Bridge to Bridge Swim 10k, San Francisco

You had me at "current assist." Yeah the distance between the Golden Gate Bridge and the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge is 10k/6.4 miles-ish, but timed to swim inland on a moderate flood tide you get a nice little ride. For bigger tidal exchanges you get an even faster ride! 

The COVID-19 scare was just setting in when we did this swim--March 8, 2020. Initially it was to be four Seattle swimmers on a charter with SF's The Pacific Open Water Swim Co. Fees were paid, flights were purchased and hotels were booked. The very swimmer who initiated this idea ended no going on the swim and stayed in Seattle with concerns about the pandemic. The other three of wanted to jump on the chance to do this swim before we were mandated to quarantine, which is exactly what would follow weeks later. 

Swimmers Clare O'Connell, Mitchel Schoenfeld and I piled into an Uber and made our way from the wharf to Sausalito in still dark morning. We had our flight carry-ons and the boat crew protested it was too much to bring aboard. Lucky for us a local swimmer, Ashley Davis, had taken the fourth spot and she let us stow our stuff in her parked car at the dock. Within minutes we'd go through the safety briefing and jump overboard right smack under the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun was coming up. 

The water was 53f under calm conditions. We really got lucky; I've been in that Bay when it's a mess and then it just becomes combat style swimming. On this day, clear visibility and no wind so you could converse with the other swimmers. Ashley and I were well paced. Mitchel and Clare weren't far behind, and we all successfully finished. The segment from GG to Alcatraz, Ashley and I made it in just 37 minutes on that tide flooding (that's like 3 miles--crazy fast). We also whizzed past the buoy and squealed in our race to touch it. Ashley actually thought it was coming AT her at first--she even said "it's coming to me!"). The bend to the SF Bay bridge was much more work on our own power. 

Bryan (Pacific OW Swim co pilot) directed us out of some sticky eddys, Ashley and I chased and tapped another buoy with bell, and we made our way to the finish. Just 1 hour and 49 minutes in, we made it! That's a little more than my 5k time without a wetsuit in fresh water (and no current assist), so I was delighted.

Let's do it again!