Just Add Water

Alcatraz Swim #71 - Faster Than the Easter Bunny

A much sunnier day greeted us which was a far cry from yesterday's clouds.   KB, Pauline and Diana SW met in the parking lot of the St. Francis Yacht Club a bit before 9am which to a South Ender is lunchtime since we normally meet around 5-6am.  Heck, I was even able to stay home and participate in the family Easter Egg Hunt before heading into the city!

Arriving at the lot we could see some wetsuits starting to appear out of the water.  Over 20 souls had jumped in an hour earlier as part of the Tri California Clinic preparing for the June "Escape from Alcatraz" triathlon.  Gary Emich was out for another day of coaching and all but 2 made it into the beach in anywhere from 40-60 minutes.  The suits looked like they had a great deal of fun - good on you folks!

The four of us made our way around to board the Serendipity where we met Gary and headed out to Alcatraz for a jump at the end of the ebb - and boy was it the end!  Skin galore (no wetsuits here) we hopped out at the east end of Alcatraz and sighted on the Fontana Towers above Aquatic Park.  The chop was about the same as yesterday -  medium - but having some sun made it feel absolutely glorious.  The ebb was dying fast and we high-tailed it to Fort Mason.  At 33:44 (I was the last one to touch) this was one of the faster Alcatraz crossings for us.  No one broke their personal best (all under 30 min) but still a happy little Sunday jaunt.

Time: 33:44 (z)

Alcatraz Invitational Swim Filling Up Fast

If you haven't registered yet, don't delay.  There are only 24 spots left in the 11th Annual South End Rowing Club Alcatraz Invitational.  Run by the club that has been swimming in the Bay since 1873, the members - rowers, swimmers, runners and handball players - come together to put on the best Alcatraz swim one could ever ask for.

There are two divisions - skins and wetsuits.  No whining.  If you are looking for some Bay time and a buddy to swim with, comment here and we'll hook you up with a South End swimmer to do some time in Aquatic Park.  South Enders are more than happy to tell you about swimming from Alcatraz, tips on sighting, currents and the overall elation you will feel getting out of the water knowing that you did The Rock.

Alcatraz Swim #70

Someone once asked me how I prepare for an Alcatraz swim.  The first five times I recall being very ritualistic making sure I went to bed early the night before, tapered in training, was well hydrated and had my gear packed the night before.   

After a while, Alcatraz becomes another swim of sorts with as much planning as a mother of 3 small children can absolutely do.  What does this mean?  Well, this morning at around 4am my 4 year-old son Harry decided crawl into our bed, take off his pull-ups and flood the bed (on an ebb day no less).  This was followed by moving a load of laundry from washer to dryer and starting a new load.  Therefore, my entire preparation consisted of grabbing a cup of coffee, stuffing things in a bag and looking to see if my swimsuit top matched the bottom since I dressed in the dark.

Enough of the personal stuff - onto swimming...

Six of us including KB, Diana C, PO, Pauline and the infamous Gary Emich met at the SERC for the 7:25am stroll in swimming attire down Fisherman's Wharf to the Serendipity, a fishing and sightseeing boat which would serve as our escort for the swim.  A swift ride out to Alcatraz before realizing that I'm the only "under 100" Alcatraz swimmer on board.  KB is up over 200, Diana and Pauline are both above 100 and Gary and PO are battling in the upper 400's on their way to the elusive 500 mark.

The weather was overcast, misty and the water had some chop.  The plan was to swim off the east end of Alcatraz sighting on the Fontana Towers above Aquatic Park and letting the ebb take us over to the Saint Francis Yacht Club.  As with any Alcatraz, plans can and do change.  Did I mention this was a test swim for a Tri-California event?  Tell someone you are a test swimmer for Alcatraz and they'll look at you like you're munitions tester on the Korean border.

About 1/3 of the way across we could see to the right a slew of sailboats in front of the SF Yacht Club.  None of us had the urge to be sailed over and become keel meat so we planned to make landing at Coghlan.  Another 10 minutes and with an ebb that wasn't much to speak of we went straight to hit the gas house cove at Fort Mason. 

Time: 44:04 (with orange zoomers)
Water Temp:  52 degrees

A swim back out to the Serendipity before climbing aboard and heading back to Pier 39 for a chilly walk back to the SERC.  Tomorrow?  Alcatraz Swim #71 of course!

Alcatraz Swim #69 - Warning: High chop past noon

After a morning of house and kid stuff, what better way to unwind than swimming to Alcatraz.  And who better to do that with than Mr. Emich himself!  While I'm on my shameful swim #69 this was to get Gary joyfully shocked back into the Bay after spending time in the Virgin Islands and Miami.  Yeah, the Mama and the Postman went out to play and got their butt's kicked by the afternoon winds.

Our course (shown left) is courtesy of Gary's Garmin GPS tucked safely beneath his swim cap.  I wanted to wear my new SwiMP3 as I could have used some Meatloaf, Frank Sinatra ("My Way") or anything to get me through the last bit of the swim.

The swim started out great leaving Coghlan Beach by the Saint Francis Yacht Club and sighting the top of Angel Island.  A few Blue & Gold Ferries, the Serendipity and others passed I'm sure with mild amusement or bewilderment.   Water temperature was a cool but respectable 52 degrees.

The flood was ripping and pushing us past the island at a fast clip and before we knew it - zoop! - we were swimming back up to the rock.  At this point the waves were crashing hard on the left and it was like swimming in the middle of a washing machine set on "mighty dirty - churn it hard'.  Breathing left was impossible and rolling for a breath on the right found me up in the air and nearly on my back.  According to Gary, the last .15 miles took him 8 minutes.  At 50 yards left I was much too wasted by the chop and hoisted up onto the zodiac before buzzing to pickup Mr. Emich on his 464th Alcatraz.

Time:  42.02

For those of you new to this blog - no neoprenes were killed in order to support this swim (i.e. no wetsuits).

A Nutcracker - Candlestick to Aquatic Park

A hearty set of swimmers, rowers, kayakers and pilots appeared at the South End extremely early.  Some rowers left against a rising ebb between 4-5am in order to make the trek to Candlestick.  After a swim briefing (note 5am arrival at the club meant 5:40am to some - delaying our departure) Kayakers loaded up on a powerboat and swimmers piled into 3 zodiacs to make the 60 min. + journey down the San Francisco skyline. 

The jaunt down was a bit bumpy at best but spirits were high among Roper our pilot-in-charge, Robyn photographer supreme and three fellow swimmers.  The ebb was really kicking in and you could tell this would be one for the history books.

Sometime after 7am the horn blew and swimmers were jumping off boats, rolling off zodiacs and off in style.   Since I haven't been spending a great amount of time in the water I decided to wimp out on three fronts.  One, for the first time ever I wore a wetsuit top.  Two, I wore my TYR split fins.  Three, I didn't jump at Candlestick but further up on Hunter's Point.  Get over it.

Around Hunter's Point I hopped in sighting on AT&T Park well off in the distance and the south tower of the Bay Bridge.  The water south of the Bay Bridge was noticably warmer than north of the bridge. 

It took me a little over an hour to sneek between the two south towers of the Bay Bridge where I was immediately reprimanded to get closer to the San Francisco shore.  Note that I hate swimming near the Ferry terminal because you have boats coming from all directions.  While I did hug in, I changed my sighting to Alcatraz and the fun really started.

First, the water was noticably colder once I passed under the Bay Bridge.  It dropped a good 2 degrees.  Second, the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up.  As soon as I rounded the corner approaching Pier 39 it was difficult to see with the high waves.  Third, a SF Police boat came zooming out of nowhere and scared the living daylights out of me.  I swam over to a kayaker to make sure someone higher in the water could be seen.

Just when I was ready to cry "uncle" to get me out I could see the top of the breakwall in the far off distance.  All I kept thinking was "I'm cold, my shoulders and back are tired and I want a sauna."  It was the company of three fellow South-Enders and the pack mentality that kept me going.  By the time I passed Pier 39 and started inside the breakwall (did I mention the Harbor Queen came out of nowhere and about ran over us??) the water was ripping. 

Turning left into Aquatic Park and seeing the beach was a welcome but painful relief.   I probably kicked myself in the last 20 yards (go legs!) and Diana C. was there to drag us up out of the water and into hot showers.

My time?  2 hours exactly in waters ranging from 50-54 degrees, smooth as glass to rough as _______.

Everyone made it with no one being pulled - 3 women "clean" (no wetsuits or fins) and that's a fine report.

Off to Croatia

I'm off to Croatia for a SwimTrek swim.

Greece

On my way to greece

Alcatraz #46

Just when I was about to stop... Well, today was supposed to be a touch & back which is your basic San Francisco-Alcatraz-San Francisco. This is different than a RTA (Round Trip Alcatraz) which adds another 20 minutes or so because on a RTA, you swim out, around Alcatraz and back. In either case, there weren't enough pilots to cover the touch and back - and too many swimmers for even a one-way. After some hemming and hawing, a few people opted for other swims leaving 12 people heading out to Alcatraz around 7am in some hefty wind and chop. After getting to The Rock and deciding that the Flood had stopped completely (it hadn't) we hopped in. Choppy, choppy, choppy with the wind blowing and making me feel downright chilly. (Notice I said chilly and not cold). Hello snowmelt run-off. Yes, it is that time of year when Mother Nature tricks you by giving warm water weeks only to slap you with snowmelt and knock you down a few degrees. A longer than normal swim at 55.50, but any swim is better than no swim, right? Time - 55.50 (split-fins) 1.2F - 0609 Slack - 0836 2.9E - 1159

Alcatraz #45

ASS Swim

If you don't know what an ASS Swim is, see here

A beautiful, sunny, flat, calm morning for what is probably my last Alcatraz until after the baby (or so I have told my doctor...). After being pretty darn sick this last week with a nasty sinus infection, cough and a bad reaction to the antibiotics, I missed 2 Alcatraz swims so all hope of hitting #50 before le bebe' arrives are off. Heck, I'll take what I can get. This will be 45 Alcatraz for me and 24 of those are with baby on board.

Cat, Gary E, Stevie Ray, Brenda, Kristine, Carolyn and I walked over to meet Rick and the banana-yellow Cameraboat for a quick ride out to the rock for an 8am jump.

Starting on the east end of the rock we jump and I have to say the water felt downright balmy. Lovely. As the six of us made the crossing under blue and sunny skies we kept commenting on how fast the ebb was taking us. Woo-hoo! Did it ever! Another zippy time! Had I not stopped to yack with other swimmers at the opening, I would have been in under 40 minutes, but hey, socializing is an important part of swimming.

Time: 40.53
4.9E - 0541
Slack - 0928

Pier 33 - Barges to Bagels

Club Swim

The last day before springing the clocks ahead. A bright and beautiful morning greeted mighty South End swimmers for another club swim. The zodiac ride down to Pier 33 found us facing a barge sitting at Pier 35. After chugging over to make sure it wasn't about to pullout (they assured us it was not) we continued on to meet the swimmers who were jumping off Pier 33. In the cove of Pier 33, 3 plump sea lions bobbed around waiting for us to hop in and play.

At a bit past 7:30am, 23+? souls plopped in at the back of Pier 33 to head out for a left to catch the 4.0 ebb to Aquatic Park. Little did we know, danger awaited us.

Heading out a little farther than normal from Pier 33 before turning left to avoid the barge the horns started to blast. "move away! move away!" Looking left I saw the jaws of the dredging equipment surfacing from the water and the barge quickly moving sideways into a pack of swimmers. Talk about high-tailing the hell out of there! I think I missed the backend of the barge by about 40 feet, but 40 feet moving that fast isn't that much room when you are talking about the entire Bay! Heartrate up, my tenant who never moves during a swim decided to put on the brakes by sticking toes into my ribs and both hands down into my pelvis. Rule on a swim - only one of us can be panicked at a time, not two. A minute later we were calmed down to a normal pace and riding the rollers in front of Pier 39.

The water was a bit choppy along the breakwall before turning left into Aquatic Park and finally up onto the beach of the SERC. All in all, a club swim with a little pepper for spice. Water temp was somewhere in the 57 degree F mark. As with all Club swims, a breakfast in our new cookshack was enjoyed.

Time - 35.11 (split-fins)
Slack - 0635
4.0E - 1015