The Great Catalina Swims (9/23/01)

We closed the official View Ocean Race Season with the Great Catalina 5K and One Mile Swims. As I always say, a great time was had by all! Of course, the Catalina swims have not only a swimming leg, or legs for the macho among us, but also the very challenging, at least for some of us, boatride to and from the island. A merry group of Bill I. Katherine I., Peter O'K, John J. and I made our merry way to the merry Catalina Express 8:45am out of Long Beach. Yes, farther away from the Westside than San Pedro I know, and I had to convince the operator making the boat reservations that yes, I did want the Long Beach rather than the San Pedro boat, but as casting off from San Pedro probably meant a 6:45am start, we opted for the later boat.

We boarded the boat, stowed our swimbags in steerage, and peered jealously into the Commodore level area. We third class swimmers were quickly waved away by the stewards but not before we spied Mac and Pat enjoying the luxury of first class. The helicopter had not taken off because of fog so they stooped to riding the slower hovercraft. They deigned to wave at us as they enjoyed their caviar and champagne (well, actually it was powerbars and gatorade but why not use a little poetic license?). To be honest though, we lower class passengers had a whole lot more fun! Peter regaled us with tales of one of his favorite movies - On the Waterfront (which seemed very apropos) - he is a movie buff indeed.

Having snagged a taxi-ride by the high-rolling Mac and Pat, we arrived at the swim start just past the old casino none the worse for wear. The day had turned into a delightfully sunny example of Southern California. Much to my enjoyment, I was enlisted to help Mac put on his suit. Of course, helping Mac take off his suit is another story and another type of webpage as I always say. Tom K., the originator of the great Catalina Swims to whom we are all most thankful, gave instructions to the 5K swimmers, and the swimmers listened intently, making Clay very jealous. The lifeguards readied themselves for the event (a big thankyou to all the lifeguards who helped at our swims throughout this whole summer), and the race began with a water start.

SCAQer after fast SCAQer braved the rather long course and finished strong. As usual, in an amazing upset, Alex K. led the field, closely followed by our own Dawn Heckman. Pat sailed in at 7th, with John J. just behind, having hung onto Pat's feet for the entire race, a brilliant strategy. Jeni Buys from down South was 10th overall and the second woman to cross the line. Peter O'K, in his first ever 5K oceanrace (he has been inspired by the MSR no doubt!), finished lucky 13th. Other SCAQers who did well were Mac, Auggie and Robert. Our new friends (see below) Sherry K. and Ellen S. wowed the crowd. Ann Finley also did very well, winning her competitive agegroup.

And why oh why you ask, do I not have the exact finishing places and times? Well, again due to a lack of dependable help (they had already assigned the very able Kirsten from the SCAQ office the challenging task of timing the racers - a task which she excelled at I might add, Peggy was busy with check-in, and all the other excellent SCAQ staff were as busy as could be), Clay and Tom had to depend on me to greet the swimmers and give them a flimsy (at least when wet) number from a large number dispenser (like at a deli). This is more difficult than it sounds, and yes, ten years of college definitely came in useful, especially given the fact the finish was very rocky so one had to help the swimmers in from a standing water-finish, plus one had both 5K and one-milers finishing at the same time, plus one had swimmers cramping all over the place due to the challenging swim. So I did my best, and yes that's my dorky green hat again - believe me, it's very stylish for a statistician!

The one mile took off about 1.5 hours after the 5K with some 5K swimmers still in the water braving the elements. Our very own Bill Ireland did very well, as did Jerry. The extremely fast Lyle won his agegroup in both swims, thereby clinching the overall position in the View Ocean Race Series, snatching a victory from handsome SCAQers Bill and Tracy.

The boatride home was livened up by our new friends Sherry K. and Ellen S., who a graced a Handsome Men and Beautiful Women photo along with Jeni and Peter O'K. Nightmares of cold and trying swims were replaced by bravado and warm memories of beers bought by Bill on the boat - well if truth be told they were actually just offered by as no one took Bill up on the offer as SCAQers clearly follow the "our bodies are our temples philosophy," at least during ocean race season! - so that even Peter vowed to do both swims next year!

And so closes another oceanrace season oceanswimming buddies just in the nick of time. A special thank you to all my able field reporters, and those of you who submitted photos and race news. And a big thank you to my readers for their patience at trying to understand my statistical sense of humor. Now even if you haven't managed to swim in a View ocean race, there's still time to take a splash in the blue Pacific before it gets too cold - I'll see you there next weekend oceanswimming buddies!