The mid-year open-ocean swim season is officially a wash on the Big Island, and another fishing tournament has been lost as well because of the coronavirus.
The county announced Tuesday the cancellation of the Richardson Rough Water Swim and the ‘Ohana Fishing Tournament “in the interest of protecting the health and well-being of participants, supporters and staff,” a release said.
The swim is annually held on the last Sunday in July and the fishing tournament in August, but “due to the COVID-19 pandemic and state and local emergency rules and policies currently in place, these popular activities present numerous uncertainties and planning challenges.”
The 32nd Richardson swim last year in Hilo featured 150 competitors and prides itself on being more of a community-oriented festivity than the earlier events that make up the island’s Triple Crown of open water swimming. Those races, held at Waikoloa, Hapuna Beach and Kailua Bay, were previously canceled.
The Ohana tournament is an islandwide event that attracted some 350 anglers in 2019, the release said, and includes divisions from keiki to kupuna. The weigh-in is held in Honokaa.
Among the fishing tournaments events previously canceled on the island were the Ulua Challenge, Huggo’s Wahine Fishing Tournament and the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament.