{"id":469487,"date":"2026-09-19T23:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T23:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469487\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T23:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T23:32:11","slug":"meet-the-charity-which-has-people-swimming-from-coronado-to-the-uss-midway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469487\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the charity which has people swimming from Coronado to the USS Midway"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a single-file march of 150 people up to the flight deck of the USS Midway.<\/p>\n

Ascending the stairwell on the vessel\u2019s side, those making the journey each carried a U.S. flag, some of them still wet from the more than 3-mile swim they\u2019d just made from Coronado to Navy Pier in downtown San Diego.<\/p>\n

After reaching the flight deck, dozens took on the challenge of completing 22 pullups and 100 pushups.<\/p>\n

The final workout capped a sunny California morning of grueling athletic performance \u2014 but all for a good cause.<\/p>\n

For six years, The Honor Foundation has organized its Swim for SOF<\/a> event, a charity workout and swimming event aimed at raising money to help members of U.S. special operations forces transition out of elite military units and into civilian life.<\/p>\n

\"CORONADO,Participants in the 6th annual Swim for SOF ( Special Operations Forces), put on by the Honor Foundation, finish the flag run from the beach near the Hotel Del Coronado to Glorietta Bay Park. (Howard Lipin \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s swim, held on Saturday, had the most participants to date, all of whom pledged to raise at least $1,500 for the charity.<\/p>\n

All told, organizers and participants had raised about $600,000 through the event, said Kelly McGraw, Honor Foundation\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that the whole community is out supporting,\u201d McGraw said as participants finished the swim and hoisted themselves out of San Diego Bay and onto a raft.<\/p>\n

The morning began steps from the palatial grounds of the Hotel del Coronado.<\/p>\n

At the nearby jetty, participants kicked off their workout with a run to Glorietta Bay. Starting the event at the jetty is a symbolic spot for Navy SEALs, who do their initial training just down the strand at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and perform their rock portages exercises at the jetty.<\/p>\n

From Glorietta Bay, the swim begins.<\/p>\n

\"CORONADO,Participants in the 6th annual Swim for SOF ( Special Operations Forces) which started at Glorietta Bay Park, get out of the water at Tidelands Park, where they did push-up and pull-ups, before swimming the rest of the way to the finish line at the USS Midway Museum, Saturday. (Howard Lipin \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

The first mile takes swimmers below the San Diego-Coronado Bridge to Tidelands Park. There, a workout of 22 pullups and 100 pushups is done, then participants get back in the water and complete a final 2.3-mile swim to the Midway.<\/p>\n

Doing 22 pullups is not a random number, and is meant as a tribute to the mental health struggles of veterans who have returned home. A past study from the Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that 22 former service members die by suicide every day.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the efforts of The Honor Foundation come in, by providing one-on-one coaching for special forces operators in the first three months of their transition to civilian life.<\/p>\n

McGraw, whose husband was a SEAL for 25 years, said special forces operators \u201cfeel like they fell off a cliff\u201d in their early days of civilian life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re like: \u2018what\u2019s next?\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"CORONADO,Nate Middleton of Eastlake in Chula Vista, does push-ups while his four-year-old son, Finn Middleton, sits on his back back. (Howard Lipin \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Jason Goyanko, a former SEAL who first organized the swim event, knows what that transition is like.<\/p>\n

After finishing a 10-year career in the Navy, Goyanko had a mentor who was also a former SEAL.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said to me words that I\u2019ll never forget. He said, \u2018When you find success, send the elevator back down\u2019,\u201d Goyanko recounted.<\/p>\n

For Goyanko, that morsel of advice was where the swimming event was born.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis vision came to me because it was not only a way for me to be able to give back, but also to empower other people in our community to contribute to the mission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Indeed, it was not only former service members taking part in Saturday\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

Angelica Orozco stood at the end of Navy Pier ringing a cowbell as her son Alexander, who has been in the Navy 17 years, finished the swim.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Orozco\u2019s second time at the swim, which has an atmosphere she considers \u201cwonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the mission is what is more important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"CORONADO,Reagan Roob of New York City, does pull-ups at Tidelands Park, during a stop on Saturday September 19, 2026, in Coronado. (Howard Lipin \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Community members who haven\u2019t been in the military also joined the swim.<\/p>\n

Saturday was Lexi Sandvig\u2019s fifth time finishing the swim. Sandvig works for BUBS Naturals, a supplement company founded to honor Glen \u201cBub\u201d Doherty, a former SEAL and CIA contractor who died in the 2012 terrorist attack on U.S. personnel in Benghazi, Libya.<\/p>\n

In all her years of doing the swim, Sandvig said the final stretch between Coronado and the Midway is by far the most \u201cbrutal\u201d part.<\/p>\n

Still, the people and the atmosphere they create is what keeps bringing her back out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great group to come out and support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Michael Conaton isn\u2019t a military member, either. But on Saturday, the former Georgetown University swimmer completed the swim for the fourth time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupporting these guys who are ex-military is such a rewarding feeling,\u201d Conaton said.<\/p>\n

Conaton first got connected to the event through his employer, Apollo Global Management, a major investment firm that donates to The Honor Foundation.<\/p>\n

A New Yorker, the excitement and purpose of the event is enough to have him make the cross-country flight year after year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis becomes my thing to look forward to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a single-file march of 150 people up to the flight deck of the USS Midway. Ascending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[23,100,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-469487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469487","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=469487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}