Piloting Alcatraz

Epic? Hardly

Exciting? Definitely

Intrepid swimmer powers to San Francisco. 📸Jeff Cooperman

With an anticipated 3.7 Ebbzilla coming off a 1.7 flood, we had a short time window to cross the Alcatraz Channel. If we started too soon, the flood would push the swimmers past Pier 39 until the ebb would bring the swimmers home to Aquatic Park. If we started too late, the ebb would overcome even the strongest swimmers, pushing them out the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Pilots briefing the swimmings on safety, conditions, and route. 📸Jeff Cooperman

Conditions could not have been better motoring to Alcatraz. Flatwater, light winds, and minimal current allowed our rigid inflatable boats (RIBSs) to speed across the 1.25-mile channel. As we prepared to jump, vessel traffic informed us we had 25 minutes to clear the island before a 900’ oil tanker would be abeam of Alcatraz. Given the varied abilities and speed of the 18 swimmers, we jumped on the east side of the island with sighting guidance for the SS Jeremiah O'Brien moored at Fisherman's Wharf. The east side was the most cautious and conservative option.

Preparing to Splash. 📸Jeff Cooperman

The swimmers quickly put distance between themselves and Alcatraz. For the most part, they stayed as a single pod for the first ten minutes. And then the flood came back from the dead. One strong swimmer with fins maintained his line to the Jeremiah O'Brien (JOB). Another swimmer, a former olympian, effortlessly backstroked her way across the Bay. The rest of the pod turned into a fleeting flock. Rapidly they separated and spread wide across the channel. As the resurgent flood fought to its fiery death, the swimmers got pushed to the east, along the San Francisco city front. 

Sharing the Alcatraz Channel with a tanker. 📸me

Swimmer by swimmer, stroke by stroke, everyone crossed the channel. Although our target landing was at Aquatic Park, we had been pushed a mile east with the flood. Panic did not ensue, nerves stayed calm, and the cold penetrated the essence of even our heartiest swimmers. Finally, when we approached the shoreline abeam of Pier 39, the ebb showed up. Not Ebbzilla, but her younger sibling, Ebb-light. This particular ebb had tremendous room for improvement. While not making the return a completely honest/current-free Pier 39 swim, it helped all our swimmers make it back to AP. Fifteen of our intrepid Sunrisers returned through the opening with the remaining three sneaking in through the back door inside the Creakers.

 

Clouds ominously forbode the adventure across the Alcatraz channel. 📸Jeff Cooperman 

Everyone completed the swim from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park. The luckiest of our Sunrisers got to enjoy an extra bonus swim past Pier 39.

Exciting? Definitely

Awesome? Absolutely!

GPS Track from a swimmer with more than 1000 Alcatraz Crossings