Catherine Breed has become the first person to swim the entire length of the California coastline, completing a 900-mile endurance challenge from the California-Oregon border to Imperial Beach near Mexico.
The 33-year-old finished the swim on Sunday after 111 days in the water. She then held a ceremonial finale in Coronado on Monday, where friends, family and supporters gathered to welcome her ashore.
Breed swam an average of 10 miles a day, completing the distance in sessions lasting between three and six hours. Her route took her through water temperatures below 50F, powerful currents, strong winds and waves reaching seven feet.
She was accompanied throughout by a seven-person team aboard a 52-foot vessel. Each night, the group went ashore to rest before returning the next day to the point where Breed had stopped.
The expedition had been expected to finish in November but was completed ahead of schedule. Breed left her job at biotechnology company Intuitive Surgical to undertake the challenge.
In the closing stages, she swam past the mouth of the Tijuana River, an area she described as being affected by a severe sewage and pollution crisis.
In a video posted before her final 2.5-mile stretch, Breed said she was more than two miles offshore but that the water was “gross”, adding that it felt as though she was “swimming through sewage”.
She said the experience had made her think about the attention given to sharks compared with the damage being caused to the marine environment.
“It is some of the dirtiest water in the United States, if not the world,” she said. “And how we are more fearful about that than we are about the damage and destruction we are causing to our own home that thereby directly affects us. I don’t know. Food for thought.”
The Swim California project was intended to raise awareness of ocean preservation. Breed also said she wanted to encourage women and girls to take on ambitious physical challenges.
She documented the journey on social media, likening the daily effort to completing a 50-kilometre trail race or half-Ironman every day for about 110 days. The route also took her through areas populated by sharks.
Breed has previously completed marathon swims across the English Channel and around Manhattan, as well as becoming the first person to swim the 27 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to Half Moon Bay.
Her final ceremonial finish was intended to give her the chance to celebrate with those who had supported her throughout the expedition. “I want tomorrow to feel not like another normal day. I want it to feel celebratory,” she said.
