Swimmer Catherine Breed stops in P.G. halfway through her mission to become the first person to swim the entire California coast.

Catherine Breed swam 455 miles through the ocean to get to Pacific Grove on Tuesday, Aug. 25. 

The 33-year-old is on a mission to become the first person to swim the entire length of the California coast, a 900-mile, roughly four-month-long effort supported by a team of people. The effort is called Swim California. She arrived at the southern end of Monterey Bay about 10 days ahead of schedule thanks to her own abilities and a favorable current, and addressed a crowd of more than 100 people at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove to share her story. 

It's a story that includes going to UC Berkeley on a full ride scholarship for swimming, but that captures only her competitive capabilities, not her love for the water. She grew up sailing in San Francisco Bay and loved seeing fish on trips to Pacific islands. After college, she said, she was looking for a different program. 

"I still loved the water but I didn’t want to look at a black line anymore," she said. So she joined the Dolphin Club in San Francisco. Fellow swimmers there encouraged her to try something longer, even though her competitive college sport had been the 200-meter distance. She signed up to swim the 21-mile length of Lake Tahoe and did so well that she broke the overall record. 

Multiple other long-distance open-water records followed, including one she still holds for crossing Monterey Bay from Santa Cruz to Monterey. Her crossing of the North Channel in 50-degree water challenged her to a new level as she swam into whitecaps against 12 knots of wind, taking 11 hours when she expected it would be about nine. 

"I touched Scotland and I had tears in my eyes. I did it, but I didn’t accomplish my goal," she said. "On that swim I learned, you cannot bring hubris into the ocean. You cannot bring your agenda or your plan tot he ocean, you have to surrender and experience it."

That experience helped her adjust her mindset, but did not dampen her ambition. When Breed first raised the idea of Swim California to a friend, she said, that friend helped make it possible. Instead of dismissing it as impossible, she said Breed would need a team and she volunteered to be on the board. 

The expedition launched at the Oregon border on July 1. Breed swims miles offshore, most recently over the Monterey Submarine Canyon, deeper than most marine mammal activity and white shark activity. "We are giving them a wide berth," she said. 

She's swum among dolphins, sea lions, jellyfish and whales. Near Monterey, for the first time an albatross landed on the water near her. 

She swims about 10 miles in four hours per day when the current and wind are cooperative and takes a rest day every seven to 10 days or so. She plans to take multiple rest days in Monterey before heading south along Big Sur, waiting out weather headed that way. 

She will continue south on what she expects will be one of the two toughest stretches of Swim California, alongside isolated stretches of the North Coast. 

The team has learned their limit for a headwind is 12 to 15 knots; for a tailwind it is 25 to 30 knots. They're looking at a 20-knot headwind with no opportunity for safe harbor for their sailboat until they get to San Simeon. 

Breed spoke in P.G. under sunny skies with a flock of pelicans and multiple sea otters as the backdrop. She had to stop her swim earlier than planned that morning due to heavy fog that later lifted.

(Also slowing their pace was the support boat getting stuck in a long crab trap line. U.S. national team swimmer Becca Mann, who is training for the 2028 Olympics and joined Breed for the Monterey Bay portion of the adventure, described untangling them: "I had to go under the boat and get us out of there," she said.) 

On each stop in coastal communities along her journey, Breed is talking about Swim California and her nonprofit, Sea Dreamers, and its mission to get people to experience ocean recreation and develop environmental appreciation. At each stop she is joined by a local partner and in this case, it was the California Coastal Commission, featuring remarks by two local commissioners, Chris Lopez and Ann Notthoff. 

Not every day is clear water and good conditions. A young girl in the audience asked Breed how she feels swimming. She asked for clarification: physically or emotionally? The clarification: "Tired or happy?" 

Breed responded, "The answer is both. There are some days where it’s amazing, like oil-slick flat water. Today I had a friend with me, and I was happy the whole time. 

"There are days where the motivation is not there. The fear is there, the waves are there—they can be up to 7 feet—and it's like swimming in a washing machine."

But she has learned to keep swimming even on those days. "I do it scared," she said. "When you are going after nay goal in life you are not always going to be confident about it or motivated to do it. It’s dedication and consistency matters more."