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On the morning of Sunday, Sept. 22, 9-year-old Dylan Udell braved the cold, choppy waters of the San Francisco Bay between Alcatraz and San Francisco. Dylan, who lives in Atherton and attends Encinal Elementary School, said she wants to show people that girls can swim in the open water too.
Dylan said that she has been swimming for as long as she can remember, but was ultimately inspired to push herself to complete the swim from Alcatraz after her brother, William, completed the swim last year.
“He really pushed me to get to my goals,” she said. Dylan, along with her family and friends in the water, made up a race team that they dubbed the “Stinky Turtles.”
Dylan completed the swim as part of the 2024 Alcatraz Swim with the Centurions race. Though there were many other young swimmers who made the 1.3-mile journey from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park Cove in San Francisco, including her brother, Dylan was the youngest swimmer by three years according to race results. There is no official record for the youngest person to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco, but a representative from Water World Swim, the organization that held the race, said that their youngest ever contestants were 8 years old.
Despite being the youngest in the race, Dylan was far from the slowest. She completed the swim in just over an hour, and placed ahead of 28 other contestants.
Dylan’s swim started early in the morning when she, along with the other contestants, jumped into the bay from a ferry near the west side of Alcatraz Island. Dylan said there was one moment where she had to take a rest, when the tide was coming into the bay and its strong currents began to push her off course.
“After we had swum for about 40 minutes without stopping, the flood tide began to pick up, which means the water was pushing us from right to left as we tried to stay on course,” said Monika Bickert, Dylan’s godmother, who swam the distance with her. “We paused for a moment and decided we needed to sprint to make it into the mouth of the park before the tide became too strong.”
Despite being tired, Dylan pushed forward and made it into the park.
“While I was swimming I was … saying to myself, ‘I’m almost there, I got this,” said Dylan. “I felt like it was never gonna end, but then I looked behind me and Alcatraz was far away.”
Training for a long-distance swim like this is no easy feat. Dylan was in the water with her mom, godmother or coach almost every morning, improving her stamina and technique.
“Almost every weekend, we … go to the bay and train too,” Dylan said. “I think it took a lot of perseverance, because sometimes I really didn’t want to do it. I wanted to stay home and rest, but then most of the time I went to swim.”
Dylan said she is not scared of sharks in the bay, but she doesn’t like to open her eyes under water.
“I don’t like to see what’s under me,” she said. “But at the end I opened my eyes underwater, and I was really happy about that because it felt like I faced my fears.”
Dylan’s swimming coach, Janet Renner, said that she is a uniquely driven young swimmer, and continues to persevere and face her fears in long-distance swimming.
“(She had) self-driven determination, dedication to training and surround(ed) herself with the support necessary to achieve this feat few ever would dare to go after,” said Renner. “Her focus and tenacity in her training led her to a most successful swim on a cool, foggy morning in San Francisco.”
The distance from Alcatraz to Aquatic Cove Park, where the swim ended, is equivalent to about 96 laps in a standard pool.
Dylan’s mom, Priscila, said that she swam up to 104 laps at a time during her practices to make sure she had more than enough strength to fight the currents in the bay.
“I believe that it doesn’t matter if you’re big or small, or a kid or an adult, that you can do anything if you put your mind to it and have perseverance,” said Dylan.
‘I believe that it doesn’t matter if you’re big or small, or a kid or an adult, that you can do anything if you put your mind to it and have perseverance.’
Dylan udell
In addition to her perseverance, Dylan had the support of her family and friends to help her complete the difficult swim. As she braved the currents, she was flanked by her two “swim angels,” her mom and her godmother. Her brother also competed in the race, supported by their dad, hoping to improve his time from his previous swim from Alcatraz.
Dylan and her mom said that a big part of her success was the support from other long-distance swimmers, including coach Tom McRae of Menlo Park-based SOLO Aquatics, and the other competition swimmers with Water World Swim.
“It’s this really lovely nurturing environment and group,” said her mom Priscila Udell. “There are people who swim for time, but it’s really about the experience of being in the open water. … There aren’t people trying to swim over your kid for first place.”
Michael Lockwood, a coach at Water World Swim, said that the Udell family taking on this challenge and swimming together is what the long-distance swimming community is all about.
“Swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco is no small task,” he said. “It is so inspiring that Dylan would prepare for and take on this challenge at such a young age. … For the Udell family to swim together and support each other in the water is heartwarming and speaks to the core of what Water World Swim is about.”
Her long swim to San Francisco also inspired other contestants at the race on Sept. 22.
“It was lovely to see other people be inspired by her,” said her mom. “They were saying ‘Oh my gosh! Look at this little girl! This is a 9-year-old girl!’”
As she approached the shore, Dylan’s grandparents, cousins and her friends from Encinal cheered and held up signs. They chanted “go Dylan, go Dylan!” as she swam up to the beach.
“I could hear them screaming and it made me so happy,” said Dylan.
Dylan said she has no firm plans for future long-distance swims, but is excited to get back in the water.
“I like to take one swimming goal at a time,” said Dylan. “So now I’m going to wait and rest a little bit and then find out what’s next.”
Dylan said that following her swim, she felt very proud of her accomplishment, but at the same time felt “normal” and “like herself.” She and her family celebrated afterward with a dinner of homemade bread and patatas con chile.
