Treasure Island to ??????

It started like this.  

Yakuza, “Hey you free on Saturday?”  

Pisciform, “Yeah.  I’m skipping HMB. You?”

Yakuza, “Can you guide me on a swim from treasure island to embarcadero?”
 
Pisciform, “Sure.”

Aaron, me, and my friend HT climbed the seawall at TI and put in ~ 1000 hrs on Sat.  Our destination was a ramp at Howard and Embarcadero near the Bow and Arrow.  We shoulda vectored toward Coit Tower  if we were to have any chance of beating the current .  It was not to be.  HT could not figure out how to paddle straight to save her life, doing GD circles.  She also accidentally switched the radio to WC2.  So our comms were f’d.  

I had to stop swimming so she could rally up.  Next thing I know, I’m staring northbound at the Bay Bridge a mile away.  it literally happened in what felt like a blink.  Thought we might try and get some break behind the big tower.  It wasn’t gonna happen.  



F’it, head down, just keep swimming.  Felt like I was on an aquatic treadmill.



I think I’m telling them here that at the rate we’re going, we’re gonna end up in Oyster Point.  Either that or Aaron’s telling me he picked up chatter about Halibut getting caught at ARW.



Ended up just north of ATT Park, and FINALLY got out of the vicious current.  



I had to climb out onto Aaron’s bow for a breather, but then got REALLY cold, major afterdrop.  My arms felt like noodles and I was COLD, but I figured F’it, just keep moving, slid back in.



FINALLY made to the ramp.  The look on people’s faces was pretty hilarious!  What shoulda been a leisurely 1.7 mi/ 50 minute swim turned out to something like a ~3.5 mi swim/ 2.2 hour death slog.  The GPS I stashed on Aaron’s boat showed 4.8 mi, but I’m thinking he backtracked for extra mileage to rally with HT at times, and I didn’t cover that mileage.  

Here's what I think our route was.  My estimated route below.



Good times.  Thanks again to Aaron for watching out for me, and helping HT cross from TI.  Gonna take a couple days off after this one.

Which way is home again??   



thanks again Aaron.  You're a lifesaver, literally.

and people think we are nuts for sitting ON the water in tupperware

cold hard swimmin there

yakuza i am in awe, glad everything came out well, cameron

Brrrr!!! How long were you in the water?

   That route diagram is about right on!

This is why we check tides & wx before we go out! Example of what not to do:  perfectly time a swimmer to be smack in the middle of the shipping channel at max flood of a fairly big tide!

Good times - a decent paddle for me; a hellacious swim for fish-boy.

In reality we were aware of the tide & everything went smoothly other than being a little off course & Martin getting a slightly bigger workout than planned.    Precautions were in place and plan B, C, D & E were always in mind. In fact, I was more concerned with HT doing donuts in the shipping channel than anything else! Some kayak technical issues but even that was brief and trouble averted.

Turned out to be a nice couple hours on the bay . . . paddling, that is. You won't catch me swimming in there.  


Sturgeon water


Doin' great, Yakuza. Wrong side of the bridge, but doin' great...


Dang seal, get off my bow.     Jerry, where are you...?


Menace.


We're OK, I swear!


Sails are no match against HT's high paddle stroke.


Pelicans, Third St Bridge & some other landmark...


Captain Stubing & Julie have a suite at the W; Gopher is staying with a "friend" while the Pacific Princess is in drydock...

Hey man, good times. You're crazy!

Don't tell me Aaron spent all that time on the water without dropping a line.............?

Here I am, thinking I should start walking at lunch or something...  While Yakuza is swimming the Bay...  sheesh.

I wonder how many calories you burned that day?  Just being that cold for that long, I'm sure you burned thousands...  not including the workout!

Here I am, thinking I should start walking at lunch or something...  While Yakuza is swimming the Bay...  sheesh.

Ya, really. Kind of puts your aspirations on trial doesn't it?   

Thanks for the story, that's pretty impressive.

Ben

Wow!!! That's a haul and a half... BTW, what was the reason for the swim. Training for something big or just for the hell of it... or was the local pool closed. That's nuts man.

Freddie

Excellent effort, Martin.  I only wish I was strong enough of a swimmer to even attempt something like that.  If you ever wanna try that again sometime and need yak support, hit me up.

Question.... Why in the hell was HT trying to paddle instead of pedaling your Hobie Adventure?

Is it possible that she was going in circles because she had the rudder down? 

Wow...people do that for FUN?!  

Question.... Why in the hell was HT trying to paddle instead of pedaling your Hobie Adventure?

Is it possible that she was going in circles because she had the rudder down? 

Ya noticed that, huh?!?!  I'll take the liberty of answering. The drive kept popping up every time she tried to pedal - maybe older drives/newer boats & vice versa are incompatible? Whatever the reason, it wouldn't lock in so she had to paddle . . . and she was a little inexperienced.

And yep, the rudder had to play tricks also, just to keep it interesting. It wouldn't pull all the way up & stay put with the levers so we had to manually strap it up, but not 'til she'd done a few complete round robins in the current. A trooper, she is!

I heard Canada has reformed their healthcare system such that everyone gets taken care of, even undocumented immigrants who happen to be patent attorneys.  I'm swimming to Hong Couver to get a mole removed. 

(READ: I'm racing the TI2Y crossing this Saturday, a benefit event for Youth Chance High School)  http://www.ymcasf.org/Embarcadero/index.html.

I can't wait for this swim to be over so i can ease up training.  I'm pretty waterlogged.

Is it possible that she was going in circles because she had the rudder down? 

Initially that's what happened.  She was like, why aren't I going straight?!  Just south of the bridge, i looked back and she was pointing toward ARW.  When I saw that, I was like  .  She's a pretty tough chick though and managed to right the ship.

We retracted the rudder early but it kept dropping for whatever reason.  Probably user error.  Ultimately had to lash it in place, but in a funny angle.  Later when I was washing the boat down, it retracted and folded fine.