Alcatraz Challenge
On Saturday August 23, 2008, I completed my first salt water swim from Alcatraz to Crissy Field in The Presidio. The swim was approximately 1.5 miles.

I signed up for the swim about 6 months ago and it’s been weighing on my mind ever since. I got about half of the training in that I wanted. I always meant to make it down to a salt water training class but never seemed to find the time. So when the alarm went off Saturday morning at 3:00 AM, I was just a bit nervous. I always have that voice in my head telling me that this could be the last thing that you ever do. For some reason I never listen to that voice. The one that says “just think how cool it will be when you’re done” seems to win every time.

So I drove my 2 hours to Golden Gate Park and arrived in the dark and proceeded to suit up in my wetsuit.

As the sun came up, I could see the silhouette of Alcatraz Island in the distance. It doesn’t look that far I thought. The water sure looked cold though. It was a typical San Francisco morning, 58 degrees, marine layer covering the towers on the Golden Gate. As I sat on the trolley to ride over to the Pier I was looking at the people sitting across from me. We all have that same grin on our face, like this is stupid but I’m doing it anyway. When we arrived at the Pier, we had to listen to the pre-race instructions. This is where you are warned not to do this swim if you haven’t been practicing in the open water. It’s amazing how many people ignore those instructions. I hear their friends telling them that, “you’re great in the pool, you’ll be fine.”

The boat ride wasn’t very long and there isn’t much time to think about the what if’s anymore. Before you know it, we are all pushing our way to two doors on the sides of the boat and jumping 3 at a time.

When I hit the water, I received my first big gulp of salt water. One second later I was up and hammering out my stroke. A little fast at first but I knew that I could bring it down. Prior to jumping, the Race Director pointed out the perfect point of reference for me to swim towards. Don’t pay attention to the swimmers in front of you, he says. The current will be pushing them to your right. So, I held my line for about the next fifteen minutes. Suddenly I see a Kayak just to my left side. I stopped to look and he tells me that I’m way out to the left. I looked over and I was about 200 yards from the rest of the group. “Thanks Race Director.” Apparently there wasn’t much of a current that day.

While I was stopped, I took the advice of some people that had done the swim before and took a look around. “Pretty Cool,” the city is right in front of you, Alcatraz behind you. The Bay Bridge is off to the left and the Golden Gate to the right. After a few moments, I made a hard right and began swimming again.

My sites were now on the gold dome atop the History of Fine Arts. I was amazed at how good I felt. The only thing that was slowing me down is those damn jellies. They were about 12” around and way too close to me.

As I approached the beach, I could hear the cheers of the crowd and I was feeling pretty good. When I stood up and began to jog to the finish, I knew that I had just accomplished something. Not sure exactly what, but I know that I had conquered a fear of mine. I certainly didn’t break any records but my swim from Alcatraz is something that I will always remember.