{"id":147245,"date":"2026-01-24T02:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/147245\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T02:22:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:22:30","slug":"bay-area-woman-to-swim-900-miles-along-the-coast-of-california-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/147245\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Area woman to swim 900 miles along the coast of California"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bay <\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO – Mill Valley\u2019s Richardson Bay has become a second home for Catherine Breed.<\/p>\n

Three days a week, the 33-year-old plunges into the chilly water to prepare for what she calls the swim of a lifetime \u2014 a more than 900-mile journey down the California coast.<\/p>\n

“I am swimming the whole coast of California,” Breed said. “We\u2019ll be starting right on the Oregon border and cross that latitude into California. I\u2019ll spend four months swimming about five to six hours a day and make our way all the way south.”<\/p>\n

South means Mexico.<\/p>\n

In July, Breed plans to begin her 120-day Pacific swim, dubbed the “California Swim,” entering the ocean near the Oregon border and finishing in Mexican waters sometime in October.<\/p>\n

“I think that there\u2019s been a little bit of \u2018that\u2019s crazy,\u2019 but mostly people say, yeah, if anyone\u2019s going to do it, it\u2019s going to be you,” Breed said. “And that feels very encouraging.”<\/p>\n

Breed is no stranger to endurance challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pleasanton native earned a full scholarship to swim at the University of California, Berkeley, where she helped lead the Bears to two NCAA titles. After graduating in 2015, she said she missed the competition and found her way into open-water swimming in San Francisco Bay.<\/p>\n

“I started swimming at the Dolphin Club, and I got introduced to swimming in the bay,” Breed said. “The members there said, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re pretty good at this. You\u2019re not bothered by the cold. You should swim the English Channel.\u2019 And I said, that\u2019s crazy \u2014 why would anyone swim 21 miles?”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Catherine Breed, 33, of Mill Valley is preparing for more than 900-mile journey down the California coast. January 2026\u00a0 <\/p>\n

She went on to do just that in 2018.<\/p>\n

“I did the English Channel straight off a red-eye flight with 45 minutes to get ready for the swim,” Breed said. “Not my favorite swim I\u2019ve ever done, but it\u2019s iconic.”<\/p>\n

Her resume continued to grow. Breed set a world record as the fastest woman to swim the length of Lake Tahoe, finishing the nearly nine-hour crossing in frigid water. She also became the first person to swim the 27 ocean miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to Half Moon Bay.<\/p>\n

Last August, she completed what she described as her biggest feat yet \u2014 a 31-mile night swim from the Farallon Islands to the mouth of the Golden Gate, battling strong currents and rough seas for more than 13 hours.<\/p>\n

“At 10:45 p.m. we set off from the island and quickly found ourselves in a bait ball,” Breed said. “Sardines and seabirds and jellyfish for four hours. I was just getting hit by all these tiny fish, seabirds and jellyfish. It was very chaotic in the middle of the night.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Aerial view of Catherine Breed swimming next to a boat.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

For the California Swim, Breed will be supported by a six-person safety crew, including a captain, first mate, medical and nutrition staff, and observers. She plans to swim more than five hours a day, eating and sleeping aboard the support vessel for four months.<\/p>\n

“I have a lot of gratitude,” Breed said. “I think about all the people that got me there and the tough training sessions. But mostly I\u2019m thinking about my technique and when I\u2019m going to get that bottle of food in the next 30 minutes.”<\/p>\n

She said her biggest concerns are the elements she cannot control.<\/p>\n

“Sharks and elephant seals \u2014 both of those scare me,” Breed said. “But I\u2019ll have a small vessel and a large support vessel with a shark deterrent system, so ultimately they just stay away.”<\/p>\n

Breed said she feels grateful for the support surrounding her as she prepares for the journey.<\/p>\n

She plans to take the plunge July 1.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Catherine Breed, 33, of Mill Valley is preparing for more than 900-mile journey down the California coast. January 2026\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Sports<\/a>California<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO – Mill Valley\u2019s Richardson Bay has become a second home for Catherine Breed. Three days a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1184,100,101,103,102,104,106,105,127,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-147245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-san-francisco","11":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","12":"tag-san-francisco-news","13":"tag-sf","14":"tag-sf-headlines","15":"tag-sf-news","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}