30 miles west of San Francisco, the stretch of misery throws up barriers like few other places on Earth: rough water, cold water, jellyfish, tides, currents, the darkness of night and Great White Sharks.
This week, mighty Joe Locke kicks off the Northern Hemisphere channel season with an early attempt to swim from the Golden Gate Bridge to the desolate islands Susan Casey called the Devil’s Teeth.
Months before his colleagues take to the English Channel and Catalina Channel, Joe will push off under the Golden Gate Bridge and will be piloted 30 miles to the west by Vito Bialla and supported a hardy band of Night Train Swimmers.
Stay tuned.
Photo above shows the conditions this morning near the push-off point.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.