Alcatraz Swim

Sunday, September 8, 1996

“The day dawns, I am here for a purpose.”

This swim was at the suggestion of Bob Brennan, a good friend and real estate broker in New York City.  He kept trying to find people in the Real Estate business that could swim faster than I could. Out of frustration, he said that I could not swim from Alcatraz to the shore, no one could. The myth that it is a hard, cold swim is just that, a myth.  It is not a difficult swim for those that have acclimated to the cold water and have swum in open water.  The prisoners at Alcatraz did neither.  At this point in my career, my third “long” swim, I have not properly prepared for this swim either.

However, with the help of Larry Louie, a good friend in the real estate systems arena, I had help in finding a place to do the Alcatraz swim.

There are two rowing clubs in San Francisco, both next to each other and located inside Marine Park.  The South End Rowing Club holds a race each year as a fund raiser which has two sets of swimmers, one with and one without wet suits. At 7:45, I checked in at the South End Rowing Club and was given number 98.  I then walked down to the main pier and took a boat out “The Rock” with 189 other swimmers as well as numerous officials.  All wet suited individuals (about 40% of the 190 that swam) jumped in first and then the greater fools that wore nothing.

I was the first non-wet suited person in the water from my side of the boat.  I said a prayer and then thought of the Shakespearean quote from Henry V:

 “All things are ready if our minds be so.”

After what seemed like forever, but in actuality about 8 minutes, we heard the whistle start. The water was much choppier than the day before and therefore it was not the easy time that I expected.

I did the swim in 34 minutes 29 seconds - about 25th overall; not too bad for a person who had not swum in open water, cold water, but will have to wait for the final results

When I walked out, I thought of another Shakespearean quote:

Our doubts are traitors,

And make us lose the good we oft might win,

By fearing to attempt.

Overall I am quite pleased with the swim.  This may be the beginning of doing more open water swimming, as swimming in a pool is quite limiting.  I also want to thank Bob lskfjlsf as he paid for the trip and open up all new types of possibilities for me.

Because I was already on the west coast, I paid for an extra day in California.  I Drove down to Carmel / Monterey for the night and a trip to the aquarium.  I did drive down to The Big Sur but did not stay long.  I also drove along the coast a look at Monterey Bay and the Golf Course.  The drive was uneventful except that it was foggy both Sunday afternoon and Monday. But the pictures should be good.