Daring grandma makes 17-hour swim in shark-infested waters off San Francisco
She kept calm and swam on.
A California grandmother completed a jaw-dropping 29.6-mile, 17-hour swim through frigid, shark-infested waters off the coast of San Francisco, and while the apex predators kept their distance, she suffered jellyfish stings as some nosy sea lions and seals tagged along.
Amy Appelhans Gubser, 55, became the sixth person ever to make the daring swim through the treacherous stretch of sea from San Francisco Bay’s Golden Gate Bridge to the tiny Farallon Islands in the Pacific Ocean on May 11.
She is also the first to complete the grueling plunge from the mainland out — as opposed to starting from the islands and swimming to the shore — according to the Marathon Swimmers Federation [MSF], who named the Farallon Islands among its “Toughest 13” swims in the world due to the cold water, strong tides, unstable weather, and, of course, great white sharks.
“I know the sharks are there. I’m just grateful they didn’t find me interesting,” Gubser told The Post.
There was plenty of wildlife, though. She suffered numerous jellyfish stings during the swim, which “weren’t fun.”
She was also trailed by some curious seals and sea lions, who frequent the waters around the Farallon Islands with their predators.
As she approached the island, Gubser’s team said they spotted a couple of “half-eaten” seals, raising fears of a nearby predator. She’s thankful that they didn’t tell her about that.
She said she knew a shark attack was a real possibility. Her support team brought additional emergency medical equipment just in case and took on the heavy burden of potentially witnessing their friend get eaten alive.
“I don’t think people really understand that when [my team] signed up to be on this swim, it was possible that they wouldn’t see me come back,” she said.
Before dawn on Saturday, Gubser dove into the waters at the foot of the eastern span of the Golden Gate and started her historic trip — after about an hour delay so a massive container ship could pass.
The daunting endeavor was closely monitored by her seven-person support team, who followed her through the dangerous and capricious conditions on kayaks and boats. They fed her every half hour to keep her energy up and made sure she was all right as they documented her progress.
One team member who followed in a kayak used a “shark shield,” which emits an electrical field that turns them away.
Over the course of her 17-hour, three-minute journey, Gubser faced varying conditions of fog, wind and frigid water temperatures — which, at times, reached a bone-chilling 43 degrees. She made part of her open-water odyssey through the ominous dark of night, which limited visibility to just her fingertips.
“When [my team] signed up to be on this swim, it was possible that they wouldn’t see me come back.”
Amy Appelhans Gubser
Mentally, too, she struggled to keep a level head as the hours rolled by like the waves she fought at times, but she persevered.
“It’s a challenge because you have to keep yourself entertained, but not overly thoughtful, because then you can get some negative thoughts,” she said, noting that singing songs in her head was useful.
“If you asked me what time it was during that whole swim, I couldn’t have told you. I just went into a place where I didn’t want to be aware of time passing,” Gubser added.
‘It’s a healthy crazy’
But her biggest enemy, it turned out, was the cold, which she had prepared for.
“I knew it would drop down into the upper 40s — but 43 was an unprecedented one for me. I’m not an ice swimmer,” she said. “It was really chill, and I knew when I would feel those icy patches that if I had to sustain those for a long period of time I wasn’t going to finish.”
Gubser, a fetal cardiology nurse at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, had been planning the epic swim for five years but repeatedly had to put it off due to weather and tidal conditions.
“This has been so long in the making that I feel that completing this and the successful execution of this feels so amazing because everything went seamlessly,” she said.
While she swam in college, she only started these extreme, open-water swims 10 years ago, when her youngest child graduated high school, and she knew “it was time for me to do something for myself.”
“When I found open-water swimming, it was the first time I was really able to decompress” from the stress of work and life, she said.
“My kids thought that I was crazy and, you know what, I love that, because it’s a healthy crazy,” Gubser added.
She met other open-water swimmers in her community, which enabled her to conquer these huge goals.
She’s participated in open-water events all over the world, including a 21-mile swim across the North Channel from Ireland to Scotland in 2018 and crossed the 8.9-mile Strait of Gibraltar in 2015.
Last year, she swam completely around Manhattan, a 29.5-mile journey.
She is just one of six people in the world to complete at least three of the MSF’s “Toughest 13” routes.
After Saturday’s adventure, Gubser said she felt fine and was already back at work in the hospital on Tuesday, which she attributes to her intense recovery training.
Now she says she can always point out the islands and tell people that she swam there once.
“Whenever I see those islands I’m just drawn to them. They’re so captivating on the horizon and they’re kind of eerie. It’s really amazing,” said Gubser, who lives in Pacifica and can see islands from the shore.
“It’s hilarious! I think it’s really funny — like, who does that, right?” she said.
Anyone can complete such an immense challenge if they put in the training, Gubser said.
“I just want people to know that I’m just a very average-looking person, I am not like this totally chiseled, ripped elite athlete person. I’m kind of like a mom, you know?” she continued.
“I’m so proud of it, and I hope it inspires [others.]”
