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Ian W. Carney Memorial Transbay Swim-Santa Cruz to Monterey The UCSC swimming and diving teams receive no funding from the school. This has led the Slugs to resort to some creative and unique means of fundraising. Back in 1998 when Kim Musch took over Micky Wender’s job as head coach, a source of team income was lacking as the school continued to cut team funding. In 2001, Coach Musch held a meeting with the team, his swimmers told him that they wanted to swim from
Before sunrise, a team of swimmers, support kayakers, and a sail boat captain met at the
This marked the beginning of what has since become the best fundraiser in the swim team’s history. For the next ten or so hours the team of six will take turns swimming for twenty minutes at a time until the very last leg. After each 20 minute leg, the swimmer gets back onto the boat, so cold and numb that the first 10 minutes after the swim is almost worse than the swim itself. The delusional swimmer is greeted and congratulated by the rest of the team as he/she frantically tries to get warm. Such simple tasks as talking and putting on clothes become huge endeavors as cold and fatigue set in. Regardless of how many sweatshirts, parkas and sleeping bags are brought, the cold can not be avoided. Just as the swimmer starts to regain feeling in their extremities, its time to get ready to dive back in. Each time, the 20 minute swim seems longer and longer. As the kayakers shout and signal how many minutes are left, each passing minute feels like a lifetime. For many of the swimmers, the feeling of being out in the ocean is fearful enough. Throughout the years, there have been jellyfish attacks, shark sightings, and even encounters with whales and sea lions. For the average swimmer, just looking down into the abyss is frightening enough. In years past, swimmers have had to be pulled on top of kayaks, and even taken out of the water because of the presence of blue-fin sharks. Each time the swimmers dive in, they have to put their fears beside them. Traditionally
In 2005, the Transbay swim was officially named the Ian W. Carney Memorial Transbay Swim. Ian Carney was a member of the UCSC swim team from 2002-2004. Ian was not noted for his speed, but for his love and passion for the sport of swimming as well as his teammates. He participated in the bay swim as a swimmer all three years that he was on the team. On December 20, 2004, In a tragic glissading accident on
For those interested in donating money in support of the UC Santa Cruz Men's and Women's swim team, please click the link below. Support UCSC Swimming and Diving
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rbor to the open ocean. After about five minutes, which felt more like an eternity, a faint “OK, Go!” could be heard, but not seen, in the distance as the sun still had not risen from behind the smokestacks at Moss Landing.
the last twenty minutes is swum by all six participants and any kayakers who want as they finally make it to the