There are lots of tough swims in the world… ones that go beyond ones like the English Channel or Lake Ontario, which are incredible in their own right. There is the North Sea swim between Scotland and Ireland is rough, very cold and full of jelly fish… the Cook Strait between the North Island and South Island of New Zealand is also cold, rough and has huge tides… but arguably the toughest swim out there is the swim between the Farallone Island and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Cold, rough and full of great white sharks! It has only been completed twice as a solo in 1967… by Colonel Stuart Evans (to the mainland) and then Ted Erickson (to the GGB)… and was also just completed as a relay last week! Here’s the story by one of the guys from the venerable South End Rowing Club that swam it… enjoy.
PS. this is to get you psyched up for our upcoming LOST swims… they’ll be easy compared to this!
Cheers,
Rob
Golden Gate Bridge to Farallones Relay – 14 hrs 45 min 8 sec.
“Sunrise swimming at the gate and sunset finishing at the Farallones…” I don’t know whose email that was but it’s very well put! It’s exactly what ended up happening with some gritty swimming in between.
Once again i must say it was so great to see all the interest and people following the swim, urging us on to finish. There is no reception out there to get messages of any kind, stops about 12-14 miles outside the GG. So on the way back when you get past that point all the messages come flooding in. Its an overwhelmingly good feeling to then know, we weren’t alone out here. People back home were watching and wondering and hoping just like us. We even got congrats from the other side of the world before we reached the dock. GPS is pretty dam cool.
The swimming itself was adventurous, thrilling and very very tough. We did get a tremendous boost from a massive 5.2 ebb at the start. As it rumbled out the GG i thought this might be the swiftest current i’ve ever seen out there. Our lead swimmer Phil Cutti covered around 6-7 miles in the first hour. I went second and after i finished we were over 10 miles from The Gate two hours in. You’d think that would make us feel pretty good, and on some level i’m sure it did. But when i looked around there wasn’t many smiles because like most great marathon Open Water swims this one got tougher towards the further we went. The last mile and a half took us nearly two hours. The water temp gradually dropped the entire way until bottoming out around 50 right at the Islands. I’m not exactly sure why the water is so cold out there but i do know the water depth drops pretty dramatically past the Islands. My best guess is maybe some of that icy water from the deep Ocean makes it’s way up to the Farallones, just past them is the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary with an average depth of 400 ft. Seven miles past that the Pacific Ocean drops to more than a mile deep, so there has got to be some super chilly water in that general area. That may be dimestore Oceanography at best but it’s fun to think about.
Conditions were rough for us pretty much the whole time. The boat rocked so violently that if you were up and moving around it was hold on tight or your going down hard (visit this site to know more on how boats are made). We faced 8-10 foot swells and a constant headwind, creating this nasty steep wind chop coming right in our faces. It never stopped all day long. Lots of water being swallowed and strokes interrupted as you were forced under the surface. We all did exactly one hour legs until the the 15th and last leg when Dave Holscher gutted it out close to the Island for 45 minutes. I ended up being the second to last swimmer and more than a little freaked out about swimming right next to the Farallones, elated to let Dave get the glory of slapping the buoy not many swimmers have touched. As it was most of my one hour leg was within a mile of the Islands and we had to make a sharp right turn to get lined up to enter the cove where the buoy is anchored. The boat moved in that direction away from me, trying to coax me into following and getting us in better position to finish. All i could think of in the water is, i’m swimming within a mile of the Farallon Islands and the boat is a few hundred yards away. Life has its ups and downs but i’m not ready to go just yet. Swim…..Fast. Get me back on that boat!
Saw a couple good size jelly fish on that last turn, about 4-5 feet beneath me.
I’ve attached a pic to try and give an idea of the conditions and there should be more with video coming soon. Swimmer #3 Dave Holscher bled from the face like a boxer after an unwanted close encounter with the swim platform we used to get back on the boat. Yes that’s right, the final swimmer was the only one bleeding. Seemed like an appropriate end to a long day that tested some resolve but ultimately was very rewarding.
The biggest keys for us was having a great crew and all six swimmers came to play that day. I’m talking game faces on like a pitcher during a no hitter, ready to get back on the mound. There were no letdowns and everyone gained us some distance to that sweet finish, which felt so good as the sun disappeared.
The swimmers in reverse order:
Kim Chambers, John Mathews, Vito Bialla, Dave Holscher, Darrin Connolly, Phil Cutti.
Darrin Connolly