24 hour Bay Relay
I stood on Alcatraz and sharks circled beneath me. It was cold, gray, and clouds circled overhead. Suddenly, the island rocked and my teammates and I fell helplessly in the water, just as the great whites rose to the surface.
I woke up, in full sweat, on the morning of the 24 hour relay. My fear of swimming at dusk and dawn when sharks feed was coming to light. I’m also afraid of swimming in the dark, not being able to clearly sight your course or have the break of sunshine to warm your back.
This weekend, my Dolphin Club relay team of 9 avid, open water swimmers successfully completed 24 hours of continuous swimming in the Bay.
Our relay consisted of 20–30 minute swimming legs, broken up into 6 swims. For example, I swam at 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 11pm, 2am, 6am. I had about 2–3 hours in between swims to take a shower, sauna, change, eat, and/or nap. In the daylight hours, there was an exuberant energy of 75 swimmers, coming from all across the country, to participate in this event. But at night, after taking a short 30 minute nap, I woke up, slightly delirious — my contacts dried out and not looking forward to leaving my sleeping bag to jump back into the Bay. That’s the toughest part of the relay. You get cold, really cold, and then you take the next hour warming back up again, only to find yourself back in the cold water when you’re half asleep.
My fears of swimming in the dark were assuaged by the Ghirardelli square lights, the support kayaker lit up with glow sticks, and the stream of lights on the Golden Gate Bridge. Every few hundred yards, I saw another blinking light that represented another swimmer, fighting the cold with me.
I won’t lie. It was intense. Diving into the cold water in the pitch black — my lungs tightened up and I felt like I was hyperventilating. It took a few minutes to finally catch my breath and try to orient my course in the dark.
The whole experience, though terrifying at times, was also magical. At 2am, I looked up at the moon and felt comfort in knowing that I was swimming in my hometown. I also swam with amazing members (6 of them are swimming the English Channel as a relay later this year)! Here’s to facing your fears and building BROWN FAT!
