Article in the Mercury News:
'The incredible, wildlife-filled experience of swimming off Alcatraz Island'
Covering the experiences of local swimmers in the Bay Area.
I had a nice quick chat and exchanged a few messages with John Metcalf of the Mercury News for the above article. I've always loved swimming - and swimming in the Bay and around Northern California is just brilliant. It was during the conversation with John that I realized how tough it is to explain the exhilirating feeling of swimming in the Bay. Words betray you - there is fear (of the known and the unknown), apprehension, hypothermia, excitement, euphoria...as Philip Hoare writes in his book - 'RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR' - "Every swim is a little death. But it is also a reminder that you are alive." (Bit dramatic...but it does get the point across.)
I just re-read John's article after I got back from a 3 week trip to Bombay. With the temp hovering around 32C -33C (88F - 90F) and 80% humidity - it felt like 102F! The pool swims were warm - warm water and warmer ambient air temps - ugh! Felt like swimming in a sauna! It was absolutely fantastic to be back in the water in Santa Cruz - cold and calm 52F - brilliant feeling.
As you enter the cold waters - there is a freeze burn, your face and other exposed areas (arms, fingers, toes) are screaming at you. Ah! That sweet, sweet pain! Your breathing is hurried and your heart races. About two minutes in it starts to feel comfortable - the breathing is calmer, the blood has receded from the surface of exposed skin and gone to the core. The freeze burn has dulled to a tingling numbness and the rhythmic strokes splash out a steady beat. You can see the sun rays dissapearing into the deep, there is a sense of calm. The feel of cold salty water - there is a freshness to it. You have managed to control that deep fear of the unknown and are comfortable enough to crack a smile through frozen lips. You are in a happy place....until you brush up against a clump of drifting seaweed! Whoa! Every sense is awake now. It takes a few seconds to relax and get back into the zone. There is wonder in that unpredictability and the ocean never lets you forget!
A quote from John's article.
"Environmental conditions can change in an instant. Rajeev Char, a Sunnyvale swimmer with the nonprofit Team Asha, had to abort a swim last year after getting fogged out. “I could see a mere glow of sunlight over my left shoulder. But out front of us, the city was completely blanketed out in fog and behind us, Alcatraz, too, was blanketed out.”
Every swim in open water is different. I swim around the Santa Cruz wharf almost every Sunday and I can tell you - it is never the same. The weather, water conditions, tides, wild life, the time of the year, water temp, the people you swim with, all play a part in your experience. Every swim is special and is savored. I always take time to stop and take in the sights - float on my back for a bit and just relax - just feel the movement of the water - those waves may have traveled a long distance, enjoy them for a bit.
Another quote from the article.
“I was halfway across and a shadow just zipped right underneath me, and that was terrifying. It zipped underneath me again and it was like, ‘I’m getting out of the water because I don’t want to be somebody’s buffet breakfast,'” says Gary Emich, a Pacifica retiree who’s swum from Alcatraz to San Francisco, Marin, Treasure Island and other landing points a staggering 1,065 times. “Right about then, a little sea-lion pup breached in front of me – it was just being playful and having a good time.”
Indeed, like San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz is also known for its frolicking Sea Lions and Seals - like inquisitive Labradors, they sometimes buzz swimmers. They are wild creatures and we are just visiting their domain, it is best to steer clear and swim wide of their feeding zones. The thought that they (and sharks, Jelly-fish, etc., as well) are out there is never far from my mind when I swim. Probably what Hoare meant when he wrote, 'that little death that makes you feel alive'.
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| Santa Cruz Wharf - swimming past the Sea Lions. (Photo Credit: Michael Peck) |
I have always been passionate about open water swimming - and be it in the open seas, lakes, rivers, we at Team Asha hope to help others fall in love with this activity and pursue it with utmost safety and conditioning.
As Philip Hoare writes in his above mentioned book:
"The ubiquity of the sea - from this grey estuary in which I swim, to the great open oceans - is itself interplanetary, connecting us to the stars, not really part of our world at all. It doesn't begin until it begins, and then it never seems to end. It writes itself in the clouds and the currents, a permanently changing script, inscribing and erasing its own history, held down by air and gravity in a tacit agreement between land and sky, filling the space inbetween. It's a nothingness full of life, home to ninety percent of the earth's biomass, providing sixty per cent of the oxygen we breathe. It is our life-support system, our greater womb. It is forever breaking its own boundaries, always giving and always taking. It is the embodiment of all our paradoxes. Without it we couldn't live, within it we would die. The sea doesn't care."
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| The world is dark, beautiful, deadly, dazzling, and fragile. |
Being able to swim in these waters is indeed a blessing.
Happy & safe swimming!
