Scott Zornig, President

Scott is a 1981 Graduate of CSU Chico Business School who has been teaching children and adults how to swim since he was 14 years old. He has been involved with masters swimming for 25 years and was named a USMS All American. He is currently a member of the Capo Masters Swim team located in San Juan Capistrano, California. Scott was 90th person to swim the Catalina Channel solo, the 5th person to swim the Santa Barbara Channel solo and the 1st person to swim from one channel island to another (Anacapa Island to Santa Cruz Island). He has also swam around Manhattan Island (28.5 miles) and was a member of a relay which recorded the first swim from San Clemente Island to San Clemente....a distance of 60 miles. In 2007, Scott and 5 teammates circumnavigated Catalina Island (50 miles) in under 24 hours. The former high school and collegiate water polo payer and swimmer is the current holder of five, long distance, open water swimming records.

Dean White

Dean, a California native, has been in close contact with the ocean since his early days as a surfer in Santa Cruz, Ca. where he went to School. Father of two: Ted an accomplished skipper and participant in international regattas, and Kelly a star in her own right in the game of soccer. Dean has been swimming in Santa Barbara with the Oceanducks steadily for the last 4 years, participated in the first Relay Crossing in 2004 and in July 2008 completed the 6 mile Semana Nautica Swim. He works in the Physics department of UCSB as an engineer and is involved in international projects that take him to Geneva quite often. Finally Dean has been a sailor all his life and today a dedicated skipper. He sailed the boat for Paul Lewis in 2006 when Paul did his solo swim. In 2008, Dean has skippered more than 10 solo crossings and one relay.

Ned Denison

Ned has completed six swims of 16 miles of more including the Santa Barbara Channel: 19 mile, San Pedro Point, Santa Cruz Island to Hollywood Beach, Oxnard, swim on 4 October 2006 in a record time of 10 hours and 27 minutes. The other swims were English Channel, Round Manhattan, Lake Zurich and the first (and only swims) around Valentia and Great (Cobh) Islands in Ireland.

His early aquatic years were spent as a seven time All-American water polo goalie with teams in New York City; Berkelely, California and London England. Ned started in the open water in 2000 and lives in Ireland. Ned is the chairperson of the Irish National Open Water Committee and a willing contact for anyone interested in open water swimming in Europe.

Commenting on his Santa Barbara swim: "My wife and I were absolutely taken in by the city and hosted in fine fashion by the other Board members, kayakers and three members of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame: Alison and Freda Streeter and David Yudovin. On the day the sun was fantastic and the playful seals and majestic manta rays were the best aquatic life I have even seen on a swim. I was 15 pounds heavier before my English Channel swim - so the colder water in Santa Barbara made this the tougher of the two swims."

Nick Caine

Nick is a student at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, California where he plays water polo and swims on the men's varsity swim team. Nick started open water swimming with Water World Swim Club in San Francisco when he was 13 years old. He has completed one international swim and seveal in the United States, including 10 different Alcatraz swims, the 3 mile Gator Man swim in La Jolla California, a 10k and a 1 mile sprint in Fort Myers Florida, the United States Open Water 10k National Championship in Lake Harriot Minneapolis, and the Santa Barbara Channel from Anacapa Island to Oxnard, where he broke the record time by 15 minutes.

Nick is currently training for his English Channel attempt in the summer of 2009. After that he would like to swim around Manhattan Island, swim a different Santa Barbara Channel crossing and try another English Channel swim.

Dale Mercker

Dale is a graduate of the University of Louisville (1990) where he was a 4 year letterman for the University of Louisville Swim Team.  Dale is an accomplished Master Swimmer swimming for Lakeside Masters located in Louisville KY.  Dale’s accomplishments include being named a USMS All American 3 times and he has been a member of several USMS All American Relays.  He consistently records Top Ten times in the 1000, 1500, 1650 free, 100 & 200 breast, and 200 & 400 IM.  Dale has done numerous open water lake swims in the Midwest and several pier to pier swims in Southern California.  Dale has been a support team member of several California Channel crossing attempts including the first San Clemente Island swim.  Dale is a father of two and has been married to his wife Kim for 16 years.

Dave Van Mouwerik

Dave started swimming when he was twenty three years old. He has been a USMS member for nearly thirty years, and has been a member of various Master’s teams for most of that time. Dave currently works out with Kennedy Club Masters swim team in San Luis Obispo, CA. Over the years, Dave has gravitated towards open water swims. He has participated in about a dozen 6 mile ocean swims (in Santa Cruz, Avila Beach, and Santa Barbara), and four ten mile swims (in Boston Harbor, Seal Beach, and Santa Barbara). In 1998 Dave swam solo from Avila Beach Pier to Pismo Beach Pier, a distance of six miles. This swim inspired him to start the USMS-sanctioned Pismo to Avila Pier to Pier Swim, which he organized and participated in from 1999 to 2002. From 2004 to 2007, Dave took a break from swimming, and paddled 6 man outrigger canoes with Pale Kai, an outrigger canoe club in Avila Beach. He competed in 20 plus outrigger races, including one race from Catalina Island to Newport Beach. Dave and his wife, Lisa, are raising two sons in San Luis Obispo, California.

Lynn Kubasek

Lynn is the daughter of surfers who cut the waves at Killer Dana in Southern California in the early 60’s. She has been a USMS swimmer since 1982, swimming with both UC Irvine Masters and Irvine Novaquatics Masters. She holds two age-group distance swimming records with the Tualatin Hills Masters February Fitness Challenge. A long-time ocean swimmer, Lynn was first introduced to channel swimming by assisting with Scott Zornig’s historic Anacapa to Santa Cruz crossing. Since then, she has kayaked and observed for numerous solo and relay crossings. She is the 173rd person to swim the Catalina Channel solo. Although Lynn is looking to her next channel attempt, she is eager to assist other channel aspirants in their quests.

(photos and bios coming soon)

• Jane Cairns - Santa Barbara, CA
• Jim Fitzpatrick - Laguna Hills, CA