[edit]

Coaching Experience[edit]

Writing Career[edit]

Administration[edit]

Guinness World Records[edit]

Films and Television[edit]

The Science of Diana Nyad's Swim from Cuba to Florida[edit]

Tactics & Techniques of Elite Open Water Swimmers[edit]

Open Water Swimming Conference[edit]

2019 Open Water Summit Introduction Video[edit]

Top Ten: Extreme Adventures about Oceans Seven[edit]

Body, Mind, Soul Heroes In The Catalina Channel[edit]

North Shore Lifeguards[edit]

Open Water Swimming Brands & Terms[edit]

Race Director and Advisor[edit]

Pan Pacific Swimming Championships[edit]

Special Olympics World Summer Games[edit]

Vermont Open Water Swimming Hall of Fame Induction[edit]

WOWSA Awards[edit]

Origins[edit]

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Steven Munatones

Honors[edit]

Glimpses[edit]

Advisory Roles[edit]

Aquatic Career[edit]

Coaching Experience[edit]

Writing Career[edit]

Administration[edit]

Guinness World Records[edit]

Films and Television[edit]

The Science of Diana Nyad's Swim from Cuba to Florida[edit]

Tactics & Techniques of Elite Open Water Swimmers[edit]

Open Water Swimming Conference[edit]

2019 Open Water Summit Introduction Video[edit]

Top Ten: Extreme Adventures about Oceans Seven[edit]

Body, Mind, Soul Heroes In The Catalina Channel[edit]

North Shore Lifeguards[edit]

Open Water Swimming Brands & Terms[edit]

Race Director and Advisor[edit]

Pan Pacific Swimming Championships[edit]

Special Olympics World Summer Games[edit]

Vermont Open Water Swimming Hall of Fame Induction[edit]

WOWSA Awards[edit]

Origins[edit]

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