Golden Gate swim

[ChrisM]

Thinking about a GG swim this summer with the 75th anniversary splash and dash race (full disclosure and a peek into my season race planning thought process: I enjoy a nice post-race Ghirardelli's sundae, the Saturday splash and dash date allows me a Sat. evening dessert and just makes me feel better than eating a sundae at 11 on a Sunday afternoon, as synchronous as that might be, by doing the similar but well run Alcatraz Challenge...)

I've done 3 crossings, all went fine. Anyone shed any insight into a GG crossing? I see it's about 1/2 mile longer, but is it the same sort of set up re tides and sighting? Swimming that much closer to the bay entrance (and the farallones) kinda freaks me out

[chaos]

I did the Bob Roper GG swim Aug 1 2009 (and then the Cruz Cruise on Aug 2).
Finished 2nd behind Matthew Davie. It was a small event... <60 swimmers. Probably 50% wetsuits. Nothing to fear.... (or is there?)

I'd highly recommend the GG to Bay Bridge swim as well.

[ChrisM]

I did the Bob Roper GG swim Aug 1 2009 (and then the Cruz Cruise on Aug 2).
Finished 2nd behind Matthew Davie. It was a small event... <60 swimmers. Probably 50% wetsuits. Nothing to fear.... (or is there?)

I'd highly recommend the GG to Bay Bridge swim as well.

I'd like to do the bridge to bridge some day

[ourswimmer]

Anyone shed any insight into a GG crossing? I see it's about 1/2 mile longer, but is it the same sort of set up re tides and sighting? Swimming that much closer to the bay entrance (and the farallones) kinda freaks me out

When I did it (October 2008, I think) we had planned to start at the south tower, but the fog was so heavy that we couldn't start on time. You want to aim just east of the north tower as you swim north, but to do so you need to be able to see the north tower.

We waited around drifting slowly north for a while, but we couldn't wait just forever because we needed to be sure that the slowest swimmers had time to swim out of the main channel before the tide started going out faster than they could swim. Just about when I thought we would have to cancel, the north tower finally did come into view and we went.

I think I swam only about a mile total, which was enough for me at the time because the water was about 53F under the bridge and I was not wearing a wetsuit. I don't remember seeing any wildlife. (The time several other posters here and I swam from the GG Bridge to Crissy Field I recall that we saw some porpoises on our way out; elsewhere in the bay I once met and swam a while with a very nice harbor seal.)

Then we had a bus (one of those fake cable cars) to take us back to the starting point but the driver didn't know how to get back on the bridge so we tooled around the Marin Headlands for a while.

[ChrisM]

Thanks. I am not worried about the wildlife, but something about the open ocean. Thanks for the info. This swim also starts at the south tower then cross underneath as the flood tide comes in. The return is actually a run leg over the bridge back to Aquatic Park

Last year I did an alcatraz swim that was cut a bit short due to fog, which of course immediately lifted once we jumped.