Fort Point Swim and Video

As a primer for the Golden Gate crossing next week I signed up for the Dolphin Club's Fort Point swim. It is a 3.5 mile costal swim starting outside the Golden Gate Bridge and finishing at the Dolphin Club. It is the longest and most difficult Dolphin Club swim of the year. Of the over 800 Dolphin Club members, as of Friday afternoon, only 12 had committed to the swim.

I had a tough time sleeping the night before the swim and awoke a few minutes before my alarm rang out a 6 a.m. I flipped on the television to bring some normalcy to the morning. This was a mistake. . .

The more attractive and less poised, weekend announcer read from her tele-prompter in a serious monotone, "A second great white shark was seen at Stinson beach yesterday resulting in a 4-day beach closure. According to scientist, the great whites migrate up the California coast during this time of year and are visible from the surface of the water as they hunt for Seals. If your holiday weekend includes a trip to the beach, stay out of the water."

Immediately awake, I found myself sitting a full attention with the remote in my hand. I thought to myself, "The distance from Stinson Beach to the start of the swim is shorter than the distance from the start of the swim back to the club." After 20 minutes of soul searching I headed out to my car. I knew if I backed out of this swim, I'd likely to back out of the swim next week and I wasn't going to let that happen.

2 hours later I was being tossed around on a small boat just beyond the Golden Gate bridge. There was dense fog on the air and it was cold. If the fog lifted, I would have a clear view of the beach where the two shark had been seen. I stared hard into the fog bank. As we waited to jump into the bay, I scanned the surface of the water for any threats. The water was really rough in the open bay and I was beginning to feel a bit queezy. As the horn sounded, signaling the jump, I was felt really vulnerable. Wide-eyed, I spied the waters around the boat once more.

Out of the dark waters rose a dark black fin. I quickly looked to the aft of the boat and several swimmers were already jumping over board! I turned back and peered again though the foggy window. Two more fins appeared, closer this time. Three fins became, six. . . . it was a pod of dolphins! A swimmers sign that the water is safe! Somewhat reassured, I pressed my goggles against my face and dove over board.

Once in the water, I swam toward the South Tower of the Golden Gate. It was the first time I had been under the Golden Gate and was an exciting preview of things to come. The water was relatively warm for San Francisco Bay, however there were some cold spots. Mentally, I broke the swim up into for distances - the bridge to Crissy Field, then to the Palace of Fine Arts, then to the Yacht Club, then to Aquatic Park.

It was a long hard swim. I felt strong throughout, but had little left when I arrived at the beach. According to my Kobold watch, my total swim time was 1:45. I am really proud of this swim. I was focused and strong throughout.

A very talented and brave paddle surfer from the club took some video of the swim. It is edited and shows bits and pieces of the entire swim.

Video of yesterday's Fort Point swim shot from the surfboard cam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzFzFro109w

Kent Meyer's webpage. . .

web: www.papaya.net
blog: www.papaya.net/wordpress