Catherine Breed, 33, has completed a roughly 900-mile (nearly 1,450-kilometer) swim along the entire California coast. The Swim California expedition began July 1 of this year at the Oregon border and ended in October at the Mexican border. The journey took her 111 days. According to the organizers, it is the first achievement of its kind in the history of long-distance swimming, though official confirmation still requires a review of the documentation.
Breed covered the route in stages, supported by a boat and a crew responsible for navigation and safety. Each segment was documented with GPS devices, and each new stage began where the previous one ended. The swimmer made her way along the northern California coast, passed the Golden Gate Bridge, swam across Monterey Bay, along Big Sur and around Point Conception. She then continued along the Southern California coast toward the Mexican border.
The biggest challenges were changeable weather, strong ocean currents and rough waves. On some stretches, the team had to wait a long time for conditions to improve. Before swimming along Big Sur, the crew stopped in Monterey Bay, and after resuming the expedition, Breed covered an average of more than 10 miles a day. Limited opportunities to rest, irregular sleep and the need for daily recovery also made the swim difficult. The swimmer admitted that the expedition was more demanding than she had initially expected, and that the support of her crew and of people following her progress helped her get through the hardest moments.
During the journey, the 33-year-old had the chance to observe marine wildlife up close. Among other things, she described a humpback whale and its calf swimming beneath her, as well as dolphins that accompanied her on some stretches. She also drew attention to ocean pollution, including plastic debris floating on the surface of the water.
“I’ve loved this coast my whole life. Swimming it gave me hundreds of new reasons to protect it,” she said.
Catherine Breed is a former University of California, Berkeley, swimmer and a two-time Pan American Games gold medalist. She has previously set open-water swimming records, including in Lake Tahoe and Monterey Bay. To prepare for Swim California, she quit her job in medical technology sales.
Editor: JŁ
