The record-breaking open water swimmer, a Bay Area native, described her feat as “like doing a trail 50k or a half Ironman every day for about 110 days” in a social media post. Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday, she said she had moved through the ocean with “whales beneath me, plastic beside me”.
Breed's coastal swim was years in the planning and came during a period of extreme Pacific weather, including a Super El Niño that brought tropical storms, dangerous waves and a massive surge of warm coastal water called a “Kelvin wave”. Breed told local outlet KPBS that because of the current pattern, “the current is quite literally going against us the entire way”. She navigated waves as high as 7ft, which she likened to swimming “in a washing machine”.
One of the most difficult stretches came at the finish, swimming through polluted waters off Imperial Beach near the US-Mexico border. Breed called it “some of the dirtiest water in the United States, if not the world” and said it felt like “swimming through sewage”. In an Instagram video, she contrasted public fear of sharks with the damage humans cause to the ocean, saying: “We are more fearful about that than we are about the damage and destruction that we are causing to our own home.”
Breed, a former University of California, Berkeley, long-distance swimmer and member of the US national team, had already completed the English Channel (2018) and the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland (2019), but she said those 21-mile crossings were “just a quick dip in the pool” compared with the 900-mile journey. She slept aboard the support ship and made stops to meet with ocean conservation groups. The endeavor is being officially documented by the World Open Water Swimming Association, and Breed streamed much of the swim on YouTube, including the final leg.
Describing her approach to the ocean, Breed told KQED earlier this year: “You cannot bring hubris or expectations into the ocean – whether you're surfing, spearfishing, sailing or swimming. You can't. When I get in the ocean, it's a full surrender. You're completely present. Your only job is to put one arm in front of the other and be at peace with whatever the ocean gives you that day.”