A Breed Apart: Cal Alum Set to Swim the 900-Mile California Coast

Catherine Breed was a distance freestyle specialist on the Cal women’s swim team, which involved races up to 1,650 yards — nearly a mile. That doesn’t compare to what she’s done since as a world-class, open-water marathon swimmer.

Breed became the first person to negotiate the 21 miles across Lake Tahoe in less than nine hours. She swam the 25-plus miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to Half Moon Bay. And she set the speed record for the 30-mile distance from the Farallon Islands to San Francisco.

Her next adventure is something altogether different.

Something no one has achieved.

On or about July 1, the 33-year-year old will enter the Pacific Ocean off the shore at Crissey Field State Park, just south of Brookings, Ore.

For the next three to four months, she will swim four to six hours a day until reaching the the southern border of California, west of where Mexico’s Tijuana River spills into the ocean.

Her bold ambition: To become the first person to swim the 900-mile coastal length of California.

“No one’s been crazy enough to try it,” she said, with a laugh.

Breed, who grew up in Pleasanton and resides in Mill Valley, has been thinking about what she calls Swim California for nearly five years. She’s been meticulously planning it since the end of 2023.

The reactions of others to her unprecedented — and potentially dangerous — enterprise run the gamut.

Breed said her mother suggested taking on the challenge in small segments over, perhaps, 10 years. Her swimmer friends are unanimously unsurprised and have mostly asked how they can help.

“Not one person has said, `I think this is impossible,’ even though I recognize it may be impossible,” she said. “That felt really good.”

And the average person?

“It’s actually really funny,” Breed said. “They’re like, `Oh, cool.’ I don’t think they recognize that it’s 900 miles, four months and I’m actually going to be swimming in the ocean. Their brain doesn’t quite compute.”

Matthew Sessions understands the enormity of what Breed is attempting. He an open-water swimmer (although not a marathoner), and will serve as the captain of the 52-foot Beneteau sailboat that will accompany her on her journey.

Ten miles a day for 90 days

Noting that Breed intends to cover about 10 miles each day, Sessions tried to give some context to the endeavor. “For most people that’s a marathon,” he said of swimming 10 miles. “And she’s going to do that 90 days straight.”

Breed likes to say she was raised by the Pacific Ocean. Since learning to swim at age 4, surfing and sailing with her family became a regular activity. “I love this coastline so much.”

She will use Swim California as a platform to highlight ocean conservation and to help strength the connection between women and the Pacific through her Sea Dreamers non-profit.

But she also acknowledges, “I have a hard time articulating exactly why I want to do (this). There’s not like I have to do this to overcome some ginormous challenge in my life.

“It’s there to do and I’m physically capable of doing it. I have people on my team to help support. I hope that in the journey I’m inspiring people along the way. It seems like a really amazing thing I get to do in my life. This is the time to go after something big and wild and crazy and audacious.”

Wild and crazy, perhaps, but the undertaking is also carefully orchestrated. Breed said 15 of 20 people have assisted her over the past three years, and acknowledged, “This would not be possible if it weren’t for the people helping me.”

Sessions, who has worked more than 25 years in event management and corporate hospitality, including at the Atlanta Olympics, said it didn’t take him long to agree to work with Breed.

“The reason I partnered up with Catherine on this is I believe in her. She is the fastest open-water, marathon swimmer in the world right now,” he said.

“She’s also probably the most organized and detailed person I’ve ever encountered. She’s got binders and google docs — it is jaw-dropping how organized she is. Because there’s risk — there’s risk of failure and the failure can come in a lot of different ways. I had to really assess, do I want to be a part of this? The more I got to know her, I realized if anyone can do this, she can do this.”

Included in her, Breed had conversations with two endurance athletes who could relate to what she’s doing. She sought advice from Great Britain’s Ross Edgley, who became the first person to swim 1,000 miles around Iceland — it took 116 days — and from Daragh Morgan, who completed a 912-mile tidal-assisted stage swim around his native Ireland over five months.

She lists Swim California as approximately 900 miles — about 100 miles farther than driving directly between the Mexican and Oregon borders because of the ins and outs of the coastline.

Calculated daredevil or risk technician

Her friend, Sarah Enix, citing her exhaustive preparation, called Breed “a calculated daredevil” in an interview with the LA Times. Breed prefers the label “risk technician.”

Once Swim California begins, the sailboat will be home five people on a nighty basis — Breed, Sessions, a water-safety specialist and two volunteer “first mates.” A videographer will join the venture periodically.

"We need to be the silent people in the background,” Sessions stressed.

“It’s the Catherine Breed Show.”

Catherine Breed shadowed by a support vessel | Photo by Colby Curtola

Breed will have two of her crew shadowing her in the water in an inflatable dinghy with an outboard motor. They cannot assist her in any way but are nearby for emergencies and to hand her 6-to-8-ounce carb-heavy drinks every 30 minutes.

Sharks, stingrays, wind & fog

Still, there are concerns, including sharks and stingrays. Fishermen warned her about random “ghost” fishing nets. Because she will swim one to two miles off shore, Breed said sharks and rocks are less likely hazards.

“The reality is I’m not shark food,” she said, citing the presence of the nearby dinghy and sailboat as deterrents.

The bigger concerns are wind, fog and water conditions. The project will utilize radar and electronic marine navigation charts, and Breed will wear a personal monitoring device. If the elements become too much — or if Breed becomes ill or the boat needs repair — there are extra days built into the schedule to accommodate breaks.

“The California coast line is exceptionally volatile just in terms of wind and fog. We are going to have thresholds where we don’t go out,” Breed said, noting that the fastest she could complete Swim California is 80 to 90 days. More likely, it will take longer than that.

Each day’s precise starting point will be determined by GPS, which is necessary to adhere to the rules of the World Open Water Swimming Association.

Then it’s back in the water for another five hours. “The five hours doesn’t intimidate me,” she said. “It’s more the four months that’s going to be a lot.”

Along the way, the boat will periodically harbor in communities where Breed will try to motivate more girls and women to get into the ocean and become aware of conservation needs.

At the community pop-ups, she hopes to attract an audience eager to see “this crazy women swimming the coast,” while also giving non-profit local conservation partners the chance to share their stories.

Breed talks in greater detail about that aspect of Swim California in the video above.

About a month out, Breed is asked to speculate on how she expects to feel when dipping into the Pacific to begin her trek.

“On Day 1, I think the emotions . . . I’m hoping they’re just joy. Gratitude, joy and it feels like we’re starting out on this really fun adventure. If I’m feeling that, it’s a testament to the planning and preparation I’ve put in.”

Friends have asked if she plans to throw a huge party after finally arriving at the finish line. More likely, she said she’ll probably want to sit quietly at a resort, clear her head and enjoy some margaritas and tacos.

“I think it will be a little overwhelming when I finish. Everybody’s going to want to hear about the story,” Breed said. “I think the emotions will be really proud of the team and proud of what we did it.

"Shocked, probably. Like Omigod, it’s actually possible.”

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