Alcatraz Adventure
Greetings from San Francisco
We have had an absolute blast this weekend and may have found our “team travel trip” to do each year. Ten team members swam the 1.5 miles from Alcatraz Island to the shores of San Francisco this past Saturday. Each swimmer brought along their spouse/family/friends and made it a 3 day weekend. All the kids got left at home except Susan had to bring her 2 little tagalongs.
Everyone arrived between Thursday and Friday afternoon. After checking into their respective hotels, we had a team dinner Friday night. Eating at a wonderful restaurant in Ghirardelli Square that overlooked the beach finish area and out to Alcatraz, we had a wonderful meal, full of nerves and laughter. We watched as the sun set down and the night lights of the surrounding area come up. We didn’t to take a group picture because Henry wasn’t able to join us.
Up at 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning to check in at the beach, we were given numbers, shirts, ear plugs, and bags for clothes. Nobody ate too much because we were all way too nervous to stomach anything. A briefing meeting gave us last minute info as to the tides and we then headed off to Pier 39. We tried to take a team picture before we left, but we couldn’t find Brent and Randall.
Walking down the main drag of Fisherman’s Wharf, there were plenty of people up early to cheer us on. We stopped as our families waited to take a team picture, but we were missing Wendell and Suzanne. We walked past the Sour Dough Factory, where they were already baking away. Wonderful smells came out that building! As we turned up Pier 39, there was a bag pipe player herding everyone on board, onto a Blue and Gold Fleet boat that held all 600 of us. We sat together on the upper deck and talked about last minute issues.
In the meantime, our family and friends chartered a private boat and headed out into the harbor ahead of us to get a great view of the start. They then were able to follow the swimmers for a good portion of the swim.
As we heading down to the lower level of the boat prior to the start, Chase and Colton squeaked themselves to the front, with the rest of us were happy to hang back and watch the others head out the open doors in groups of three. It was a great site to have all those people with black bodies and yellow heads, all filled with anticipation. As our time came up, Susan, Suzanne and Wendell held hands and jumped off the boat together. Brent, Randall and Glenn were right behind them, but shied away from the hand holding part. Hitting the water, came the jolt of cold water on your feet, hands and face but it wasn’t as bad as we had prepared ourselves for and off we swam.
As our families watched from the chartered boat, we all looked like rats jumping to our deaths off a cliff. Colton and Chase took off and were in the lead pack of 20 people. The rest of us found our way slowly across the bay. For having 600 people in the water, all of us felt we were alone, with very few people swimming nearby. We sighted off of 2 towers that were just off shore. Swimming with a wetsuit was odd, very hard to kick your feet, but warm, warm, warm. We all wore ear plugs and some wore 2 caps. It was kinds like sensory deprivation, no hearing, limited sight, and no tactile feeling of your body against the water. Glenn was the only brave sole who went without a wetsuit. The water was 63, but he really felt fine during the swim.
It was great to swim a few minutes and then turn around and check out Alcatraz Island and see how tremendously huge it was from the water level. San Francisco looked so far away and had a light layer of fog hanging over the buildings. The water was good, maybe 2 foot swells. But those swells could turn you in a second and head you in the wrong direction. The middle of the bay was a bit rougher, but as long as you stayed relaxed and long, it was pretty easy to float along. Finally we could see the yellow buoy of the entrance to the beach park. Your feet kicked a bit more and the excitement built as you came closer and closer to shore.
Our finish times may not have been accurate, (a problem with the chips) but that wasn’t why we did the swim. We all had a fantastic time and experience and all agreed that we wanted to do it again. Finishing in the top 100 overall were Brent, Randall, and Henry. Wendell finished more than 40 minutes in front of the final finisher. Susan finished 12th overall female with a wetsuit. Chase was 5th place overall and Colton was the race winner with a time of 25:48. The next closest swimmer was more than :45 seconds behind him!
Running up the beach, to the cheers of the crowd, we were all given a finishers medal. Our families had been dropped off near the beach and were able to get around the pier to watch the swimmers as they headed into shore. We wanted to take a team picture, but after deciding that Scott had drowned at sea, took one with the surviving members. (I guess by now you can guess it was kinda like herding cats for the team photo.)
Afterwards, a pancake breakfast was served to the swimmers while 3 kegs of beer were pouring in the back room for anyone who needed a little warming up.
The rest of Saturday, Sunday and Monday was spent enjoying the 73 degree sunny days that San Francisco offered. Scott rode the trolley and Brent and Randall rode bikes up to the Golden Gate bridge. Colton was the toast of the restaurant “Joanie’s” for his first place finish. Wendell set out walking and took in some of the famous streets that are in the hills just above Fisherman’s Wharf. Chuck and Judy went to the Exploratorium, while Glenn checked out the sea lions at Pier 39. Suzanne bought souvenirs to bring home to the girls. Henry’s foursome enjoyed some of the fantastic restaurants in the area. Chase was pulled in to be part of a magicians street show. The Ingrahams drove out to Half Moon Bay to watch the sun set over the ocean.
Placed on our pillows at the Argonaut Hotel, were quotes for the day. On the night before the race, was the saying, “Do not go where the path may lead, but go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” I think that we all did that in our own way, while doing something that we were not sure we could do. Memories to take home with us and pictures to share, we all agreed it was a wonderful trip and look forward to doing it again.
Catch ya’ in the water,
Susan