Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim, live.

From the island to Aquatic Park

The Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim takes experienced open-water swimmers off a ferry beside Alcatraz Island and across 1.5 miles of San Francisco Bay to Aquatic Park.

The 2027 swim is on Saturday 25 September. Swimmers check in at Aquatic Park in the morning, board a ferry to the island and jump in at the south end of Alcatraz when the horn sounds. As swimmers round the south end of the island, Aquatic Park is straight ahead, and the organisers give instructions on race morning on which buildings to aim for.

The organiser is clear that this is not a swim for beginners. Tide and current in the bay set the line, there is a 75 minute cut-off, and the entry page asks for real open-water experience. There are categories for swimmers with and without wetsuits, and hoods are allowed for those who feel the cold.

The organisers say they have safely escorted more than 20,000 swimmers along this course over the past 30 plus years, and 2027 is the 34th annual swim. The entry page recalls the escape from the island prison on the night of 12 June 1962, and notes that the event is limited and sells out months in advance.

Friends and family cannot ride the chartered ferries, and the organiser recommends Fort Mason Center for parking, with footpaths over the hill to Aquatic Park. Entries are handled through the organiser's race registration page, and an entrant letter with the race day details is sent one to two weeks before the swim.

On Livebib you can follow a swimmer live if they choose to share their own position from the phone they carry, for example in a tow float or on an escort boat. That position comes from the swimmer, not from the organiser's timing, and the official results are published by the organiser.