Open Water Events

Swimmer safety is the primary concern of USMS and the New England LMSC and is the basis for USMS's Open Water Sanction and Safety Guidelines. A USMS sanction signals that your open-water event is adequately insured and adheres to USMS's rigorous safety requirements.

When planning your event and preparing your sanction application, please carefully read the following guidance from the USMS Open Water Event Management Site and familiarize yourself with the Open Water Sanction Benefits.

Here is a breakdown of sanction fees (current as of 1/1/2023):

  • USMS Sanction Fee fixed portion – This $100 fee is due whether or not your event is held and will be covered by NELMSC. No charge to your event.

  • USMS Sanction Fee per swimmer portion -- $5 per participant if the event is held. NELMSC will subsidize up to $750 if the event is held. If the event is canceled, there is no charge and no NELMSC sanction subsidy.

  • One Event Fee (OEVT) – ALL competitors in sanctioned events must already be USMS members or pay an OEVT fee to participate. This policy means that all swimmers will be covered by liability and excess personal accident insurance during the event. Your event will owe $20 x the # of OEVT swimmers even if the event is canceled. (Event directors should build in the $20 fee as part of registration for any OEVT swimmers.)

A USMS sanction will only cover adults 18+ who are USMS members or have paid the OEVT fee, so if your event has any youth swimmers they will need to swim in a separate wave (for example 15 minutes after the sanctioned wave begins). If your event is going to offer multiple distances, (eg. 1k, 5k, 10k), you could opt to sanction the longer 5k and 10k distances, thereby leaving the shorter 1k distance open for youth swimmers who would need to be covered by separate (non-USMS) insurance. More information on Insurance is available here.

If you choose not to seek a sanction, you may still promote your event to the USMS community by requesting that it be added to the USMS Calendar. Unsanctioned events are ineligible for USMS's insurance protection and cannot be advertised as a NELMSC or USMS-affiliated event.

ONLINE OPEN-WATER SANCTION APPLICATION

Open Water sanction applications must be submitted through the USMS online sanction system. Please have the following documents ready to upload (in Word or PDF format):

  1. Your event entry form/website

  2. Safety Plan Application

  3. In addition to filling out the USMS online sanction application, all open water event documents must also be uploaded via this survey.

For guidance on submitting a sanction request, view this TUTORIAL for Open Water Event Directors (revised 1/6/23).

Once submitted, the system will notify the NE LMSC Open Water Sanctions Chair, who will conduct the first-line review of your application and contact you if additional information is required. Once approved at the LMSC level, the application goes to the USMS Open Water Compliance Coordinator for final review and assignment of a sanction number.

Please direct all open water sanction inquiries to Gary Girolimon, NELMSC Open Water Sanctions Chair.