Hundreds of swimmers will hit the open water Sunday, Aug. 1 as part of the La Jolla Cove Swim Club’s 12th annual Tour of Buoys Ocean Swim, beginning near the boat launch at La Jolla Shores Beach. The event offers a 1.5- and 5-mile race. More than distance separates the two swims. “The nice thing about swimming the mile-and-a-half is that people can wear wetsuits if they are intimidated by the cold,” said event board member Bob West. “The longer is a regulation swim. It’s a hardcore, open-water swimming contest.” West is quite familiar with the latter. He’s among an elite group of people in the world to complete the Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming — swimming the English Channel, the Catalina Channel and the Manhattan Channel. Along with nearly 40 others, he logged enough miles from mid-November to Cinco De Mayo — mainly at La Jolla Cove — to technically have reached Tahiti. At the Tour of Buoys, West will play a different role, including starting the 200 swimmers who are expected to participate, 50 of whom plan to compete in the 5-mile race. The entrants will do two laps around yellow buoys that surround the La Jolla Ecological Reserve. Awards will be given to the top swimmer (both male and female) in each age group, in increments of five years. The majority of participants will follow the 1.5-mile setup. The mile-and-a-half participants can select either a regulation division or non-regulation division. Swimmers of many ages will compete in the race categories. Teenagers are expected to be among the youngest swimmers, with the oldest in their late 60s. All swimmers will have one thing in common — they’ll all be club members before the start of the race. “If you are not a club member, we charge a fee of $10; and you can be a member until January,” West said. The club requires participants to be part of the club for liability reasons. There are also additional fees for the event itself. On the day of the event, entries cost $60 for the 1.5-mile race and $70 for the 5-mile race. The fee includes lunch and T-shirts on an availability basis. In addition, each 5-mile challenger must have a kayak escort for safety precautions. The La Jolla Cove Swim Club holds many ocean swims throughout the year, most notably the New Year’s Day ritual known as the annual Polar Bear Swim. Other social, noncompetitive club events coming up are the Halloween Spookfest Swim and the Thanksgiving Turkey Splash and Dash Swim. For information or club registration, visit www.lajollacoveswimclub.org.