His log – presented in an Excel spreadsheet – provides information on each and every Alcatraz swim he has ever done – in order with the data, length of the swim, water temperature, start time and comparison of start time relative to the high and low tides, maximum ebb or flood current and the slack tide (i.e. when the current stops flowing one way and begins to reverse), as well as his comments.
His record-keeping and diligence is an outstanding bit of record-keeping to share with the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and the rest of the global open water swimming community, although Gary is low-key and humble about his intentions. “I never intended it to be for publication – it was just my way of (1) documenting my swims, and (2) giving me a historical reference so that if I were going to do another swim under similar tidal conditions I’d at least know what happened previously.”
What is amazing is that he grouped into 15 different categories and routes, proving he really knows his stuff out there in San Francisco Bay.
For example, on his swim #35 on April 23rd 1999, he swam for 40 minutes and 49 seconds in 55.0F water with a start time of 10:16 am which was 2 hours 49 minutes before high tide (a 5.1 foot difference between the high tide and the low tide that day), 1 hour and 10 minutes before the max 3.6 knot ebb tide, and 5 hours and 17 minutes before slack (i.e., the beginning of the incoming 3.3 knot flood).
Details, details, those are the little things that make experienced open water swimmers great – whether it is the thought-process behind their pre-race planning, their concentration on their stroke techniques or the subtle ways they can utilize the power of tides, waves and surface chop.
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.