Our History
It all began back in 2013 when Marathon Swimmer Jamie Patrick approached fellow Marathon Swimmer Scott Zornig, regarding hosting a Southern California based swim camp. A year earlier, Jamie held a Swim Camp for close friends in Lake Tahoe, California and believed a swim camp somewhere in Southern California might have even more appeal for open water swimmers. Scott, who resides in Southern California, immediately went to work, and found ideal swimming conditions and lodging accommodations at the village of Two Harbors on Catalina Island. Scott and Jamie’s first Swim Camp, “Swim Camp Catalina I,” was held in November of that year with 42 participants. Lynn Kubasek assisted Jamie and Scott with administration during the early swim camp years.
Jamie’s life moved in a different direction making him unable to continue co-directing the swim camps. While Scott was contemplating the future of the camps without Jamie, a long-time open water swimming friend, Marc Horwitz, expressed interest to Scott in joining the team. Marc attended the first few Catalina camps and felt that the concept could be expanded to new and exciting destinations. He encouraged Scott to go international. In 2017, Scott and Marc hosted the very first Swim Camp Mexico on the Sea of Cortez at Rancho Leonero. The lodge, which John Wayne, Bing Crosby and Erol Flynn used for fishing trips during the 50’s and early 60’s, quickly became a crowd favorite.
Scott and Marc now host swim camps in Catalina, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Tahiti and Fiji while also organizing group swim adventures in places such as New York, Alaska, Lake Tahoe, the Channel Islands and the California Coast. They plan on returning to past sites as interest dictates while adding new, alluring locations each year.
There are several wonderful organizations which also host Swim Holidays, but SwimCamp.US vastly differs from all others as the camps….
- are significantly larger (SwimCamp.US has an average size camp of 45 swimmers).
- are all-inclusive (SwimCamp.US includes airport transportation, 3 meals a day, housing, special events, gratuity, insurance etc.).
- cater to swimmers of all abilities (non-swimming friends and significant others are also welcome to attend)
- include a healthy balance of swimming and fun excursions.
- are price centric.
Scott said “we prefer holding fewer camps that are larger in size verses offering multiple small camps. This not only allows us to remain hands-on and maintain quality, but also provides us the opportunity to negotiate larger discounts. Marc added, “with a return rate of almost 70%, we believe we are delivering the value, training and fun that open water swimmers desire in a swim adventure.”
YOU’VE LEARNED A LITTLE ABOUT US.
We’d like to learn a little about you, too.
Please contact us for additional information regarding our camps.