KissMyAsscroft

Cons were givin' HOT showers twice a day. Can't get used to the temp of the bay that way. Hypothermia is guaranteed.

/Grandpaps lived (worked) on the Island.

bob_ross: Grandpaps lived (worked) on the Island.

He didn't go by the name of "Vicky", did he?

/Hey everyone, it's Obscure Movie Reference Monday!

Is anyone else tired of these misleading headlines?

untrustworthy

LOL!

bob_ross: LOL!

Thanks.

/RIP, Phil

there's no worse punishment than a month in that.

Show off!

The idea that a single 9 year old kid can raise 30k for any cause is pretty damn impressive.

rose8199: That's pretty cool, but if I remember correctly from the tour, the sharks around Alcatraz are about a foot long. Not really the man eaters you'd think.

I remember that from the tour too, though not all the sharks are that tiny. Some are pretty sizable but aren't maneaters and generally are piss scared of their own shadow, so, you know, the chances of becoming a Hot Pocket are slim to none.

Was he covered in glass and sharks?

That's cool, but people swim that all the time. There's an annual invitational swim from Alcatraz to the Shore put on by the San Francisco Rowing club.

Why hero?

SneakinSally

I agree. Most--if not all--kids who are AAU/US competitive swimmers do that each morning (and oftentimes, again at night) in the course of a workout.

Kudos to the kid; give him a cookie. But be mindful of the fact that 1.) he had a cozy & warm wetsuit on, (or it was a drysuit?) which is 2.) overwhelmingly buoyant. Furthermore, he did this in "under two hours"?? Most ~10 year-old competitive swimmers complete the 1650 yd. freestyle event (the mile swim) in between :20-:30 minutes.

Yes, of course, he had waves to deal with. Oh frustration.

There is no historical record of a shark attack in the San Francisco Bay (past the Golden Gate Bridge).

There are at least two Alcatraz swims each year. My business partner swam in one of them earlier this year.

It's still pretty impressive that a 9-year-old kid is up for it. There's a very strong current pulling you around, according to my friend.

I work for sharks and this is bullshiat

Why is he a hero? Because he raised 30 large, that's why. I enjoy Fark and I understand the "culture" but some of you are miserable jackasses. Haters, if you will. I could really care less about a kid swimming in the bay- but damn, he's 9 and he thinks about his fellow man. That's a hero.

When I was nine year boy, I was busy wearing my mom's clothes and make-up when I was left alone. I also had a little friend that no one saw named Kil, who liked to start fires.

Yea, it's spiffy because he raised money for a good cause.

But know how much it costs to have a crewed coast guard helo and the people/equipment/fuel required to support it for an afternoon?

Iron Felix

Oh God. Next are you going to tell us how much jet fuel was wasted during Fleet Week?

/so sick of defending the Blue Angels

Mugato

LMAO!!

Keith Moon, I don't know if that tirade was directed at me but, I was curious. DRTFA, it looked like a cake walk to me in that body suit. All you gotta do is not fall asleep. 30K is a nice chunk of change. Why all the nastyness? Talk about being a hater. Lazy people are your fellow man too, nudnick.

Hey CornHut are you cute?

I don't imagine that a 1.4 mile swim is a "cakewalk" for any 9-year-old (and very few adults, for that matter) in a pool, let alone in the ocean.

theviciousscribe: "His effort raised about $30,000 for the Red Cross Katrina Hurricane Victims Fund."

Why not just sign the check over to Halliburton?

Ya think this $$ might be used for shiny batons for them nice Nola police?

Or maybe used to clean the stolen Caddy's?

How about sending his check over to the general welfare fund or Red Cross.
Gotta give the $2K FEMA/Red Cross credit cards so jerks can buy $800 bags or hit the strip clubs.
F'em!

StillH2O 1.4 miles with positive buoyancy? Please tell me the hard part? I swam further without the suit when I was his age. So what's your point? I mean was it choppy? Or were there fifty foot swells? Now considering he was still within a "bay" we should just go ahead and drop the connotation he was in the open ocean. Sure it was a sensational stunt but it's been done. He should have just done it in a pool, while holding his breath.

BulletTooth_Toeknee-
Do yourself a favor and become informed about a subject before commenting. It doesn't take a MENSA menber to figure out that swimming in a bay is not easy- even with a wetsuit. You were trying to hate. Just admit it...
/losers troll for dates on comment boards

I wonder how much that helicopter and crew cost hovering around for 2+ hours?

Keith Moon is a hater.

I didn't comment numb nuts, I asked a question. Learn how to read, you presumptuous prick.

BulletTooth, you're obviously trolling AND ripping on a 9-year-old, either of which disqualifies you from being able to have a rational conversation, so don't bother with the questions. The kid swam close to a mile and a half in the ocean and raised 30,000 bucks for charity, while you sit at your computer and spew hate. Period. Next thread.

"30K is a nice chunk of change"......yes feel the hate.

Oh god. Props to mangetout on that one.

/loves the new comment cliche

Too me this is amazing. Swimming 1.4 miles is out of the
question for me. I've ridden my bike 75 miles in a day,
but I doubt I could swim even a mile.

The guards at Alcatraz would tell the inmates the water was shark-infested to scare them. That's how that got started, I think.

/made this same swim when I was only 7-years-old
//just wasn't an attention whore about it

The cynics stick out like sore thumbs in threads like these.

And yet, his counterpart on the other coast is having the swings removed from his playground because they're too dangerous.

I read the article and the comments, and I'm suprised something that I'm extremely curious about isn't revealed: how did he raise thirty thousand dollars? Was it somewhat of a dare, ie "If donations reach $30,000, I'll swim to San Francisco from Alcatraz!" Or did he just arrange to swim and then was able to say "I'm nine and I escaped from Alcatraz; donate money to the Red Cross." Were there sponsers involved, a la Nascar? Did he make the swim for the hell of it and the fact that he found $30,000 along the way was just icing on the cake?

Interesting story, regardless.

"If donations reach $30,000, I'll swim to San Francisco from Alcatraz!" Or did he just arrange to swim and then was able to say "I'm nine and I escaped from Alcatraz; donate money to the Red Cross." Were there sponsers involved, a la Nascar? Did he make the swim "If donations reach $30,000, I'll swim to San Francisco from Alcatraz!" Or did he just arrange to swim and then was able to say "I'm nine and I escaped from Alcatraz; donate money to the Red Cross." Were there sponsers involved, a la Nascar? Did he make the swim for the hell of it and the fact that he found $30,000 along the way was just icing on the cake?

and the fact that he found $30,000 along the way was just icing on the cake?

And if a tree falls in the forest.........who the fark cares! A nine year old kid has done more than your cynical ass ever will with that attitude.

Any of you adults who want to bash this kid and say that it's no big deal are welcome to do the swim yourself.

http://www.envirosports.com/events/displayevent.php?eventid=1282

If you don't think it's enough of a challenge, enter the "no wetsuit" category.

Or be a big man and do the whole Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon:

http://www.tricalifornia.com/alcatraz/2005/index.htm

but then you're still a wuss for swimming it during the summer.

No, it's not hard to swim a mile or so in the pool, and it's not hard to swim in a wetsuit. Swimming a mile or two in a wetsuit in the ocean isn't that hard, but this course is well known for being challenging.

Even if it's easy, at least he managed to get people to donate money to a worthy cause.

/novice triathlete
// not looking forward to racing in the SF bay next month

Good for him. I've swum in 58 degree water (without a wetsuit) and know that first you get a headache, then you go numb and it all kind of goes blank from there until you finish - of course I had a whole lot more bodyfat on me than this kid did (but he was in 53 degree water). The wetsuit definitely helps, but in my opinion anyone who compares this to swimming the same distance in a pool and thinks his time was slow hasn't seen him swim (saw him on TV) and hasn't swum in open/choppy water.

/swam distance - longest race 4.4 miles.

2005-10-11 02:17:55 AM Mr.Man

My ass is not cynical. As I previously stated, my ass is merely curious. I think it's great that he managed such a thing, I just don't know how he did it, and would like to know. Curiousity is quite a good attitude to have-- Einstein himself said that he had no special talents, he was only passionately curious. I apologize if my comment came across as unreasonably sarcastic or cynical, that was not my intent.

30k ... wow thats a lot of money... i wonder how much it cost to have 2 swimming ,2 kayaking and a helicopter escort him all the way.

what the hell kind of parents?