Today’s Bay Parade swim went super well. It was a beautiful day on the Bay, the water wasn’t too cold (maybe 58 degrees near the Gate, 62-plus in McCovey Cove), and we had a fun bunch of swimmers aboard our boat, comprising two teams: “Flood Tide” (my team) and “Frijoles Frios.”
There was some initial panic over whether we would actually make it to the starting line, as Capt. Mike’s diesel wouldn’t start — the fuel line had worked loose and the engine was full of air. But twenty minutes or so later Mike returned in a borrowed boat, a two-engine trawler much faster than his own sailboat, and we all piled onboard and sped off to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Fifteen or twenty minutes later we were floating under the bridge with twenty or so other boats, waiting for our swim to start.
One of the highlights for me was hanging out with Bob Roper, who set a still-unbroken record for swimming across the Golden Gate decades ago (he did it in slightly more than 17 minutes).
I wore my horn-enhanced swim cap for the final parade leg into the marina, and based on what people were hollering at me, the jury is roughly split on whether I was a unicorn or a narwhal. No photos of that yet, but I promise I’ll share when I have them, along with any photos of me swimming that I’m able to find. In all, my friends helped me raise over $500 for Baykeeper, which will go to help ensuring that the Bay stays clean enough for many future swims like this. Plus, I got this cool insulated swim cap from PBear Caps.