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A California woman is halfway through an ambitious effort to become the first person to swim the entire length of California’s coastline, a 900-mile journey from Oregon to Mexico aimed at promoting ocean conservation and inspiring others to pursue challenging goals.
Catherine Breed, a 33-year-old nine-time open-water record holder, has reached Monterey and is looking ahead to the warmer waters of Southern California as she continues south. She hopes to arrive at the Mexican border by the middle of October.
“I grew up on this coastline, I love it so much, and I figured if anyone’s gonna do it, it’s gonna be me, and if not now, when?” Breed said.
The swim spans approximately 900 miles over four months. Breed is currently about a week ahead of her planned pace despite what she described as extremely difficult conditions.
Her goal is to swim 10 miles each day.
Breed is not alone in her journey. Her team escorts her between a 52-foot sailboat where she lives during the expedition and a tender boat feeding her every 30 minutes.
Breed said strict rules govern the challenge.
“During the swim time I cannot touch the boat and then when the swim’s done for the day we mark that GPS coordinate and we go back to it the next day to resume the stage part of the swim,” she said.
As the effort has gained attention online, Breed said she hopes the journey serves a purpose beyond setting a record.
“To use the mission to inspire more people to get into the ocean, to inspire more women and girls to go after big audacious goals and to just highlight local ocean conservation issues. So the communities can get involved in what’s going on in their backyard,” she said.
With Monterey now behind her and hundreds of miles still ahead, Breed continues her southbound swim, using her passion for swimming and California’s coastline to raise awareness about ocean conservation and inspire others.
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