Slater Trout, paddling his way towards a 2nd place finish at the SEA NY event.

It’s another big week for the swimming world!  The Pan Pacific Swim meet starts tomorrow and runs through the weekend.  Both Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin are representing the US and are using this meet and an important step in training for the 2012 Olympics.  Portions of the meet will be televised on Universal Sports if you want to cheer on Natalie and Michael from your living room.

H2O Audio Triathletes, Greg and Laura Bennett kicked off a month of racing in Europe with the ITU Kitzbuehel race this past weekend.  Laura turned in a very strong performance finishing 8th while Greg finished 25th, not bad for his first race post illness.  We’re always so proud of our favorite triathlete couple!

And finally, H2O Audio paddler Slater Trout finished the 28 mile paddle around Manhattan last weekend in 2nd place.  High winds, crazy tides and boat traffic were just a few obstacles in the S.E.A Paddle NYC fund raising race for Autism.  Always the competitor, Slater blames his second place finish on a “tactical error”.  You can read more about the race in his blog.  Over-all more than $260,000 was raised for Autism through this event.

Jordy Smith at the ASP Jeffery's Bay event.

Here’s this weeks news highlights from the world of water sports:

In surfing, Jordy Smith emerged victorious from the Billabong Pro at Jeffery’s Bay, which is no surprise given he was surfing on home turf.  The win puts Jordy first in the ASP rankings pushing Kelly Slater into third.  Also, an interesting surfing tid-bit from this week, Chicago lifed a decades old-ban on flotation devices in the city’s waterways, opening the door for surfers and stand up paddlers to take to the cities rivers and lakes.  The folks of the mid-west metropolis are no longer going to let lack of ocean keep them from sharing the stoke.

Next, in the world of wakeboarding,  the King of Wake series just completed it’s fifth stop of the 2010 season.  The field of top competitors has been narrowed from 62 riders to 27, and only 10 will be left standing after nationals.  At the top of the leader board right now is 16 year old Aussie, Harley Clifford, followed by Phillip Soven and Rusty Malinoski.

As for team H2O Audio, Greg Bennett reports that he is feeling better and is working on getting back to training and his competition schedule, while his wife Laura is in London for the ITU World Series event on Sunday.

And finally, it’s an exciting day around the H2O Audio headquarters as Slater Trout will be competing literally in our backyard today.  Having qualified for the Junior Lifeguard Regionals, he’ll be competing at the Pacific Beach Pier.  We all look forward to being able to cheer him on in person!

Craig Alexander crosses the finish line at Racine with his daughter.

This past weekend was big for H2O Audio Triathletes!

Craig Alexander added another first place finish to his list of accomplishments at the Racine Tri in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Laura Bennett finished in the top 10 at the ITU event in Hamburg, Germany.  The top of the pack was separated by mere seconds, with Laura finishing 7th.  And sadly, Greg Bennett is still not back to fully healthy, mentioning on Twitter that he spent time in a New York City hospital this weekend.   We’re sending healing thoughts your way Greg!

Coach Phelps

We’ll kick off this Friday’s news update with a fun little story about Michael Phelps.  He’s jumped into the pool once again, but this time not to train or compete, but to teach.  This past week he helped 60 middle school students learn how to swim as part of the Make A Splash program that aims to make swimming lessons available to all.  Can you imagine showing up for your first day of swim lessons to find Michael Phelps as your teacher!?!  How fun!

In other Team H2O Audio news, the triathletes are at it again.  This weekend Laura Bennett will compete in the race the ITU calls the ‘worlds largest triathlon‘ in Hamburg, Germany.  While Greg Bennett will race in the third event of the Lifetime Fitness Series in New York and Craig Alexander will take on the Racine Ironman 70.3 in Wisconsin.

Also, in the ocean, the ASP Would Tour has invaded Jefferys Bay in South Africa, with the competition heats starting Thursday.  You can check out the rankings and match ups here.

Slater Trout adding another victory to the list.

Another busy weekend for team H2O Audio, with great performances and first place finishes.

Starting with the swimmers, Michael Phelps was competing close to home in the NBAC Mid Summer Classic where he nearly cleared his seasons best time in the 200 fly.  Natalie Coughlin also wasn’t far from home taking first place in the 100 back at the LA Grand Prix of Swimming.

In the Triathlon world, Craig Alexander took third a mere second behind the top two finishers, while Greg Bennett wasn’t far behind finishing 8th at the second event of the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series in Minneapolis.

Also, paddling phenom Slater Trout, took a break from learning to drive with his new learners permit to grab a first place finish at the Hennessey’s US Championships in Redondo Beach California.  Aside from taking to the roads and winning trophies, he’s been spending his summer participating in Junior Lifeguards and working on his outrigger canoe paddling skills.