Megan Wallitsch
JAMESTOWN – On August 6, Beavertail Open Water hosted the ninth Around Beavertail Swim in Jamestown, RI, to its largest-ever cohort of swimmers. Due to unfortunate weather conditions halfway through the swim, race officials made the decision to abandon the swim.
Sixteen swimmers gathered at Mackerel Cove and were met with foggy conditions. As swimmers checked in, the fog started to lift, allowing five miles of visibility, enough visibility for the race to go forward. During the safety briefing, Race Director and BOW President Pat Reyes told swimmers about protocols in place in case the fog were to worsen, including calling the swim and pulling swimmers out of the water. “I hope this isn’t the case; I hope it continues to lift,” Reyes said.
Aside from the fog, swimmers were met with warm temperatures and clear waters. “Water temp has been about 71-72 all week long, so the swimmers have great water temp, and the water clarity, having swum in these waters in the past couple days myself, has been really great, so hopefully that has stayed true through to this morning,” Reyes said. There was a strong wind creating a choppy swim in the middle of the course, but had swimmers been able to reach the final section of the swim, they would have had a speedy swim into Fort Getty.
In addition to the safety boat patrolling the waters and monitoring the swimmers, every swimmer was also accompanied by a kayaker and had a tow float. “Especially with the fog, we have as much visibility on every swimmer as possible, and we’re going to have the safety boat moving up and down the group of swimmers just making sure everybody’s doing alright, everybody gets around the point safely,” Reyes said.
This year's swim featured a group of truly engaged swimmers who were all excited to be there and compete. With 16 swimmers, this was the organization’s largest cohort for this event. “It’s always been a group swim; it continues to be a group swim, but it’s growing, which is awesome to see,” Reyes said. “There’s a group of really accomplished, really capable swimmers today.”
About one-third of the way into the swim, the fog rolled in quickly, causing both on-land and in-water monitors to lose sight of landmarks for the swim. Ultimately, calling the swim was the right decision to make as conditions became dangerous for swimmers.
Throughout the swim, wave one swimmer Kayla Hupp was way out ahead of the rest of the group. When the fog started to worsen and the decision to abandon the race was made, she was within 100 yards of the channel marker that marks the halfway point of the swim. Despite the fog and strenuous conditions, both she and her kayaker were navigating the course well. She was using this swim in preparation for a 15k she has coming up. An experienced open water swimmer, she has completed the Carter Lake 5k as well as Castle Rock and the Horsetooth swim, which are both 10k.
Sammie Nielsen was the youngest swimmer in Around Beavertail Swim’s history to attempt the swim at 15. “I’m feeling good; I feel like I can definitely do it. It’ll be fun. I think it’ll be hard, but I think it’ll be fun,” Nielsen said prior to the start of the swim. As she is getting into the sport, it is clear that Nielsen has a passion for longer swims and wants to keep going after longer distances. Before this swim, Nielsen completed Swim Across America at Martha’s Vineyard, which is a 4-mile swim. During her swim, Nielsen was on pace and moving along in sync with her kayaker.
Also in wave one, Mary Phelan, a local who has completed the swim before, was maintaining a great pace. Phelan is also a US Master’s Swimmer for New England Masters. Mary Weisenwitz was coming up the back of the group when the swim was called. She traveled from Baltimore to complete the swim.
Both Matt Cook and Matt McKee were going for their 4th Beavertail Swim, where they would share the title of having the most successful completions. Both local legends were looking strong throughout the swim. Another local legend, Kristen Wilkes-White, completed the swim in 2024 and returned this year for fun. In her athletic career, she has completed numerous Ironmans and even competed at the Ironman World Championship in Kona. Her kayaker, Fred Bartlett, a well-known figure in Rhode Island’s swimming community, is very familiar with the bay and kept her on a straight navigational line.
Emily Boardman in wave two was also swimming strong when the race was called. In 2025, she completed the 11-mile Lake Windermere swim in England, which took her over seven hours. Brooks Detchon, another member of New England Masters, was also looking solid throughout his entire swim.
Becca Tobias in Wave 3 trained extensively in preparation for the Around Beavertail Swim. “I try to be out in the ocean at least three times a week, if not more, depending on the weather and how I’m feeling that day,” Tobias said. Known as Texas Tobias in the local community, she swam competitively at Austin College and in the past year has been getting into open water swimming. As part of her training for the swim, Tobias launched a fundraising campaign to raise more money for the grants the Beavertail Open Water allocates. “The stuff that the grants that Beavertail funds influences a lot of the work that I do in my lab myself, so this is a project that really hits close to home,” Tobias said. “So being a part of a community, and being a part of a race, that really just emphasizes research and conservation is super important to me, both on a personal level and on a level of we have to preserve this beautiful community here.” While obviously disappointed that the swim had to be canceled, before the swim, Tobias shared one of her favorite parts of open water swimming that applied to this swim: “One of the best parts of open water swimming is you kind of have to have this mindset of radical acceptance. Like, the conditions are not as perfect as you would like, or you don’t feel as good as you would like; you know you kind of just have to sign up and do it. At a certain point, the race is gonna be three hours at minimum, so you might as well make it an enjoyable three hours with what you’ve got.”
While most swimmers were pulled from the water during their return to shore, two swimmers made their way back entirely on their own just based on the order of swimmer pick ups by the safety boat. Eliza Anderson and Isabel Whaling, two locals, were completing the swim side-by-side. Anderson competed on the University of Rhode Island’s D1 team while Whaling swam for their club team. Anderson now coaches at URI as a volunteer assistant coach.
Oliver French was also looking to challenge the swim’s record and had gotten into the second position from wave three when the race was called off. French swam D1 at Bryant University, where he set school records in the 1650, 1000, and 200 fly. Henry Ciannavei also swam in college for Assumption University. While he is newer to open-water swimming, he has been expanding his horizons into running. In 2025, Ciannavei completed the Bank of America Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:53:28.
Another local, Dillane Wehbe, is no stranger to open water swimming. He swam D1 at Fordham University and since then has competed in multiple Oceanman 10k races, including the 2025 World Championship event in Dubai where he placed 11th in his age group.
Eighteen-year-old Ashley Husmoe came to compete at the Around Beavertail Swim as part of her mission to swim an open water swim in every state. “I’m trying to do an open water swim in all 50 states, and this seemed like the best one in Rhode Island,” Husmoe said. One of her crowning achievements in the open water community was completing the 10k on the final day of SCAR, a 4-day staged swim in Arizona, in 2023. Coming into this swim, Husmoe’s main goal was just to complete the swim alongside her father, who was kayaking on her behalf. “This is my first marathon swim in the ocean; I’ve done a few lakes, and so I’m just hoping to complete it, and hopefully my kayaker doesn’t tip over,” Husmoe said. In March 2026, Husmoe completed the Lago Titicaca Swim Expedition, a 15.2 km swim at the highest navigable lake in the world.
While weather conditions for the 2026 Around Beavertail Swim did result in the race having to be called, Beavertail Open Water was beyond appreciative of participants’ enthusiasm going into the race.