Check out the kid from the Peninsula; raising big bucks for the hurricane victims.
If he beats my Alcatraz PB I’m quitting this sport for good.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY
Boy, 9, takes last laps, cold showers before Alcatraz swim attempt
- Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 8, 2005
It was 62 degrees Friday in San Francisco Bay, just the right temperature for a good time.
Johnny Wilson, a 9-year-old boy who likes his water very cold, was getting in one final training swim before glory summons him Monday.
"This is nothing,‘’ he said, after taking a few strokes in the blustery, billowy bay just west of the St. Francis Yacht Club. "This is easy. This is just the way I like it.‘’
Johnny, a fourth-grader from Hillsborough, is trying to become the youngest person ever to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco. It’s going to be easy, he said. Nothing to it.
"I like swimming in the bay,‘’ he said. "I like it when the waves crash down on you. I like the seals. The waves pick you up, and they drop you down. Bring it on!‘’
On Monday, the waves were picking him up and dropping him down quite a bit. It’s all good training, said his swim coach Rick Murray, who mentioned to Johnny a few months ago that he was surely a better swimmer than the 11-year-old boy who set the record in 1994. That got Johnny splashing harder than ever.
Then, two weeks ago, a 10-year-old girl established a new mark by making the 1.4-mile swim. Johnny and his parents figured he had to get his swim into the books before his next birthday, which is coming up in a few weeks, so he cranked up the training.
Johnny knows all the lore about Alcatraz. He knows that several escaping Alcatraz prisoners who managed to make it to the bay and then failed in their attempted swims to freedom were unprepared for the cold water, because the prison deliberately allowed them only hot showers.
"I take cold showers,‘’ Johnny said. "I like to see how cold I can stand it. It leaves you energized.‘’
On the shore, his beaming parents watched their son’s final training swim with clear eyes and just the slightest apprehension. His mom, Leslie, who was bundled up in her ski parka against the afternoon breeze while her son stood bare-chested, freely admits she worries about one thing in particular.
"Sharks,‘’ she said. "I always ask people if they’ve seen sharks. They tell me there haven’t been any shark sightings, but I keep looking anyway.‘’
On Monday morning, shortly after sunrise, Johnny will catch a boat to Alcatraz, jump off into the water at slack tide and swim back to Aquatic Park. He figures it will take a little less than an hour. Then, he will go to work collecting on the donation pledges – he’s trying to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims, and he has already hit his friends up for $30,000 worth.
Anyway, Johnny said, swimming in the bay is tough work, but it really doesn’t take all that long to do it. The hardest thing he’s done lately, he said, is read the entire series of Harry Potter novels.
"I just finished the sixth one,‘’ he said. "They’re really long. That’s hard work. It’s not like swimming.‘’
E-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein@sfchronicle.com.
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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/08/BAGGRF4ASM1.DTL
