The ocean is so cold! Damn near freezing! And it’s full of sharks and cliffs and cruel tides and waves, endless waves and wind, endless wind. Lots of rocks too. Really sharp, huge ones. Imagine swimming in that, hour after hour, day after day, month after month, right up to the point when night is longer than day and the leaves fall. 

Right now, a few miles north of Crescent City, 33-year-old Catherine Breed is doing more than simply thinking about it. She’s on her second day of a three-month swim from California’s north end to its south, doing around 10 miles every day through open water near the shoreline until she hits the border. 

It’s a monumental task, one Breed isn’t taking lightly. She has a crew with her in a sailboat, where she’ll sleep. She swam the freestyle for UC Berkeley before she began swimming open-water ultradistance swimming. She’s completed swims similar to this one before, last year circumnavigating the 60 miles around Lake Tahoe and in 2020 breaking the previous speed record across Monterey Bay. In 2023, Breed became the first woman to swim from the Golden Gate Bridge to Monterey Bay.

Breed’s swimming to bring attention to environmental conservation, with an oceanic focus. 

“This isn’t just about swimming,” Breed wrote on the event’s website. “It’s about listening, learning, and sharing the stories of the people and places that depend on a healthy ocean.”

Breed will hit Humboldt in a week or so. Along the way, she’s stopping to speak and attend some community events, one of which will be hosted by the Surfrider Foundation’s Humboldt chapter. Breed’s team expects to dock at Woodley Island on July 15 or 16. (They have to keep a flexible schedule to deal with the North Coast’s ever-changing weather and ocean conditions.) Breed will update attendees on her progress, and Surfrider will exhort people to support AB 2734.

“Surfrider is thrilled and honored to partner with Cat on her Humboldt County stop,” said Surfrider Foundation’s California Policy Associate Director Jennifer Savage. “What she’s already accomplished – and what she’s attempting with Swim California – would be stunning just as physical achievements. The fact that she’s also determined to be a force for ocean conservation and connection shows next-level commitment that everyone can find inspiring.”

“The coastline belongs to all of us,” Breed wrote. “My hope is that this swim helps people see it, appreciate it, and protect it. And connects all of us that love this place and recreate outdoors. We need something to rally behind right now.”