Long-distance swimmer Catherine Breed has become the first person to swim the length of the entire Californian coastline after cross 900 miles in 111 days.
Her journey took her through extreme weather events, 8 separate shark encounters, and currents that at times were totally against her.
She claims that in addition to being the first person to complete this incredible feat, she's the first swimmer who's ever even attempted it.
Breed has a catalogue of remarkable endurance swims under her wetsuit, including the English Channel and North Channel crossings. In 2022, at age 29, Breed became the first person to swim from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge to Half Moon Bay, a 25-mile swim.
Last year, she finished a swim from Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands, a notorious breeding and hunting ground for sharks.
Yet these are mere kiddy pool distances compared to the effort she recently finished putting in, one which started all the way back on July 1st when she waded out into the waters at the Oregon-California border.
It had taken 3 years of preparation and planning, with the idea being to swim 10 miles a day for 90 days. Yet all that planning couldn't have anticipated the Super El Niño weather event that California has been witnessing this year.
It manifested in multiple tropical storms, punishing waves 7-feet high that made Breed feel she was swimming through "a washing machine," and a huge surge of warm coastal water moving northward as Breed was moving south.
This current created days when progress was minimal. The proud Californian ocean lover spoke to radio station KQED about such experiences.
"You cannot bring hubris or expectations into the ocean—whether you're surfing, spearfishing, sailing or swimming. You can't," she said. "When I get in the ocean, it's a full surrender. You're completely present. Your only job is to put one arm in front of the other and be at peace with whatever the ocean gives you that day."
Yet it wasn't all perils. She swam with sea lions, dolphins, and whales, experienced incredible sunrises and sunsets, and paused every so often to jump on land for a quick lecture on the importance of marine conservation.
On October 19th, she completed the more-than-a-marathon swim, landing on a pier with her support vessel, having passed the California-Mexico border more than 3 miles out to sea to avoid the pollution of the Tijuana River.
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"It is a little bit of an out-of-body experience," she told the Guardian in an interview after she had completed the swim. "Like, I know I'm the one who did it, but there are parts of me where I feel like I'm along with the audience, watching this thing happen. I think I'm still trying to grasp what I've done."
She has repeatedly been quoted as saying that her resolve to accomplish this never-before-accomplished feat of endurance swimming came from a desire to inspire. She hopes others, particularly women and girls, will be inspired to pursue the unlikely and even the impossible off the back of her remarkable swim.
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