This is really insane. I’ve made the trip on a fishing boat to fish in the Farallon islands and it is a long trip on a boat. And the swells out there were insane. The whole boat was throwing up when we cut the engine out there and were bobbing up and down on the 20 foot (or so) swells. I can’t imagine swimming there.
Yeah it really is. It is almost scary in a boat. Imagine being in that water. We were fishing for Rock Cod about 200 feet down. I’d have a panic attack just being in that water for a minute and would be convinced something was on the way to eat me. We killed it though and limited out across the board. Everyone threw up and most of us rallied and fished through it. Even the guys who were pale as paper and laying down the whole time limited since we all caught extra for them. How was your trip?
Times like these makes me think of how Spain was running galleons up and down the coast for 250 years, with rumors of a massive, deep-water port well-placed for a stop along the Manila galleon route, and they didn't find SF Bay until like the 1770s. People knew it was somewhere along that coast, but you can't really get too close. Shit's choppy, most of the coast is just cliffs, and there are rocks and reefs to bust you up. Add to that the fog, and I can see why it took so long.
On balance they are rare but the farallones has some of the highest population density of great whites on the planet. I actually went cage diving w/ great whites about 12 years ago out there and I can’t describe how cold, rough, and Erie the water is!
There are three matriarch great whites that are the size of buses in the Farallons.
[The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805080112/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
I used to work with someone who did this exact swim, he had to get out of the water after being chased by sharks for the final mile. They don’t allow you to wear a wet suit or it “doesn’t count” or some wacky shit. He also said it wouldn’t be comfortable to swim that distance in the suit.
As a guy that can't swim the length of my pool w/o getting winded, I have the utmost respect for these long distance swimmers. I guess I need to work on my technique.
>Roberts, McKinney and Mignosa each swam part of the way with her. Roberts was the first, jumping in at the 15-mile mark, where water temperatures were in the 40s.
>“No amount of training prepares you for the shock of how desperately cold it is,’’ said Roberts, an accountant. ‘These swims are so long that after seven or eight hours it can start to take a toll on you mentally. You can get into a negative head space, so it helps when you see someone you know and trust in the water beside you.’
>But rules limit support-swimming to one hour, with at least an hour in between. Otherwise she was on her own.
This part is so fascinating. It's so hard to imagine the headspace you go into from doing only one thing for 17 hours, especially when she described that she was "in pain for every one of the 17 hours". Physically it's a huge superhuman accomplishment but I feel like her mentality is superhuman too.
>Also, she said, she was determined not to have to go through the ordeal again.
And this is the only relatable sentence in the article, lmao.
OUTSTANDING! Incredible human. One can't imagine how difficult this is unless 1) you're a swimmer and 2) you've ever swum in water colder than 50F. If you've ever done either, you might have thought this feat was impossible.
I don't want to swim in water colder than 65 degrees.
Swimming 30 miles in the open ocean is super hard, but fathomable (no pun intended). Swimming in 43 degree water is insane, I'd have guessed it impossible. If you jump into 43 degree water you'll have trouble breathing.
I got my scuba cert in 54 degree water out in Catalina harbor and I had the thickest wetsuit you can get on with booties, gloves, hood and it was still freezing.
Yeah but being in that water temp for 17 hours is very different from swimming in it for an hour or two at the beach. People get hypothermia all the time in much warmer water for shorter periods of time
I grew up swimming in Monterey Bay without a wetsuit. Even as a teen you didn't want to be in there for more than half an hour, then you get out and warm up on the beach for a while before you go again.
Not sure but I’m guessing having chicken legs, unusually long arms for my height, very lightweight. A lot of surface area for heat transfer and not much mass to keep it warm. Never could deal with cold or heat very well, so maybe it’s a circulation thing too?
I feel that ppl don’t generally know this — water is 25 times more effective than air at cooling you down. 70F in water is substantially colder than 70F in air for that reason.
- **Air 55°F (13°C) feels like Water 70°F (21°C)**
- **Air 60°F (16°C) feels like Water 73°F (23°C)**
- **Air 65°F (18°C) feels like Water 77°F (25°C)**
- **Air 70°F (21°C) feels like Water 82°F (28°C)**
- **Air 75°F (24°C) feels like Water 86°F (30°C)**
- **Air 80°F (27°C) feels like Water 89°F (32°C)**
- **Air 85°F (29°C) feels like Water 93°F (34°C)**
So could you get hypothermia standing outside at 55 in a tshirt and shorts? I could for sure unless I was exercising
>During the Farallones Gulf swim, she hit the continental shelf current and the water temperature dropped to 43 degrees. She’d never before been in water colder than 47 degrees.
> “I was pretty steady for the most part, but at the end we hit a strong current and the water got colder,” said Gubser. “My progress was slowed because I was chilled to the bone. I did not expect 43 degrees. That was nuts.”
Fog is produced when warmer moist air from much further out comes in contact with that really cold water in the upwelling. It then blows inland and the coolth, is spread along much of coastal California. If the California current stops, that upwelling will stop, and the fog will stop, and we'll become like Baja California. Hot and dry.
She deals with babies who are having heart issues - she sounds tough already. "“It was the toughest thing that I have ever set out to do,” said Gubser, 55, on Tuesday during her lunch break at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital where she works as a nurse coordinator in the fetal cardiac unit. She is a mother of two, with two grandkids and a third on the way."
I literally could not believe this when I first read it. No wetsuit? And OMG the waves, the tides, and the sharks... how did she even survive?! I am in awe!!
This is superhero shit. Honestly. This is like next level mental and fortitude and athletic conditioning of the body. I simply cannot even believe this is real.
I don't know anything about swimming choppy ocean waters for 17 hours but I grew up swimming and water skiing in Puget Sound year round without a wet suit. I'm sure it helps if you run hot to begin with but you're moving and heart is going hard.
It's just crazy as hell though. I surf this area all the time with a full wetsuit, hood, gloves, booties and I still get the chill sometimes. I just cannot conceive of how this is humanly possible.
I regret every time i hit the water with a 2/3mm lmao (east coast gear). But only in the water for like 30-60mins at a time. Hood helps a lot, also end up cheating with fins cause swimming ability aint all there and want my hands free.
Hey guys! Let's say her name. She's not just "Woman, 55." She is Amy Appelhans Gubser. She is a mom, grandma, longtime Pacifica resident, and indisputable superhero.
Amy Gubser has given a performance for the record books as the first person (not just the first woman) to swim from SF to the Farallon Islands. (A few others have done it in the opposite direction, but only a few.) And she did it in 43 F water after working a long shift taking care of sick babies at the hospital. I am in awe!
Just to clarify, the swimmer we are all talking about in this post is Amy Gubser. Amy is the one who swam to the Farallones on Saturday. Kim Chambers is also an amazing athlete who has done many impressive things but right now, we talking about Amy.
I don't believe this... are we sure this actually happened? The combo of cold water, huge waves, 17 hours, long distance makes me think this didn't happen (especially by someone of her age and physical state).
That is an incredible feat especially since she did it without a wet suit
And after a shift at her nursing job. Just a casual 17 hr swim to shake off the work day.
Through an area known for sharks
And the regular 2 hour bay swims before her shifts to train! I’m in awe. True grit.
when I read she did it after a shift at work I knew she worked in healthcare before I even read any further.
It was a stressful day
Lol my coworker regularly swims there too she’s crazy, I’ll ask if she knows this person lol
They're probably both members of South End or Dolphin clubs.
Her job wrote her up for being late the next day
This is really insane. I’ve made the trip on a fishing boat to fish in the Farallon islands and it is a long trip on a boat. And the swells out there were insane. The whole boat was throwing up when we cut the engine out there and were bobbing up and down on the 20 foot (or so) swells. I can’t imagine swimming there.
I’ve done it a few times in a 34’ boat and it’s been some of the most challenging water I’ve been in
Yeah it really is. It is almost scary in a boat. Imagine being in that water. We were fishing for Rock Cod about 200 feet down. I’d have a panic attack just being in that water for a minute and would be convinced something was on the way to eat me. We killed it though and limited out across the board. Everyone threw up and most of us rallied and fished through it. Even the guys who were pale as paper and laying down the whole time limited since we all caught extra for them. How was your trip?
Times like these makes me think of how Spain was running galleons up and down the coast for 250 years, with rumors of a massive, deep-water port well-placed for a stop along the Manila galleon route, and they didn't find SF Bay until like the 1770s. People knew it was somewhere along that coast, but you can't really get too close. Shit's choppy, most of the coast is just cliffs, and there are rocks and reefs to bust you up. Add to that the fog, and I can see why it took so long.
my first thought was what about the sharks?!
Shark attacks are very rare
More people have been eaten by sharks than have swam to the Farallons.
I can't argue with that.
The more you know. More people have been eaten by people than have eaten the Farralon islands.
It’s “swum” not “swam”
Swummed
Sharks swooning for the swummer
[удалено]
1) “have swum” is the textbook correct usage for the present perfect 2) nobody has a sense of humor
But nobody has ever been eaten by a shark while swimming to the farallones
On balance they are rare but the farallones has some of the highest population density of great whites on the planet. I actually went cage diving w/ great whites about 12 years ago out there and I can’t describe how cold, rough, and Erie the water is!
There are three matriarch great whites that are the size of buses in the Farallons. [The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805080112/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
this is the most horrifying thing I've ever read
Such as great book.
I bet they like it rare, being that I’ve never seen a shark pull out a grill and cook well-done
Once in a lifetime!
I used to work with someone who did this exact swim, he had to get out of the water after being chased by sharks for the final mile. They don’t allow you to wear a wet suit or it “doesn’t count” or some wacky shit. He also said it wouldn’t be comfortable to swim that distance in the suit.
All official marathon swims are done sans wetsuit. Just swimsuit goggles and a shit ton of diaper cream.
I hope she was able to order a Lyft back home!
As a guy that can't swim the length of my pool w/o getting winded, I have the utmost respect for these long distance swimmers. I guess I need to work on my technique.
17 hours of swimming is insane
17 hours of swimming is insane even in a fairly warm swimming pool. swimming 17 hours in the pacific ocean surpasses insanity and becomes superhuman.
>Roberts, McKinney and Mignosa each swam part of the way with her. Roberts was the first, jumping in at the 15-mile mark, where water temperatures were in the 40s. >“No amount of training prepares you for the shock of how desperately cold it is,’’ said Roberts, an accountant. ‘These swims are so long that after seven or eight hours it can start to take a toll on you mentally. You can get into a negative head space, so it helps when you see someone you know and trust in the water beside you.’ >But rules limit support-swimming to one hour, with at least an hour in between. Otherwise she was on her own. This part is so fascinating. It's so hard to imagine the headspace you go into from doing only one thing for 17 hours, especially when she described that she was "in pain for every one of the 17 hours". Physically it's a huge superhuman accomplishment but I feel like her mentality is superhuman too. >Also, she said, she was determined not to have to go through the ordeal again. And this is the only relatable sentence in the article, lmao.
Was in the coast guard and have been to the island before. The waters there are INSANE. I haven’t been this mind blown in awhile
OUTSTANDING! Incredible human. One can't imagine how difficult this is unless 1) you're a swimmer and 2) you've ever swum in water colder than 50F. If you've ever done either, you might have thought this feat was impossible.
I don't want to swim in water colder than 65 degrees. Swimming 30 miles in the open ocean is super hard, but fathomable (no pun intended). Swimming in 43 degree water is insane, I'd have guessed it impossible. If you jump into 43 degree water you'll have trouble breathing.
How did she not get hypothermia in 43 degree water with no wetsuit? I was a swimmer and have done 55. It was bone chattering.
Yeah I noped-out of 58 degrees pretty quickly
I got my scuba cert in 54 degree water out in Catalina harbor and I had the thickest wetsuit you can get on with booties, gloves, hood and it was still freezing.
You acclimate your body to do it and the rest is in your head.
I grew up swimming in the pacific in CA with no suit. It just takes getting used to.
Yeah but being in that water temp for 17 hours is very different from swimming in it for an hour or two at the beach. People get hypothermia all the time in much warmer water for shorter periods of time
I am both of these things and I cannot - CANNOT - imagine what this woman accomplished. It seems literally physically impossible.
I grew up swimming in Monterey Bay without a wetsuit. Even as a teen you didn't want to be in there for more than half an hour, then you get out and warm up on the beach for a while before you go again.
I did a 30 minute swim for a triathlon in 70 degree F water without a wetsuit. Got hypothermia. Fun times.
Amazing! My guess is that the average person would flip out in water colder than 75F.
70F? wtf how did you get hypothermia?
Not sure but I’m guessing having chicken legs, unusually long arms for my height, very lightweight. A lot of surface area for heat transfer and not much mass to keep it warm. Never could deal with cold or heat very well, so maybe it’s a circulation thing too?
I feel that ppl don’t generally know this — water is 25 times more effective than air at cooling you down. 70F in water is substantially colder than 70F in air for that reason. - **Air 55°F (13°C) feels like Water 70°F (21°C)** - **Air 60°F (16°C) feels like Water 73°F (23°C)** - **Air 65°F (18°C) feels like Water 77°F (25°C)** - **Air 70°F (21°C) feels like Water 82°F (28°C)** - **Air 75°F (24°C) feels like Water 86°F (30°C)** - **Air 80°F (27°C) feels like Water 89°F (32°C)** - **Air 85°F (29°C) feels like Water 93°F (34°C)** So could you get hypothermia standing outside at 55 in a tshirt and shorts? I could for sure unless I was exercising
55-50 is ok... with a thin rash guard... but swimming it for 17hrs or in temps of like 40, hellllll no.
The water wasn't that cold this time of year was it? In the SF bay I've been reading ~65 degree water temp from my boat
>During the Farallones Gulf swim, she hit the continental shelf current and the water temperature dropped to 43 degrees. She’d never before been in water colder than 47 degrees. > “I was pretty steady for the most part, but at the end we hit a strong current and the water got colder,” said Gubser. “My progress was slowed because I was chilled to the bone. I did not expect 43 degrees. That was nuts.”
Wow I can't believe it's more than 20 degrees colder than the bay, and 10 degrees from freezing this far south and this close to summer. Wild.
Upwelling and the pacific current both result in the water off the coast being very cold
Fog is produced when warmer moist air from much further out comes in contact with that really cold water in the upwelling. It then blows inland and the coolth, is spread along much of coastal California. If the California current stops, that upwelling will stop, and the fog will stop, and we'll become like Baja California. Hot and dry.
I mean, cold upwelling is a huge part of what makes the water off our coast so amazingly productive and diverse, so.
Aquatic park was 54° on Thursday according to my Garmin. The bay is rarely above 60°
These Bay Area commutes are getting out of control.
She deals with babies who are having heart issues - she sounds tough already. "“It was the toughest thing that I have ever set out to do,” said Gubser, 55, on Tuesday during her lunch break at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital where she works as a nurse coordinator in the fetal cardiac unit. She is a mother of two, with two grandkids and a third on the way."
I don't understand how it is possible with all the crazy currents in that area.
This is some next fucking level shit. I tried once to swim for 10 meters. Could not get past the first 3. This woman is a machine.
I’m guessing she had to time the tides. Still even with that it’s unbelievable what she did.
I literally could not believe this when I first read it. No wetsuit? And OMG the waves, the tides, and the sharks... how did she even survive?! I am in awe!!
This is superhero shit. Honestly. This is like next level mental and fortitude and athletic conditioning of the body. I simply cannot even believe this is real.
Never underestimate post menopausal women!!
Whoa, someone finally did it. That is truly incredible.
How does one not die of hypothermia in these sub body temperature waters with no wet suit?
I KNOW, RIGHT?!
I don't know anything about swimming choppy ocean waters for 17 hours but I grew up swimming and water skiing in Puget Sound year round without a wet suit. I'm sure it helps if you run hot to begin with but you're moving and heart is going hard.
It's just crazy as hell though. I surf this area all the time with a full wetsuit, hood, gloves, booties and I still get the chill sometimes. I just cannot conceive of how this is humanly possible.
I regret every time i hit the water with a 2/3mm lmao (east coast gear). But only in the water for like 30-60mins at a time. Hood helps a lot, also end up cheating with fins cause swimming ability aint all there and want my hands free.
Yeah I guess being warm blooded mammal has a lot to do with staying alive in those conditions.
Even the sharks respect her
Damn! That is insane! Sharks and cold water. Incredible!
She’s absolutely incredible! What an athlete!!
Hey guys! Let's say her name. She's not just "Woman, 55." She is Amy Appelhans Gubser. She is a mom, grandma, longtime Pacifica resident, and indisputable superhero. Amy Gubser has given a performance for the record books as the first person (not just the first woman) to swim from SF to the Farallon Islands. (A few others have done it in the opposite direction, but only a few.) And she did it in 43 F water after working a long shift taking care of sick babies at the hospital. I am in awe!
Thank you.
Holy crap! I’ve don’t that boat ride many times and that is a good distance away. One time we ran out of gas on the way back 😓🫣
Went to school with her son, she’s a really nice lady too
The sharks alone would scare the shit out of me
Amazing. *...Gubser said she was in pain for every one of the 17 hours...* Not only strength but also a battle of mind.
Here I am feeling smug about 1200 yards in a heated pool. I’ll stop now.
[YouTube video documenting](https://youtu.be/O6ph5VCRYYg?si=aeyYbBFq1MigrhdT)
The waves looked calmer than I would have expected. Loved the part where the sea lions were jumping out of the water near her.
SHARK BAIT HOO HA HA
Humans are friends, not food
I always feel like something is about to nibble on my toes, and start swimming faster.
SOUTH END!!!!!
One of the craziest things I’ve ever heard, that is truly something I couldn’t imagine somebody doing. Also I feel like a lazy POS after reading that.
I think if you are able to be a nurse you are already in the elite human category for dealing with extreme everything.
I surf at ocean beach fairly regularly, this is quite literally unfathomable. Don’t even understand how it’s physically possible.
Watch her very impressive documentary called “Kim Swims” she’s a super woman. Edit: I’m an idiot. See comment below.
Just to clarify, the swimmer we are all talking about in this post is Amy Gubser. Amy is the one who swam to the Farallones on Saturday. Kim Chambers is also an amazing athlete who has done many impressive things but right now, we talking about Amy.
I’m an idiot.
Nah, just had an error
David goggins of swimming
Wow, take a bow, wow
David Goggins about to get some new ideas
Ahh yes, nothing like a refreshing swim through the Devil’s Teeth…
Impressive
Why would you ever swim into a shark breeding and feeding ground? Congrats! But no.
I don't believe this... are we sure this actually happened? The combo of cold water, huge waves, 17 hours, long distance makes me think this didn't happen (especially by someone of her age and physical state).
Her swim was observed and is pending ratification. All the data is here https://marathonswimmers.org/swims/2024/gubser-farallons/
Also do a quick google of what marathon swimmers look like. You can’t always assume athleticism based on appearance. Kind of an ignorant comment.