Last fall, Wyatt got the idea that he wanted to swim from Alcatraz. He hadn’t been swimming more than a few times since his final swimming lesson in the winter of 2019. He had wanted to join a swim team right after, but the pandemic took away that possibility. He was excited about Alcatraz; I told him it would be great, he could do it, and it would take a lot of work.

Looking to keep our training outside, Wyatt and I began swimming without wetsuits in Aquatic Park in November 2021 so he could decide whether he really wanted to commit to training for an Alcatraz swim in 2022. He experienced that terrifying breathless panic many of us experience in cold open water swims, where we feel like we can’t get enough air, like we can’t see, and like we might never, ever do “this” again. Except he did, and he kept at it until he was fine. Cold, but fine.

His determination helped clarify pretty quickly that I needed to find an Alcatraz swim for him. And preferably not a race. Who needs hundreds of adults climbing over you in the water as an 11 year-old at your first open water event?

We chose Odyssey Open Water Swimming. Wyatt set his sights on their October 15, 2022 swim. Odyssey welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds, the coaches are so encouraging, and the team offers kayak-supervised open water swims every Sunday morning in the Berkeley Marina. It sounded pretty perfect: Wyatt could do his open water swims without my having to get wet or even slightly cold.

That’s not how it went though. It’s hard to motivate yourself to round all the course buoys once, never mind multiple times, if you’re training solo. It’s also hard to stay warm enough as a kid to get past a half-mile without a wetsuit. So, I started joining Wyatt regularly in the water on Sundays and we’d meet for buoy selfies and to hype each other up. He added a wetsuit to the plan, which initially didn’t feel great but proved to be key to improved training.

Wyatt and I also swam laps together a couple times a week at an outdoor public pool. But in May, Wyatt finally got to join a swim team. He suddenly had practice all the time; I swam laps on my own so I could try to keep up on Sundays.

We kept swimming. And it wasn’t always the best because we had to say no to a bunch of fun things with friends on Sundays. And sometimes when we didn’t want go swim in the ocean, our reward for doing it anyway was swimming against a flood tide while waves smacked us in the face. Eventually we noticed we performed best when we had treats to look forward to, so we started stopping at Mariposa Bakery after the swim before heading home.

As the event got closer and closer, I found myself getting more and more anxious. I wasn’t swimming in the event, but it felt like there was so much on the line. So much training, so much anticipation. And the last two years had been so full of stops, cancellations, and planning on doing a thing that would be called off at the last minute. And what if Wyatt got sick? And what if he was terrified on the boat before he had to jump?

None of us got sick.

And he was beyond happy on the boat.

The swim went better than we could have planned. Wyatt would have preferred us to take fewer photos, but oh well. I swam from Alcatraz in 2008 and have no photos of it; he will not have that problem.

We started Saturday October 15 early in the morning. I got up at 4:30, Marc and Wyatt were up at 5:00, and all of us plus Betty were on our way to Hyde St. Pier by 5:45 to check in.

Around 7:00, Wyatt joined 99 other swimmers walking to the boats that would take them to Alcatraz, where they’d jump, then swim 2 miles to the beach at St. Francis Yacht Club.

After we thoroughly embarrassed Wyatt by cheering for him from the car as we drove by the line of swimmers on our way to the beach, we waited with our friends Jackie, Pete, and Sayde who had brought Wyatt thermoses of hot chocolate for after the swim.

Sayde (the only person without binoculars) spotted Wyatt first as he was swimming towards the beach about an hour after the swim had started. Wyatt ended the swim strong and had a beautiful exit from the water—sure steps, and face beaming with a deep sense of accomplishment.

He did it. And he can’t wait to do it again next year.

Update: After I published this piece, Odyssey posted their video of the event. I’ve linked to it below. Marc, Betty, and I all have a cameo, and Wyatt appears throughout.