RTAI 9.23.23
Mid channel to Alcatraz Round Trip Angel Island (RTAI) A month ago now I was walking out of the water (at about the time I'm starting this post) after swimming 7 hours 50 minutes and 9 seconds in the San Francisco Bay. The course was the famous Round Trip Angel Island , one of the Toughest Thirteen according to MSF. Leading up to this swim I was a nervous wreck. This past summer was especially tough. After a successful, but painful, Portland Bridge Swim I had to cancel my planned Three Islands Waldo Lake route to focus on stroke work with Intrepid Water (more later in this post on my work with Shannon at Intrepid Water) and shoulder recovery. I felt undertrained and like I was still mending when my feet hit the water in Aquatic Park at 3AM on September 23. For all those feelings of trepidation, I made it through- in large part to my crew: Sue Phillips, Wendy "Pepper", Vicky Miller, and Sumner Williams; piloted by Tom "Reptile" Linthicum on the Ghostrid