Swim The Planet – Rockin’ It

This morning our intrepid group of 28 swimmers set out from St Francis Beach at 9.15am in San Francisco Bay for the 14th annual Swim Around The Rock. The thick fog had lifted just enough for us to sight the northern point of Alcatraz as we set off. We swam with a waning flood tide but with a freshening south westerly wind which grew in intensity as the swim progressed. Average water temperature was about 15C.

We swam between Angel Island and the northern tip of Alcatraz then turned to follow the eastern shore of Alcatraz during the short slack tide. Our progress was then slowed by choppy conditions and a freshening ebb tide which grew in intensity.

We passed the usual starting point for Alcatraz crossings but on this swim we had already been swimming for two hours without a water or food break and the swell was now about one metre. We battled the currents and after 2 hours and 28 minutes and 6 kilometres I touched the sandy bottom at The Bleachers in Aquatic Park and the waiting crowd.

My placing was about 14^th overall which was encouraging given there were some very good swimmers in our group. Be that as it may, I completed the swim as the only person to abide by strict English Channel rules, single cap (no neoprene), goggles and bathers. So, in this category of one, it was a first place…albeit in a Stephen Bradbury-esque notion of first.

Watch for my next blog titled ‘Swim the Kingdom’ from the mountain lakes of North Eastern Vermont.