As the California coast endured a year of El Niño, hurricane threats, destructive waves and record warm water temperatures, Catherine Breed set out to make history.
At the Oregon border, she got into the water and began a journey to swim the entire stretch of the state coastline — roughly 900 miles.
It took months and required detours around sharks, crab traps, storms and a polluted river.
On Monday, the 33-year-old endurance swimmer emerged from the water after crossing the latitude of the California-Mexico border and became the first person to swim the length of California.
“It just felt emotional,” Breed told The Times on Tuesday, calling from San Diego. “I felt so proud of the team, and definitely a mix of joy but also relief that it was over and we did it successfully.”
Breed technically finished her journey from Oregon to Mexico in private three miles offshore to avoid the sewage and pollution crisis from the Tijuana River.
To cap off the 111-day journey, which began in July, Breed held a celebration at Coronado Beach on Monday. She swam from the open sea toward shore and climbed onto the sand, where guests had been encouraged to “stay dry and cheer loud from the beach.”
Breed was raised in Pleasanton, Calif., and is a UC Berkeley graduate, where she was a member of of the school’s decorated swim team. Knee injuries took her out of college swimming, but after graduating, she started leading long swims in open water, including many in the Bay Area. Soon, she was breaking records and setting her sights on bigger goals.
When Breed spoke to The Times in February, while preparing for the daring journey, she admitted that she was nervous about jellyfish and wind.
In the end, the jellyfish didn’t pose any problems, though she said she did have some “very magical” encounters with dolphins and sea lions.
The weather varied. There were days when it was “amazing,” she said. One of her favorite moments came along the Big Sur coast when she finished her swim for the day and rested aboard the Catalyst — the 52-foot sailboat she lived on during her voyage — as her team jumped into the water and splashed around.
The World Open Water Swimming Assn. had been tracking her progress and described the team members aboard the boat who assisted her and helped navigate the trip.
“The crew studies wind, currents, and the next set of coordinates; launches during the best available window; supports Breed from nearby vessels; and returns to harbor when possible. Afternoons are for meals, meetings, maintenance, and preparation. Bedtime can come before sunset, because the next day starts in darkness,” the association wrote in a dispatch.
Other days were grueling. El Niño “mixed up the water in ways that I don’t think we’ve seen historically,” Breed said. The team navigated tropical storms, hurricanes and the Kelvin wave. She had to swim segments of the route in the reverse direction, going from south to north, to avoid trying to fight the ocean currents, Breed said.
Before you ask: Yes, there were sharks, but Breed said the fins were spotted by her team from so far away that they weren’t “even a part of the swim.” She did say, however, that staying a few miles offshore helped to avoid being mistaken for shark food.
Keeping one to five miles from the shore also helped to avoid man-made obstacles including crab pots. When planning the route, “we didn’t exactly follow every single curvature of the coast,” she said.
Asked whether, having gone through the journey, she would recommend it to others, Breed chuckled.
“Absolutely not,” she said. “What I would recommend to other people is to get in the ocean. … The California coast is so beautiful, and I would recommend people get in the ocean in whatever way feels comfortable to you.
“It doesn’t have to be swimming,” she added. She said she hoped her journey would inspire others to get involved in groups working to protect the ocean.
Back in February, she explained why she planned to devote so much time to this endeavor.
“Probably a lot of people are asking, ‘Why?’ But why did someone climb Mt. Everest? Why do a marathon in Antarctica? Why row across the Pacific Ocean?” she said. “People do these things to inspire others. I hope along the way, I can inspire people to do things that seem hard.”
Her mission completed this week, Breed’s time away from the ocean didn’t last long. On Tuesday, she went surfing at Point Loma.
“It was just nice to not feel tied to time or task,” she said, “to just be out there and enjoy it with friends.”
