371 Competitors Expected To Splash Down Sunday at Joe K’s Beach to Beach

A popular St. John athletic event is set to splash down Sunday morning along the island’s north shore. Organizers say registration for Joe Kessler’s Beach to Beach Power Swim was closed off weeks in advance, with sign-ups from local athletes and visitors who scheduled their vacation around Memorial Day weekend.

For the past 21 years, Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park has hosted hundreds of swimmers and coordinated dozens of volunteers to stage the race. Swimmers can opt for short, medium, or long course competitions. In 2024, the race was dedicated to Beach To Beach cofounder Joe Kessler after he died in an auto accident on the U.S. mainland.

Now in its 22nd year, the power swim is considered one of the most popular open-water swims in the world, according to organizers. Three hundred seventy-one participants, aged seven to 82, are expected to gather at the starting line at Maho Bay beach.

”We had more registered participants in a shorter amount of time than every before,” said the current Friends director Tonia Lovejoy. “We open registration every year in February, and we almost had the full race filled by the end of the month.”

Registration roles from competitions past showed swimmers from up to 22 U.S. states and six nations taking part. This year, Lovejoy said swimmers are coming from 29 states, the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and one registrant from Manchester, England.