Amy Appelhans Gubser made open water swimming history last month in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The 55-year-old UCSF nurse became the first person to swim from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands 29.7 miles away, a remarkable feat that took 17 hours while fighting through cold, shark-infested waters.
A former University of Michigan swimmer (1986-90), Appelhans Gubser had completed other marathon swims before such as the Strait of Gibraltar, the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland and locally to Angel Island and back. But the outbound Farallon Islands is unique in that it requires going against the currents for so long. Only five people had previously completed the trek in the inbound direction, from the Farallons to the Golden Gate.
“I trained at Aquatic Park to get exposure to the cold water and swim against currents,” said Appelhans Gubser, a grandmother of two with a third on the way. “I’m a South End member, I’ve done the Burlingame Masters – you can’t take a swim lightly, it’s a big swim.”
Appelhans Gubser encountered several seals on her journey, but fortunately, no sharks. The Farallons are home to some of the biggest great white sharks in the world, but most of them don’t migrate to the islands for a couple months.
“The elephant in the room is white sharks, and they were in the back of my mind at all times during the swim,” she told Outside Magazine. “We didn’t take the shark thing lightly—I had a savvy crew that kept watch for them from a boat and kayak. They were ready to jump into the water to help me if I needed, but we had no shark sightings the whole time.”
Appelhans Gubser was joined by a support crew featuring captain Chad Dahlberg, John Chapman, Abby Fairman, Kirk McKinney, Ken Mignosa, Sarah Roberts, and John Sims. They monitored surface currents for three months before the conditions aligned on May 11.
“As a pool swimmer, you’re following time intervals but you never see how much distance you’ve actually covered,” Appelhans Gubser said. “When you do open-water swimming you can look across a body of water and see where you’ve come from. It’s so much more profound. In pool swimming you’re going for time, but in open-water swimming time doesn’t mater because you’re up against so many elements you cannot control. Your job is just to persevere so you can eventually break through. I like that.”
You check out footage from their voyage here, courtesy of the Marathon Swimming Federation.
Amy Gubser waited years for conditions to be just right. We’d chat in San Francisco’s South End Rowing Club locker room (where else?) about yet another date delayed due to conditions; it seemed to be mostly the winds.
She has unmatched tenacity, grit, talent, and enough knowledge about the body and swimming to fill the ocean she swam in.
I agree that the waters aren’t “shark infested” – sharks just happen to make a living in the area Amy swam in.
We should also tsk-tsk the media for opening their story with her role as grandmother. Have you ever heard of a male elite athlete being introduced in the first sentence – even the headline – as a grandpa?… Read more »
hi am lily!
Woohoo! Go Amy!
Aloha
I have a trophy, won by my father. Of the Stanford swim team, from 1926.
He was the first to finish, ironically, his brother who was his escort, lost him in the fog. My dad beat his brother to the finish line. Small bit of swimming trivia.
👏👏👏👏👏Congratulations, Amy! You rock and rule!👏👏👏👏👏
Unbelievable swim. Anyone that’s done any type of significant ow swimming can appreciate the magnitude of this achievement. Congratulations!
A remarkable achievement, Amy. Well done!
Just to pick nits for a minute: I always bristle at the idea of “shark-infested waters.” Technically, it’s the sharks’ home. If we choose to venture into it, we are the ones out of place.
that is some cold water