Swimming With Bait Balls
“Yeah the albacore are running,” said the lifeguard on the beach. “Fishermen are saying that when they pull up the albacore, 6 or 7 squid are pouring out of their mouths. And there are giant bait balls out there. We went out yesterday to fish on our 11-foot kayaks. It was great fishing a few miles out, but the bait balls also bring in the large predators. We saw a 13-foot – at least its shadow was bigger than our kayaks – Great White Sharks. We saw it coming towards the bait ball and us. Right for us. We got out of their way, but it got hairy out there for a while.”
Hairy. Gnarly. Risky. A great adventure to say the least.
And this is precisely where the Night Train Swimmers are swimming on their 228-mile attempt to swim from Gaviota State Park north of Santa Barbara, California to San Diego.
The sextet of swimmers had a rough night of swimming in strong winds that forced them to alter their planned course. for their world record attempt and massive charity swim effort.
The team of Captain Vito Bialla (shown on left) with navigator Hal McCormick and Patrick Horn, together with Phil Cutti, David Holscher, Zach Jirkovsky, Luane Rowe, Blair Cannon, Grace van der Byl, and Walter Scott Bean plans to cover the 228 miles in 80 to 90 hours, swimming non-stop as they raise money for the Navy SEAL Foundation.
The Nighttrain228 can be followed by their SPOT Tracker here.
Copyright © 2013 by Open Water Swimming
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.
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