​The weekend of November 11 and 12 was a great one for recognizing swimming achievements!  On Saturday, on the Santa Cruz Pier, the Monterey Bay Swimming Association celebrated the year of open water swimming in Monterey Bay with a gathering of swimmers, MBSA members, and family and friends.   In the photo is MBSA board member Scott Tapley presenting the award to Monterey Bay solo swimmer, Amy Gubser.  She swam the 25 miles across the bay in 16 hours, 49 minutes.  The stinging nettle jellies were waiting for her on the Monterey side of the bay, and she did get stung, but that did not deter Amy from finishing the swim.  Congratulations!!

​On Sunday, Cyndy Hertzer and I had the wonderful opportunity to meet an amazing Olympian at the Pacific Masters annual gathering.  Note in one of the photos below is Natalie Coughlin, Olympic champion and world record holder.   She participated in three Olympics:  Athens, Beijing, and London.  Some of you might note, too, that she starred on Dancing with the Stars and one of the TV chef shows.  It was truly a pleasure to meet her and hear her talk about her swimming career and what she’s doing with her life since then.

You, too, can meet an amazing Olympic champion if you attend next year’s gathering.  The gathering takes place the second weekend of November.  Pac Masters offers a morning workout, a tech talk, a great lunch, and then you meet and listen to a world renown swimmer.  Best of all, it’s free for Pac Masters members.   

Cyndy swam the morning workout as I was on deck helping the other coaches “crack the whip”.   This happened at Acalanes High School.  Lots of fun and a great way to start the day!  Then, at St. Mary’s College, I sat on a panel with other open water swimmers to talk about the many aspects of open water swimming.

Both Cyndy and I were recognized as Pac Masters Open Water Champs for 2017.  You, too, can be an open water champ by attending the great swims planned for 2018.  Get in touch with me if you have any questions.  New, additional information about Pacific Masters is posted on our bulletin board located on deck at the pool.   

Sunday morning, January 1, 2017, dawned with calm water and beautiful silvery light shining on to Cowell Beach.

Over twenty CRUZers and friends gathered to celebrate the New Year with our annual "first-of-the-year" ocean swim.  Many of us jumped in and quickly jumped out, a good number swam to the lifeguard tower and back, and a hearty few swam to the end of the pier and back.

WOW!!  Was the Donner Lake Swim popular this year with 400 swimmers signed up to do it.  Twenty-three CRUZers attended the swim to enjoy the only Pacific Masters open water event that is "one length of the pool".  This year the swim was designated by United States Masters Swimming as the National Championship event for a distance between 1 and 3 miles and CRUZ finished with 4 NATIONAL CHAMPS!  See results below.

Thanks to the many of you who showed up on the beach this weekend to help with and take part in our Open Water Weekend!  We enjoyed great swims and fine company with 321 swimmers in Saturday's One Mile Race and 111 swimmers in Sunday's Two Mile Cruz Cruise.

I recommend finding the results for one or more of your lane mates and plan on joining them for next year's swims.

Because we all happen to be in the same age group, our main objective was to dominate the women's 45-49 year old relay scene - or at least, to show up for it and have a good time swimming together.  We came in second in the 200m free relay, with a time of 2:16.88, and, okay, we CRUSHED the 400m medley relay at 5:45.99!  (Yes, we won.  Yes, we were also the only all women's team entered from our age group.) 

And in the meantime, Cyndy, Marta, and Kim each pulled in some impressive individual performances as well.  Here's a summary of their results...