Alcatraz - No wonder no one escaped

This past weekend was spent on the water between Alcatraz and Aquatic Park in SF.  Piciform (Aaron) recruited Mike (Mikev) and I to help out shepherding swimmers as they made their way through the crossing.  Good to meet Mike and his wife...his ride is a slick Necky Dolphin SOT yak. 

On Saturday I guided swimmers that jumped off of a boat next to Alcatraz and swam to Aquatic Park.  On Sunday I escorted swimmers participating in a race from Aquatic Park, to Alcatraz and back to Aquatic Park…2.5 hours in the wind, chop and current.  I’ve run 2 marathons before and they don’t compare to the energy and will power exerted by those swimmers.  NCKA's own, Yakuza is an open water swimmer...you have my utmost respect.

There were no issues and we didn't need to rescue anyone.  A swimmer had cramps on Saturday and was taken aboard the PB and a swimmer had to be repositioned on Sunday because he had swam off the course.  However, a SIK got rolled on Sunday and we all had to deal with 3 foot wind waves and white caps in the middle of the channel, so it was not FAC by any means.  If I was swimming that course I wouldn't do it without a kayak escort, that's for sure.

I had to laugh because over the radio it turns out that we were holding up a tanker from entering the bay.  Go suck an egg Chevroids...it's our water right now.  It helps that Harbor Patrol was protecting our flanks.

Attached is a picture of a swimmer jumping into the water at Alcatraz for the swim to SF on Saturday.  I’m the yak escort flying the US flag and safety flag off of my stern. 

right on for being a paddler for all those the swimmers Gary. Sounds like quite an adventure, even in a kayak!

Good karma and exercise for all you volunteers.  that's a great picture btw.  Did you take any pictures of the swimmers swimming?  thx for sharing.
Jonathan

Before I get too much karma credit you should know that all the yak pilots got some cash and it was enough for gas and lunch. 

Pictures were taken by someone on the jump boat and they can be seen at: www.facebook.com/swimart  There's even a youtube video of the swimmers jumping in and the yaks gathering up their groups for the escort to Aquatic Park.  If you're interested in doing the swim there's a bunch of vidoes on open water swimming technique on youtube as well.

It took us yaks about 20 minutes to paddle out to the launch spot and it was hard to stay in one spot due to the wind and current.  The veterans hid behind the leeward side of the Rock until the jump boat got out there.  By Federal law we were to stay 200 yards away from the shore.  If I do this again I'm going to bring a camera and take some photos of the Rock, it's definately an interesting place.  If the developers have their way it may turn into yet another casino.

They only do this once a month since the tides have to be just right and it does tie up boat passage.  When the last swimmer cleared the channel a bunch of boats came buzzing through...rush hour traffic.  Next time they do another swim I hope you folks can respond to piciform (Aaron) offer to sign up.  The organizers are really nice people, the other yakkers were fun to hang with, the swimmers can't thank us enough AND you're in SF with the rest of the day to goof off.

We live in a special place and have special skills...take advantage of it.

Peace,

Gary

Gary:

Thx for getting out there and piloting my fellow shwimmas.  It's only b/c cool guys like you and Pisciform are we able to safely participate in this wacky sport.  My brother and I did the Dwight Crum 2 miler from Hermosa to Manhattan beach last sunday.  They'll let paddleboard and longboarders escort but no kayaks??!!  WTF is that about.  Really sloppy organization.  Its a no wetsuit swim in 60ish degree water.  My bro ended up with low/mild hypothermia, sat in the lifeguard van heater full blast for 20 mins to regain his sensations.  Others weren't so lucky.  Couple of hospitalizations - such a stupid stupid event.  Its a point to point race with no bag service.  So after swimming two miles in the cold you have no towel, then have to walk back to your starting point on the burning hot blacktop of the Strand.  At least the scenery was nice.   
Anyway, Aaron did a double duty saturday, guiding a morning group from the Presidio to the Yacht club.  Then at 10, he met me at Howard Street Pier on the Embarcadero to pilot a TI training swim.  Right as we were jumping the seawall at TI, couple busloads of tourists showed up.  Looks on their faces was priceless!  Probably a 2:1 ratio of jaws dropped to thumbs up LOL. 
Even this pelican was looking at us like WTF.



Vectoring toward Transamerica to counteract the last of the flood tide.



Gotta swim headup at times to check your bearing.



It flattened out a little in the middle of the lane.  But there was a huge temperature break, probably dropped by 3-5 degrees it got really really cold.



A view of the bay bridge not many people see. 



Trying not to gulp a faceful of swell.



Destination is the concrete steps just to the south of this pier.  2.27 miles of pain later, i managed to slice my foot open on a barnacle getting up. 



Mission accomplished.  Bystander comments filled the spectrum from you did awesome to you're f'ing nuts.



Instead of paying his going rate of $50 bucks, I bought lunch at Limon (the cevicheria, not the rotisserie).  Some good ass grinds there lemme tell ya!  never seen such a huge corn kernel, aka choclo.  Those suckers are jurassic sized and tasty.

well done BOTH! Martin you wouldn't be so friggin cold if you had some FAT on you.

Way cool event.  Excellent report and followup, Gary, and WTG, Martin in your own event and followup here - you're an animal.  Aaron is obviously dialed on participation in what looks like great events all around.  Very well done - thanks for sharing it.   

Great report, Gary - thanks. Yeah, Martin you're right about it being a crazy-@ss sport! Thanks for chiming in and reporting on the other event, too. It sounds like the SoCal event could use your help in the org and implementation!

Dude, you're an animal.

AWESOME shot of Pisc and the bridge.

Sandman, glad to hear last weekend's events went well. That is a great shot of the jumper - I'll have to check out SwimArt's site to see the other photos. Didn't hear about the kayak rolling; easy to do out there, esp. in some SIS yaks.

We live in a special place and have special skills...take advantage of it.

Yep, and these are some very "special" people who do this sport.   

Yakuza's swim across the channel yesterday went smoothly. Of course, that's easy for me to say - I wasn't swimming.

I notified CG Vessel Traffic of our intentions to make sure there wouldn't be any conflicts with ship traffic but really we're more concerned with smaller boats out there. You can see the big boys well in advance and generally know where they're gonna go, but the small boats can come up quick & you never know if they see you or what they're gonna do. Pretty much any jack@ss can zip around in a boat. Doesn't Kingfisher have a PB?   

That pelican was lookin' for an easy meal - it tried to take a bite out of my paddle.

At the end I misjudged (couldn't see it) where the pier fisherman's line was and ran into it. No big deal but it managed to work its way into a carabiner clip at the stern of my boat so I had to do a funky straddle & reach to the back so I could free it. Somehow I did it without taking a dip and I told the guy I'd bring him a fish next time. By the time I got to the take-out, Martin was already hoppin' around on the embarcadero, putting on a show for the ladies.