Instagram story viewer> @emkhowley> Posts

Elaine Kornbau Howley

@emkhowley

1.3K

followers

2219

following

Writer, editor, artist, marathon & ice swimmer, beer lover.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

🛟 2026 NELMSC Lifesaver Recognition Award — Elaine Howley

Some awards recognize accomplishments. This one recognizes an action that saved a life.

The New England LMSC is proud to recognize Elaine Howley as the recipient of the 2026 Lifesaver Recognition Award, a Specialized Appreciation Award honoring her attentive, swift and decisive actions during Ben Bryant’s In Search of Memphre swim.

On July 13, Ben set out to complete the 25-mile international swim across Lake Memphremagog between Vermont and Québec. With approximately four to five miles remaining, Elaine joined Ben in the water as a buddy swimmer and quickly recognized that he was struggling.

When Ben momentarily lost consciousness, Elaine acted immediately. She grabbed him, swam him to the boat ladder and, with assistance from another member of the crew, got him safely aboard. Following EMT and hospital care, Ben made a full recovery.

For Elaine, looking out for another swimmer is part of a much larger commitment to the open-water community. An accomplished marathon and ice swimmer herself, she has completed both the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming and the Triple Crown of Monster Swims, became the first person to swim the 32.3-mile length of Lake Pend Oreille, and has spent years crewing, observing, organizing and supporting other marathon swimmers. She was inducted into the NELMSC Hall of Fame in 2020 in the Open Water/Long Distance category.

Her experience extends well beyond her own swims: Elaine has supported more than 30 successful marathon and ice swims, served as an official observer, spent years supporting the Boston Light Swim, and has repeatedly served on the safety boat for In Search of Memphre.

This summer, all of that experience mattered at precisely the moment it was needed most.

Congratulations and thank you, Elaine, for your extraordinary presence of mind, for taking care of a fellow swimmer, and for your continued commitment to making open water swimming safer for everyone. ❤️🌊🛟

Join us in celebrating Elaine and our other 2026 NELMSC award recipients at the NELMSC Awards & Hall of Fame Celebration on October 4! by @emkhowley

78

5

a month ago

SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT: ELAINE HOWLEY

She has been on the boat, in the water, and behind the typewriter for some of the most historic swims in the sport.

Elaine Howley is a Boston-based journalist who has covered open water swimming for 15+ years, supported 30+ marathon and ice swims as crew, and received the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Buck Dawson Author Award...TWICE! She was crew for Sarah Thomas' unprecedented 84-mile four-way English Channel crossing in 2019.

At BTB 2026, Elaine joins Sarah Thomas and Suzanne Martin for "First Ladies" — a conversation about what it takes when there's no map along with the MOWSA Safety Panel.

November 14, 2026 · Bentley University · Waltham, MA

Prices go up September 1.
🎟 Link in bio.

#BeyondTheBreakers #MarathonSwimming #OpenWater #EnglishChannel #BTB2026 announcing elaine howley as a speaker for beyond the breakers 2026 taken in Bentley University by @emkhowley

80

9

a month ago

by @emkhowley

42

1

3 months ago

"It's a privilege to be able to support somebody on something that is this important to them."

That's why @emkhowley keeps showing up.

Most people see the swimmer finish and never think about the people who made it possible. The ones on the boat at 3am. The ones managing the feeds, tracking the navigation, watching the conditions, and holding it together when the swimmer can't.

Elaine has done that more times than most people will ever count. And she keeps doing it because she understands something a lot of people miss.

The swim matters. But so does the reason behind it.

Elaine is bringing that perspective to BTB 2026, leading the MOWSA Safety Panel and closing out the weekend alongside Sarah Thomas in a fireside chat that you do not want to miss.

November 14 to 15. Bentley University. Waltham, MA.
Link in bio

#openwater #beyondthebreakers #btb2026 #supportcrew #openwaterswimming taken in Bentley University by @emkhowley

52

11

4 months ago

Life sucks a lot sometimes. Like a whoooole fucking lot. But also there are sparkle dresses and besties to drink margaritas with. #sparklebitch taken in Agavero Guac & Margs by @emkhowley

90

12

4 months ago

Nobody talks about the observer!

While two athletes were grinding through jellyfish stings and building swells in the Atlantic — miles offshore — Elaine Howley was on the boat observing the swim on behalf of @massopenwater. Logging every hour. Watching every stroke. Holding the authority to keep the swim honest and the swimmers safe.

That's the job. No glory. No finish line. Just the clipboard, the stopwatch, and the responsibility of being the person the swimmer trusts.

Observers are the backbone of this sport. Without them, the swims don't count. Without organizations like @massopenwater showing up and observing — none of it happens.

This is the gritty, unglamorous, essential work that makes open water swimming real. And it's exactly the community BTB is built around.

The swimmers. The coaches. The pilots. The crew chiefs. The observers. Every single one of them belongs in the room.

That's what Beyond The Breakers is all about.

Everyone who makes this sport go, belongs at Beyond The Breakers!

See you in November!

#openwater #marathonswim #observer #beyondthebreakers #openwaterswim taken in Boston Harbor by @emkhowley

93

15

4 months ago

🌟 Holy smokes! 🌟 What a weekend! Thank you to @ishof_museum for honoring 📘 “Break of a Lifetime” with the 2026 Buck Dawson Authors Award, presented as part of the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s awards and induction weekend in Fort Lauderdale, May 15-16, 2026. 👀

Connecting with old friends (looking at you, @ebeisel34, Craig Beardsley, Jack Nichting, and many more!) and getting to meet absolute legends @nancyhogshead @donnadevarona and Steve Lundquist et al in one place was pretty terrific. So was catching up with the @duraflex_int crew who I’m forever grateful have “adopted” this cold water swimmer into the diving family and given me two incredible opportunities to work with @gompfdive on “A Life Aloft” and Micki on “Break.” #careermaking #breakofalifetimeindeed

I got a real reboot out of this celebration of all things aquatic 💦and the sheer delight and exuberance everyone brought to the weekend. This event came exactly when I needed a moment of respite, after losing four beloved family members over 10 weeks this spring. That grief threatened to drown me, but this joy helped buoy me to #justkeepswimming🐠 a little farther.

Meeting 96-year-old artistic swimming pioneer Mary Black of Scotland was perhaps the highlight for me, but then there was the whole signing books with Micki and wearing her gold medal just because it matched my outfit. Oh, and then I had the honor of being escorted into the @ftlwarmemorial by the most handsome honoree, Walt Reid. Oh, but also, there was that whole getting a VIP view of the finals of the first stop on the 2026 @world_aquatics High Diving World Cup and seeing @mollycarlson1 claim silver! 🙀 Jeepers. Too many highlights to choose from—it was all spectacular and a truly needed chance to reset after life kicked me in the teeth earlier this year.

So inquiring minds want to know—🧐 will my next book project be about open water or pool swimming or swimmers? 🏊‍♀️ Artistic swimming? Water polo? 🤽‍♀️ High diving? All of the above? I can’t wait to find out either!

Lastly, huge thanks to @megkellermarvin for herding all the cats 🐈 You make it look effortless, but we know it’s most definitely not. ❤️ taken in Fort Lauderdale, Florida by @emkhowley

58

7

5 months ago

At 2 a.m., in the dark, exhausted, Sarah Thomas thought she was done.

“I don’t have what it takes. I’m not tough enough.”

Then her crew, specifically BTB Speaker Elaine Howley, yelled down a single sentence that changed everything:

“We do not make decisions in the dark!”

World-record marathon swimmer and cancer survivor Sarah Thomas shares how that moment carried her through one of the hardest swim attempts she has made—and why she lives by it today.

Sometimes the goal is simple:
Swim until the sun comes up.

A small shift in perspective can change everything!

From @sarahswims04's Goals, Grit, and Grace presentation at Beyond the Breakers — and we’re excited to share that Sarah will be returning for Beyond the Breakers 2026.

Special Thanks to @sharkbanz for sponsoring this presentation at Beyond The Breakers and making the day possible!

Video Credit: @hcoganphotography

#BeyondTheBreakers #SarahThomas #OpenWaterSwimming #MarathonSwimming #GritAndGrace taken in Bentley University by @emkhowley

251

29

8 months ago

Not as many pieces this year, but lots of puppers! It’s my #2025artrecap Happy New Year and roll on 2026! by @emkhowley

46

4

9 months ago

by @emkhowley

47

7

10 months ago

Beyond the Breakers comes to Waltham in less than two weeks! Get your ticket at 10% off with code ELAINECSS10 at swimbeyondthebreakers.com taken in Waltham, Massachusetts by @emkhowley

56

10

a year ago

Sending my friend Victor all the good juju for his #englishchannelswim starting in hopefully less than an hour. This Puerto Rican powerhouse is about to make #Waltham even prouder than it already is of this local badass. And it’s for Swim Acroos America I. Honor of a loved one lost. https://www.swimacrossamerica.org/site/TR?px=1055599&fr_id=7921&pg=personal&fbclid=IwVERDUANIGSpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHpZweqI-nWviIj5t5wKNZq8Nfl8-tpAwxdS2VM3hWSzV-0h6L2vkscj6Xb5J_aem_1fqDxNtOEY7F-i8ahrNYPA by @emkhowley

62

3

a year ago