The South End Rowing Club’s most epic club swim route is absolutely Bay to Breakers. Just like the race it’s named after, we go from the Bay Bridge (“bay”) to Ocean Beach (“breakers”). Unlike the run, we can’t cut through the city, so we have to go around.
We get to pass all sorts of fun landmarks, like swimming under the Golden Gate Bridge, around Mile Rocks, and then finish through the surf into the beach.
This year’s swim was a moment of redemption for me. I made a previous Bay to Breakers attempt in 2018, but that year, conditions were bad so they pulled us before the Golden Gate Bridge.
We originally scheduled this swim for about a month before, but with sustained 15kt winds all morning, it was an easy choice to scrap it. The forecast looked great for this attempt.
The Start
Check-in was at 4am, splash was at 6am. As we motored out to the Bay Bridge just before sunrise, we could see a glimpse of the laser installation that ends at the Ferry Building. I put myself to bed at 7pm the night before so I wasn’t up late enough to see them, so I was glad to catch a view. We had 16 swimmers this year.
When we hopped in, the ebb was ripping already. I quickly met up with my kayaker Joey and we set off! It felt a little chillier than I expected! I’ve been acclimated to the water just fine, but this time my right toes got a little colder.
Rounding the City
As we made it around the city to Pier 39, I noticed there were white caps! That usualy means 10kt winds or above which can be a hazard for our kayakers. It was foggy, too. We kept swimming along the shoreline and our next sighting point, per our briefing, was the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, we could barely see it! Just a little bit of the base.
There were a lot of fishing boats zooming past us to get in to pick up bait near Hyde Street Pier, and our zodiacs did a great job at blocking for us.
Once we made it to Anita Rock, one of the escort boats came up and told us we were way too close in to shore. We were being pushed by the back eddy, so we needed to swim out of it. I cut a hard right and our pace picked up a lot! Off torwards the Golden Gate Bridge, or at least what we could see of it.
I was honestly certain that we were going to get pulled from this swim too. With bad winds and bad visibility, that makes for a very unsafe swim. But by the time we approached the Golden Gate, the winds had died down a bit. It was still very foggy, but we had a clear line of sight to our next waypoint, Mile Rocks lighthouse.
Outside the Golden Gate
Outside the bridge, the swells were slow, but big! I had to wait maybe 3-4 seconds each time I popped up to be able to see Mile Rocks because the swells must have been 3-4ft high.
We swam just outside Mile Rocks lighthouse, made a turn towards Seal Rocks. As I went out past Seal Rocks, Joey said we should aim out, to stay out of the surf. A zodiac motored over and redirected us a little closer in.
Finishing
Then finally I had a clear line of sight to a large yellow buoy that we set up to mark last part, the turn into the beach. We had a zodiac positioned at the yellow buoy, so I waved goodbye to Joey and headed in (kayakers load their kayaks into a boat to go back).
We staff some volunteers as “surf angels” to paddle out and escort swimmers in through the surf to the finish. I didn’t see any! So I just swam on in to the beach. It was definitely the loneliest part of the swim, especially after having such close coverage throughout the rest of it. Luckily we had a big mob of people on the beach so it was easy to tell where to aim.
Making my way through the surf was interesting, luckily the swells weren’t too big. On one wave, I could feel the water pulling my goggles off my head, so I grabbed and held on to them. I let the wave pass, then I kept swimming to shore.
I could basically touch the ground when a surf angel popped his head up. “Oh, looks like you’re fine” he said and swam past me back out, probably to go prepare to receive another swimmer.
Then, I did stand and walked in to shore. It was really nice to see all the faces at the beach greeting me, and offering to pour water on me. Right after I finished another swimmer Bob finished and he was clearly cold, so I helped walk him up the beach along with another volunteer.
Afterwards
The best treat was that this year, some intrepid swimmers thought to pitch in to rent a mobile sauna and have them park it at the beach! It was such a treat to be able to warm up and socialize with the other swimmers. This sauna was a little toastier than our club sauna and smelled amazing because of branches of fresh eucalyptus that they brought in.
The whole event was such a treat. And it’s a good reminder of the power of our community. Every year, we remind folks that this is a 4:1 volunteer:swimmer event! I have been piloting and helping the last few years so I felt good being able to take my turn.
Finally being able to finish, and experience the euphoria of the beach crew was so sweet. When I’ve volunteered as a pilot, you don’t get to see the finish. We confirm over the radio that everybody has made it, and I’d seen a photos, but feeling it myself was such a treat.
Big thanks to all our volunteers, and I am excited to pay it forward for next year’s swim!
