Orca Surfaces from the Depths
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ORCA SURFACES FROM THE DEPTHS By Stephen Malley This madness called ocean swimming: mornings in the pool, eight to 15 miles in the ocean, winter workouts, 58-degree water, sunup to sundown. Why? "Because it's there." t was well past midnight last Aug. 22, moonless and black. the surf, riding a horse Hans had rented, and toying with a baby The air was stirred by a slight breeze and the waves lapped octopus which had "snook up on us and was about to wrap his gently at the pebbles on the shore at Catalina Island's Doe's legs around ours." The helicopter ride to the island that morning had made her sick, but the shrimp dinner that night was Cove--as the island natives call Emerald Bay. somehow symbolic. They were on the beach now. Walking at the water's edge, BOO-O-O-M-M-M-the sound of the warning gun scrambled heads down, kicking pebbles. Mary Beth stooped to pick up a the swimmer's thoughts, accelerated her pulse. Her heart shell. Siga Albrecht and Mary Beth Colpo; coach and swimmer; skipped and a thousand thoughts flashed by in the next teacher and student. The swim from Catalina Island to micro-second. At once she was ready to start. Eager. Adjust the Marineland would be the crowning touch on months of goggles, touch the vaseline smeared on the shoulder where the practice--eight to 12 hours per day--12, 15, 18 miles--sunup to blue tank suit rubbed. Later, Mary Beth said the minute sundown. The physical training was Mary Beth's work. She between the warning gun and the starting signal seemed longer credits Siga with the mental preparation--reassuring, coaching than the eight hours, 43 minutes it took to become the first and directing. Tonight's swim was the final exam at the end of a woman and fastest swimmer ever to complete the Catalina to very trying term. A summation of every question. A trying of the facts. mainland crossing. "Mary Beth," Siga asked for the hundredth time, "do you want me to go over your training? This is what you've worked | f the air is clear enough, if the haze and the low-hanging for, and you've worked hard." smog cloud release their stranglehold on Lo~ Angeles, then Mary Beth Colpo--16, hearty, exuberant, senior class Catalina Island rises out of the Pacific just south of Los Angeles. president at Downey's Pius Catholic High School, 10-year On some days, the island is invisible. On other days, it's merely swimming veteran, 3~5 grade point average in an accelerated a shadow in the murk. But once in a while, when the air is fit for study program--shook her head. "Nope, she laugneo, Am not breathing and for seeing, the island is outlined sharply against a worried. I know I can make it." blue-sky backdrop, and seemingly near enough to... to touch. Orea is Icelandic for strength (and also the name of a famous The channel between Doc's Cove on Catalina Island and the whale). The Orca Swimming Club unofficially began in 1972 with boulder strewn cliffs near Marineland, 21.7 as-the-crow-flies- two swimmers. Now, six or seven 16-23 year olds train regularly miles, tosses and tugs friskly at the sailboats, fishing trawlers under Siga Albrecht, an Icelandic-born former ocean swimmer. and freighters which chug through enroute to the Los Angeles Skipper Micky Pittman idled the Atlantis, his 65-foot charter Harbor in San Pedro, and charter vessels and ferries haul boat, in the deep water in the bay. He and his three-man crew, visitors to the island, where the Wrigleys of chewing gum fame plus friends of the swimmer and spare paddlers, awaited Siga's maintain a vast estate and game reserve. return. Siga remained with her swimmer until the final minutes. In 1927, the Wrigleys organized the first cross~hannel race as The lights from the Atlantis stood out in the dark, and seemed a promotional ploy for Catalina Island. A top prize of $25,000 bright to Mary Beth. Siga kissed her and gave a reassuring was offered for the fastest finisher. Of 102 starters, only George wave as she climbed back in the skiff. A sudden chill--nerves?- Young, a Canadian, out-battled the cold, the swells and the made Mary Beth shiver. Two paddlers, both experienced in the currents to complete the swim. His time, 15-plus hours, was ways of the ocean, sat astride their boards in the shallow water. slow by today's standards. But the seed for swimming the Siga's husband, Hans, the AAU long distance swimming channel "because it's there" was planted. chairman, was on one board and a friend, Casey, sat on the other. They would accompany and guide Mary Beth through the The heart is the truest measure of an ocean swimmer's first two-hour shift. success. Like soul. Like spirit. Like soulful emotional spirit. Alone now, Mary Beth's thoughts wandered back to the day Punching through pain barriers at 90 strokes per minute, winter she had spent with her coach and Hans on Catalina--playing in workouts and 58~legree water. Mental conditioning is above par 8 SWIMMING WORLD A t~ O O v After struggling through currents, tides and ocean swells knees on the rocks at Marinelend. for eight hours, 43 minutes, Mary Beth Colpo battered her with physical training. they passed. Soon the swimmers and Siga will map a series of By appearances, especially when bundled from head to toe goals, and mark the path to reaching them. against the cold, Siga Albrecht could be mistaken for one of her The swimmers meet year-around at 6 aJn. for pool training swimmers. The intensity in her eyes while watching practice, with the Lakewood Swim Club, where Siga and former however, and the urgency in her voice when giving instructions, Olympian Mark Russell coach an AAU club. At Easter, the club defines her role as coach. She says her greatest feeling of begins to gradually increase the intensity and frequency of the accomplishment, greater even than the eight successful ocean workouts--reaching a peak of eight to 15 miles and six crossings she has coached and coaxed the past two summers, days per week in June and July, a program other ocean and greater than all the records Orca has established {both swimmers consider the most rigorous in the sport. directions, singles and doubles, men and women), is giving a To accommodate this sunup to sundown schedule, Mary swimmer strength to make one more pull through the salt water Beth's mother pedaled a bicycle five miles to work so her and tears--when one more pull is toying with the break~ven daughter could use the car. "I didn't mind," Mrs. Colpo says. "I point. enjoyed it. I needed the exercise." "One thing that really makes me feel like I'm a coach." she In spite of the time committed to swimming, the group is not says quietly, "is when a swimmer comes out of the water during maladjusted socially.All have friends and interests on dry land. a workout, in tears, saying, 'I c-a-a-a-a-n't go any more,' and I Outside activities are condensed and force-fed into available can answer her. I can put my arm around her and talk her back free time. Parental pressure, unlike the unwielding weight born into the water. by many an age grouper, often takes the opposite form with "Sure the crossings are worthwhile," she continues, "but they pleas of, "Can't you take a day off?" The team is also a group of are just the dessert." friends, like any group bound by similar interests. The mental "It's easy to get down on practice," Colpo admits, "but Siga is load of practice is lightened by jokes, and when Colpo broke really positive and keeps us up. She kept reminding us of what John York's and David Cox's record for a single crossing, York we were working for. It's neat to commit yourself to someone presented her with a bouquet of roses. like this and she was the one who would get me where I wanted to go. I give her all the credit. Without this and without her, I The heart and soul commitment, then, is the first step to wouldn't have been able to do it." success, to the measure of personal accomplishment--not to "It takes someone who is willing to work with the mental side glory, awards, ribbons, media attention or a straight shot at the as well as the physical," Cindy Cleveland adds. Olympics. Ocean training begins at Thanksgiving and continues for two "Ocean swimming is an inner struggle," said Mary Beth days each week through the winter. Swims are short, often no during an afternoon break at school, registering at UCLA for an longer than two or three miles. And rather than physical English class she will take to get a jump on her freshman year conditioning, the practices build confidence and a base for future there, and afternoon workout with the Lakewood club. She has goals. "If they know they can get out and swim through this," already established national cutoff times of 1:02.2 and 2:11.9 in Hans said during an early February workout as a steady rain the 100 and 200 meter freestyle---sprint races in the swell of the fell at Naples Beach, "they know they can swim through ocean.