New Owners for Banana Boat New Zealand Ocean Swim Series

The Banana Boat New Zealand Ocean Swim Series will start the new season in 2022 under new ownership.

Created by Scott Rice in 2004 with the King of the Bays swim, the series expanded to seven events over the years, catering for more than 75,000 swimmers. In 2021, they had 9,000 entries.

In a Facebook post, Scott and his wife Natasha said: “After 17 fun years of running ocean swimming events we have decided it’s time for the Banana Boat New Zealand Ocean Swim Series to change hands.”

Dan Feisst and Jason Herriman are the new owners. They also own and operate the People’s Triathlon Series and The Beach Series in Auckland.

Speaking to Outdoor Swimmer, Jason Herriman said: “It is a massive understatement to say that Scott & Natasha Rice have created a life-changing community of like-minded people. All of them, of course, love to get a bit wet and wild in some pretty spectacular places around NZ. Dan and I pinch ourselves every day that we get to be the next step in what (we hope!) is NZ’s lifelong love of taking to the water. Even though it is off to an unusual start, we (along with our amazing event partners) are champing at the bit to be out there and support swimmers, whether they be first-timers, or 100th timers!”

Series dates for 2022 are:

• Harcourts Cooper & Co Swim the Shore (Takapuna Beach, Auckland) – 22 January
• Interislander Swim the Lighthouse (Freyberg Beach, Wellington) – 30 January
• Interislander Bean Rock Swim (Mission Bay, Auckland) – 12 February
• Generation Homes La Grande Swim (Christchurch) – 26 February
• Harcourts Cooper & Co Swim the Bridge (Auckland Harbour) – 12 March
• Generation Homes Legend of the Lake (Blue Lake, Rotorua) – 19 March
• Generation Homes The Mount Swim (Main Beach, Mt Maunganui) – 2 April

Image: Start line of the Harcourts Cooper & Co Swim the Shore 3.8km (c) Mark Tantrum