Midway through attempt to become first person to swim the entire California coast, Catherine Breed to stop in P.G.

Catherine Breed is nearly halfway through her attempt to become the first person ever to swim the 900-mile California coast, as of this writing at 10:30am somewhere near Moss Landing, miles offshore and heading south from Santa Cruz across Monterey Bay. She so far logged 434.7 miles and counting. 

Her project, Swim California, includes various stops along the way. On Saturday, she made an appearance in Santa Cruz to talk about the effort. She was originally scheduled to appear in Monterey on Sept. 3, but thanks to currents and some longer-than-expected days in the water, Breed is more than a week ahead of schedule—she will appear at 4pm on Tuesday, Aug. 25 at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove. (Free tickets are now available by RSVPing online.) 

"Each stop along Swim California is an opportunity to shine a light on the organizations and individuals protecting California’s coastline," according to a press release. In Santa Cruz, she was accompanied by Save the Waves. In P.G. on Tuesday, she will team up with the California Coastal Commission in honor of the 50th anniversary of the California Coastal Act, which protects public access to the coast. 

Breed holds the record as the fastest person to swim across Monterey Bay, a benchmark she does not expect to approach on this stretch of her 900-mile-long swim. She is joined on this stretch by Becca Mann, an eight-time USA Swimming National Team member.

(According to a video post by Breed—who keeps her followers updated on social media about her journey between shore stops—Mann wore a T-shirt to slow her down so they could be better matched on pace during their shared Monterey Bay swim on Sunday, Aug. 23—day 54 for Breed, day one for Mann. Mann is also expected to join the event at Hopkins on Tuesday.) 

Breed, of San Francisco, recounted arriving in familiar territory of Monterey Bay. "It feels amazing that we made it," she said. "I have swam Monterey Bay."

As she arrived parallel to Año Nuevo north of Santa Cruz, she hit the 400-mile milestone. "At the 400-mile mark, we had a big raft of sea lions come and hung out with me," she said. "It was dolphins at 200."

She is swimming roughly four miles offshore, further out than much of the near-shore wildlife activity. The team reports they have not observed any sharks. 

"The shark thing is concerning especially as we're in the red triangle, and approaching October, but we are so far offshore," Breed said. "I am tucked in between two big boats." 

(Side note: The team accompanying her on the journey include two Brits who are especially eager to try In-N-Out during the expedition.) 

Next up, Breed said, "We will be on our way to the final really, really big challenge, which is going to be the Big Sur coast."

At this point in the journey, she added, her support team has dialed in what works for rugged stretches (like the North Coast) and she feels prepared. She deliberately started slow to avoid injury, but other factors impacting daily progress are currents and wind. 

The stretch arriving in Monterey Bay has been fast-paced. "We're just moving really fast down the coast," Breed said. "I am proud of how we're having fun."

Not every day is fun, Breed told the podcast PowHERful. "Every day I am a little bit scared…There are days when I am terrified and I do it anyway. Being scared, doesn't mean you shouldn't try."