RTAR: Round Trip Anita Rock

August 08, 2021

RTAR: Round Trip Anita Rock

Swim Report, Today, Sunday, August 8, 2021

Under the watchful eye of kayaker Vanessa, Sarah, Kim, and I dipped our toes in the water and headed out towards the open Bay without much of a snivel. We had our sights set on a westward adventure. The plan was to swim west with the dying ebb (exiting current) and turn around when the current shifted to the flood (filling current). It should have been a wonderful ‘downhill both ways’ kind of swim. Sarah swims the route regularly - me, not so much. When I first asked Sarah about the best start time, she suggested 5:30 a.m. if we didn’t want to fight against the current. Sarah was correct, which was to be expected. We started at 6:30.

When we made the westward turn after exiting Aquatic Park, we could feel a slight flood. The currents had shifted, and we would be headed directly into the building flood. Last week, Kim and I swam a Chas Lap together. It took us 27 minutes to reach the Gas House Cove in a slack current. Today, it took 31 minutes. We had just confirmed the tides had turned.

With Vanessa providing safety coverage, we quickly crossed the harbor entry for the Gas House Cove and fuel filling station. While this only took a minute or two, we could feel the flood’s powers increasing. It wasn’t as if we were swimming in place or even being pushed backward, but, nonetheless, we had to earn every yard of forward progress as we shifted our sighting to our next landmark: San Francisco’s Wave Organ at Coghlan Beach.

The currents seemed to ease on the approach to Coghlan Beach. Truth be told, the harbor next to the Wave Organ blocked the current as each stroke brought us closer. However, when we made the north turn to cross the harbor entrance and round the point at Coghlan, we felt the full force of the current, requiring us to dig deep with each stroke.

I breathe both ways (left and right sides) when I swim. When I’m most mindful of my breathing, it’s three breaths on the left, then three strokes to switch from left side to right side breathing, and then three breaths of the right, rinse, repeat. On my next left breath, I saw Sarah standing on the sandbar's point to the right of the harbor entrance. I decided to try to stand as well. Much to my surprise, I found myself upright in knee-deep water. Kim stood and the three of us walked around the point. We now had our westward destination options in plain sight. We could turn around (not even suggested or discussed) or continue to the ‘B’ buoy in front of the St. Francis Yacht Club. With a quick check-in with my pod mates, we put our heads down and set the ‘B’ buoy in our sights.

We stayed closer to the shoreline, hoping some of the outcroppings and rocks would shelter us from the current. While I could feel the current, it didn’t have an overwhelming power to challenge my mental game or physical abilities. Vanessa’s perch on the kayak allowed her to see the current lines in the water to find a more suitable line/route to pursue. We swam mostly heads down until we approached the ‘B’ buoy. After a quick check-in and noting Sarah had already passed the buoy, Kim and I continued onward to the next landmark. Once again, there was no discussion of turning back. It was a moot point. The decision had been made.

Our next landmark was a channel marker affectionately known as Little Yachty. Other than its name, there’s nothing remarkable about this landmark (or seamark?). With another short regroup at Little Yachty, we pursued our final westward destination: Anita Rock. Anita Rock no longer exists above the surface. Its top was blasted off many years ago and replaced with a concrete channel marker.

Up until this point, making it to Anita Rock had been uttered only in passing, kind of like a nice idea, but not one with commitment. I recall myself saying ‘let’s swim with the current and maybe we’ll make it to Anita Rock.’ Clearly, we had not swum with much of the current for the swim, yet Anita Rock was maybe another ten minutes from our current position at Little Yachty. We had no choice; it must be done.

We continued our westward progress, staying close to the shore as we swam along San Francisco’s Crissy Beach. San Franciscans love to let their dogs run off-leash at Crissy Field. Many dogs can’t resist the opportunity to play fetch, even in the icy cold SF Bay waters. We came across one dog who would have no part of the SF Bay’s 63ºF waters. The owner strongly encouraged (shall we dare say pushed) his dog toward the ball just a few feet offshore. This hound wasn’t budging. Channeling my inner canine, I fetched the ball and brought it back to the dog’s master. He may have offered me words of praise or even a treat for playing so well, but my earplugs prevented me from hearing a word he said. I continued onward.

Finally, we arrived at Anita Rock after swimming for 95 minutes. We stood near the beach; the rock stood another 50 yards offshore. Vanessa not only provided safety support, but she also carried our water bottles and extra feeds packets/GUs. We all had a quick snack and agreed to pod close together to make ourselves more visible to any boat traffic. Staying close made it easier for Vanessa to watch over us as well as allowed us to go a few extra yards offshore in search of the ‘fast’ currents. Truth be told, we podded extremely well and rarely strayed more than a dozen yards apart for most of the swim - exemplary podding at its BEST!

The current found us and swiftly brought us past all the landmarks we passed on the way out - Little Yachty, the B Buoy, and Coghlan beach. While it took us 35 minutes to swim from Coghlan to Anita, it took us only 12 minutes to swim the reverse. We were now deep in the belly of the flood. Unlike on our eastbound leg, the westbound leg was a bit more social. We chatted a bit, commented on the increasing warm spots, and swam with the knowledge we would be completing the swim without an eventful struggle.

Much to my surprise, my stroke seems to suffer when I swim with the current. Vanessa also noticed this as I fell slightly behind Kim (Sarah swims significantly faster than Kim’s and my mere mortal pace. Vanessa had Sarah swimming sprint sets to keep us all together). I’ll need to work on this.

With the winds out of the west and a swell moving east, we experienced the thrilling sensation of some of the larger rollers giving us a push. Not quite like body surfing, but close - tremendous fun.

Our rapid return to Aquatic Park’s cove and the warmer waters brought our swim to a close, notwithstanding navigating through the many swimmers who tend not to sight so much when they swim.

We landed on the beach 145 minutes after we departed. 95 minutes to Anita Rock, 50 minutes back. A most awesome swim, with stellar swim buddies Kim and Sarah and kayaker Vanessa!