Swim Vacation Guides | Hopper McDonough | Heather Perry | Will Thomas

Meet Your SwimVacation Guides


George “Hopper” McDonough has been guiding small groups of open water swimmers in the Virgin Islands and in New England for over ten years. Hopper, a former Division I collegiate swimmer, began competing in open water events in 1989, and has racked up several pool and open water course records in his career. He recently completed a 12-mile swim around Charleston, SC in a 2-person relay with his wife Cortney. He has been featured in Triathlete Magazine, The New York Times, and in Outside Magazine (Click for link to article) for his 23-mile swimming adventure through the British Virgin Islands. Hopper coaches triathletes and open water swimmers on proper open water swimming techniques in the warm waters of the Virgin Islands and in the cold waters of the Maine coast.		Heather Perry has been swimming and diving in the Virgin Islands since 1996, and is a SwimVacation guide, photographer and marine naturalist. Heather is a former collegiate swimmer and currently competes in open water swimming races around Maine. She is a professional freelance photographer specializing in underwater work, and lives in Maine with her husband and son. You can see more of Heather’s work at www.heatherperryphoto.com.		Will Thomas has been a swim, triathlon, track, and cross-country coach, a teacher, and a marketing account executive, as well as helped launch a retail enterprise in 2003. An avid triathlete, he has competed in over 60 multisport events, including Ironman Lake Placid in 2005, and typically places near the top of the field. In the off-season, Will enjoys telemark skiing and launching new companies. He splits whatever time he has leftover between surfing, cycling, drinking coffee, debating politics, reading the news, and traveling. Will owns the triathlon production company Tri-Maine: www.tri-maine.com



Tim Fitzpatrick has been competing in open water swimming events since one of the first Great Chesapeake Bay Bridge swim races in 1990. Tim has successfully continued competing in open water swimming events over the years in the Mid-Atlantic area. Tim competed in the 2006 Friends of St. John Island Swim and finished 3rd in a field of 200 swimmers. Tim is a former Division I college swimmer and water polo player and continues to assist triathletes and competitive swimmers on technique and endurance training.		Cortney Linville has been swimming in the Virgin Islands for 13 years, and recently completed her first SwimVacation as a guide. When not on a Swimvacation, Cortney is a family practice physician, and also competes in triathlons and open water swimming competitions around New England. She lives in Maine with her husband, Hopper, and their children.		Elaine K. Howley is the newest addition to the SwimVacation family. Elaine is a former Division I collegiate swimmer who began competing in open water events in 2006 on a dare; she hasn’t looked back and only trains in the pool when the New England weather turns beastly. With a long list of completed open water swims, in 2009, Elaine became the 32nd person to ever complete the Triple Crown of open water swimming, which includes the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, and the around Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. She is also the current record-holder for the fastest double crossing of the Boston Harbor, for which she was featured on NPR (click here for story). She has set her sights on some day completing the Ocean’s Seven. In the mean time, she is a proposal writer for an engineering firm and a frequent freelance contributor to SWIMMER magazine. She has extensive coaching and teaching experience. You can read more about Elaine on her blog, Tales of the Beer Baby.

David Barra has focused on marathon distance events for the past few years, completing 7 marathons in 2010 (Maui Channel, Tampa Bay, MIMS, Catalina Channel, Boston Light, English Channel, and Ederle). In 2011, he and Rondi Davies co-directed and swam the 120 mile 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim. David has been a participating coach for Total Immersion open water camps for the past 6 years in Eleuthera, Kona, and St John. His blog can be found on the USMS forum http://forums.usms.org/blog.php?u=3970David lives in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley and trains with the Shawangunk Masters at SUNY New Paltz, and with friends at Lake Minnewaska, the Hudson River, and CIBBOWS (Coney Island Open Water Swimmers). David and Clare (married 22 years) met on the beach at Coney Island in 1988.

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