wave.jpgRemember how when you were a little kid, you’d go swimming any time you had the chance, no matter how cold it was? Maybe that same imperviousness to temperature’s how 9-year-old Daniel Bessonov managed to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco in 41 minutes Sunday.

Wetsuit clad Bessenov swam almost 2 miles in the reportedly 57-degree water of the SF Bay, beginning on the prison island and ending near the Golden Gate Yacht Club. Accompanied by a boat of supporters and swimming alongside his coach, he powered through the treacherous currents, jellyfish (guess they didn’t all wash ashore), and “the ‘mind games’ of open-water swimming.”

“Cold and nice,” said Bessenov as he finished the swim, saying that he wants to do it again when he’s 10, this time without a wetsuit. Yeah, I don’t feel like a failure AT ALL.

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the author

Eve Batey is the editor and publisher of the San Francisco Appeal. She used to be the San Francisco Chronicle's Deputy Managing Editor for Online, and started at the Chronicle as their blogging and interactive editor. Before that, she was a co-founding writer and the lead editor of SFist. She's been in the city since 1997, presently living in the Outer Sunset with her husband, cat, and dog. You can reach Eve at eve@sfappeal.com.

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