HAPPY PEOPLE

Meet Lars Rutkowski, who can hold his breath as long as it takes to read this, no matter how slow you read. 

Have you always been part fish? How did you first find swimming?
I've always liked the water, but it wasn't a big part of my life until I was introduced to Underwater Hockey. That was the gateway drug to fin swimming, which led to freediving on our coast and open water swimming for fun ...   read more

How did you find the River Huggers and what appealed to you about the group? 
My good friend, Hilary, told me about the River huggers one morning over coffee. It was just the tease I needed to show up one June morning at the Fireman's dock. Actually, my first swim launched from Audrey McCall beach and I lost my goggles that time. But that was the season we gained access to the Firehouse dock (our ...   read more

Q. How did you find the River Huggers and how long have you been swimming with us?
A. When I first moved to Portland, I immediately joined the Portland Triathlon Club. I put a request out on their feed—looking for someone to swim with me earlier in the season. Janie Malloy responded and met me at Vancouver Lake. She told me about the River Huggers, so I investigated the group. I’ve been swimming ...   read more

 
Q:  So, Enda, I hear you’re from Ireland. Have you always been a swimmer? 
Like most kids, my parents signed me up for swimming lessons from an early age. Other sporting commitments took precedence so I drifted away, only swimming casually in my teens. I started back three years ago and have had the bug ever since. 
Q:  What international swims ...   read more

So, Christina, what do you do in real life?
     I have my dream job!  I am an advice nurse in a women's clinic.  My coworkers are midwives and doulas working mostly with pregnant women.
  
How long have you been swimming with the River Huggers?
     Willie wrote an article for my neighborhood newspaper explaining what HAP is and inviting people ...   read more

How long have you been swimming? 
I’ve been swimming since age 3.  Mom was a swim teacher.  I was on the high school swim team in LA and consistently placed 7th in LA city for backstroke.
 
How did you find the River Huggers?
Word of mouth.  A friend told me about the group.
 
How do you respond when people are repelled by the notion that ...   read more

Gretchan Jackson
 
Q. Usually, winter is a down time for open water swimmers, but not for you. What exciting swim-related things do you have coming up?
Ha! All of the open water swimmers I know are continuing to challenge me to get in the Willamette each week! I must be hanging out with the wrong bunch. Ha. Ha. :)
This year I really jumped into my first real season of consistent pool swim training. I've ...   read more

 
What is this about the rumor that you started out doing Synchronized Swimming?
CW: When I was young, we lived blocks away from a Park District Pool. I spent as much time as possible there. By enrolling in Synchro I could start my day there at 10-12 for synchro, 12-1 for swim team, 1-5 for open swim, 6-9 for open swim. Once I was old enough to life guard, I had the option of teaming swim lessons ...   read more

Meet HAP Board Member and Editor-in-Chief, Tom Vandel. T-Bone as some call him is a professional copywriter/creative director with a one-man firm called Les Overhead. He served as a River Hugger safety kayaker one year and swam the Mayoral Swim in high-top Converse tennis shoes, which he does not recommend.
 
Were you a swimmer as a kid?
Yeah, I have three younger brothers and we went to the pool every ...   read more

Meet River Hugger and intrepid open water swimmer, Dave Hayden, interviewed by Christina Malango. Dave is a father, swimmer, aerial dancer, and ______ (who knows what else).
Q:  What else belongs on this list of who you are and what you do?  
 
A:  Father, swimmer, yep! I’m really excited about getting to do both at the same time as Cora grows up, and I hope she comes to feel as ...   read more

 
 Meet River Hugger and intrepid open water swimmer, Janie Malloy, interviewed by Christina Malango. Janie lives in an historic house in Canby, is an Airbnb host, realtor, landscape designer, triathlete, and originator of the Naked Goddess Swim. For starters. 
 
Q:  Have you always done a dozen things at once in your life? 
A:  Yes, life is art, and I make beautiful art by being creative, ...   read more

By Christina Malango
 
Meet Garrett Martin – architect, teacher, swimmer, River Hugger, dreamer extraordinaire. In short, a pretty cool dude.

How did you encounter the River Huggers?  

One morning two summers ago I was riding my bike across the Hawthorne bridge into work, I looked down and saw a bunch of people in bathing suits and swim caps just getting out of the water. I’d ...   read more

Meet River Hugger, Jim McGinn, interviewed by Christina Malango.
Jim McGinn, Charter River Hugger Member, Dad, Outdoors Dude, Dancer, overall bad ass.

You started long-distance ocean swimming in California in the 1980s in cold, rough conditions. What drove you to do that? 
 
When I first moved to Redondo Beach in the early 80’s I met Ron Argueta who was sort of the quintessential CA ocean ...   read more

Meet River Hugger, Stephanie Debner, interviewed by Christina Malango.
 
How did you discover the River Huggers and why do you love swimming with them?
 
I was introduced to the River Huggers by fellow River Hugger, Hilary. We swim at the same pool and she knew that I'd been swimming the Columbia channel crossing for a number of years, so she thought I'd like being a River Hugger. She was right!
 
You ...   read more

Meet Jenny Ampersand, runner up in The Big Float 6 costume contest.
Describe your TBF costume and how you made it. Was it hard to integrate the requirement for a portable floating device?
 
My costume was the River Siren. It was inspired by work I was doing with Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble that involved sea shanties, Moby Dick, and lots of liquid latex. I created a creature that  combined ...   read more

 
 
Meet Adam Murray, HAP River Hugger and all-around interesting guy. Interviewed by Christina Malango.

How did you get involved with the River Huggers?
Rock climbing and bike trips used to be my jam, but I had a disabling accident in 2008 that effectively retired me from those sports. I found that swimming greatly improved my well being, but I could only manage a few pool lengths and I hated (hated) ...   read more

 
Meet Leah Middlebrook, River Hugger and HAP Board Member, interviewed by Christina Malango.
 
 
How did you learn about the River Huggers and start swimming with the group?

On Facebook, of all things! The call for River Huggers appeared in one of those random You Might Like items that creeps into your news feed. That was three years ago and it was love at first plunge. :)
Did you have ...   read more