32 x 75 x 9:04:33.34.

Rabbi Nachum Shifren Conquers the Catalina Classic

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” — Exodus 20:8 זָכוֹר אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ

Lifeguard Bob Hogan and Cliff Webster of the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce started the Catalina Classic in 1955: 32 miles from Two Harbors on Catalina to the Manhattan Beach Pier. A young Ricky Grigg won the first one. It didn't last. The race ran only five times before rough seas and pier construction killed it, and it went dormant for two decades.

In 1982, LA County lifeguard Buddy Bohn revived it with his mentor, Weldon "Gibby" Gibson, a veteran of the 1950s races, after the Manhattan Beach Historical Society asked Bohn to find an old paddleboard for a museum exhibit. Ten paddlers raced that first year, and it has run every year since, except 2020.

Tom Zahn set the record at 5:29:37 in 1958, and it stood until Gene Rink lowered it in 1987. Tim Gair got it down to 5:02:12 in 1999, and in 2024 Jack Bark became the first to break five hours, at 4:54:45.

This year's 49th Classic drew 154 paddlers in two classes, stock (12 feet) and unlimited (over 12 feet). Finn Aune, 23, won overall in 5:27:07, Harris Henderson, 19, won the men's stock, and Emily Bark won the women's unlimited.

Twenty-six miles across the sea

Santa Catalina is a-waitin' for me,

Santa Catalina, the island of romance,

romance, romance, romance.

Water all around it ev'rywhere,

tropical trees and the salty air,

but for me the thing that's a-waitin' there's romance.

There's that 1956 song by The Four Preps who reckon that Catalina is romantic. Was this adventure romantic for you?
It was 32 miles, from The Isthmus to the Manhattan Beach Pier. More than anything, it was mind over matter. If you were to think about the distance and the insanity of such an endeavor for a moment, you'd be in Davy Jones' locker! Brief flashes abound: my youth, my father and family, my mentor and inspiration for the whole malaise, Tom Zahn, and of course the feeling of finishing!

But you did it. You finished.

I did.

I asked Claude how to congratulate you in Yiddish and/or Hebrew. It said: “Mazel tov” or “Kol hakavod (כל הכבוד)” or “Gezunt un shtark” or “Biz hundert un tsvantsik.”

Thank you.

THE FIRST CROSSING: 1974

How many times had you done the Catalina channel before this year?

I took two third places and one 4th place in '81, '82, and '83. And then the very first time, 1974. That one was solo.

Solo? Did you tell anyone you were doing it? Did you have anyone looking out for you?

Well… I told Zahn I was doing it, on the Larry Capune board.

Jeez. Did you see anyone along the way who thought you were nuts?

I started off with some dories that were out there doing their race, but after about five miles I didn't see anybody. It was nuts. No compass, no navigation instruments. I felt like Spencer Tracy in “The Old Man and the Sea.”

I just saw an Instagram where a guy's out in a boat and an iguana is swimming in the middle of the ocean. It swims over, jumps on his boat, and he takes it into shore. So maybe you were the lost iguana. How long did it take you?

I think it took me about seven hours.

Was it perilous?

No. I don't remember what it was like. I was just gung ho, so psyched up. I was paddling my ass off. I was in good shape and just very inspired to do it. No doubt it was hard. After all, it was a half-century ago. Even intense pain subsides before that!

Reminds me of a line from Apocalypse Now: “He took them into Cambodia. He split up a large North Vietnamese Regiment and completely destroyed them. He just went out and did it. No official instructions, no contact with command... God, what balls.”

REVIVING THE RACE

When you competed in the early '80s, how many paddling competitors were there?
Like 10, something like that.

Did everyone have support boats?
I think so.

So it was pretty informal back then. And you finished third once and fourth twice.

Right.

How many were there this time?

Seemed like 200. A lot.

TOM ZAHN

So you think the solo crossing revived interest?

One hundred percent. I was so inspired by Tom Zahn, and I was working out with him every day. He just kind of took me under his wing, and he saw in me somebody that was taking the legacy one step further, because I was so stoked about paddling, so stoked about doing the Catalina crossing because of Zahn.

THE CAPUNE BOARD

Oh, by the way, the board I used in '74 — remember Larry Capune?

I remember the name. He paddled the whole coast, right?

Well from Frisco down to Newport. That was Larry Capune's board. Larry gave it to Zahn to sell, and Zahn said, "Okay, I'll sell it." Then when I wanted to paddle the channel, Zahn said, "Hey, I got a board for you. Use this." So I did.

What happened to the rest of Zahn's equipment?

Zahn had tons of equipment at the end of the Santa Monica Pier before the storms destroyed it in 1983. He had a bunch of boards there, and they just got washed away. Ruined.

THE NORTH SHORE, 1969–72

There are things that I experienced, both physically and psychologically, when I was on the North Shore for three years, from '69 to '72. I noticed that the fast paddlers, the guys who were really in good shape, were the guys who were dominating the peak out at Sunset and Laniakea. I completely focused on that. 

I saw these guys and I just got this whole ethos. I absorbed it. Another thing that was transformative: I was surrounded by drugs, drug dealers, and roommates that were nefarious. The contrast between the watermen whom I admired and emulated and these lizards couldn't have been more stark. It molded my mind set for the rest of my life. The masters of Sunset, like Eddie Aikau, Clyde his brother, Barry Kanaiapuni, Paul Strauch, and others were all about being in shape and mastering the shifting Sunset peaks.

I stayed away from the drug addicts and the drug dealers. It was a big scene over there. But I just loved being out in the water, especially Sunset Beach, and paddling. If you're not a good paddler at Sunset, you're not gonna accomplish much.

There are people who build their whole lives around Sunset Beach. If you're surfing Sunset, you're in good shape just by default.

You had to be really confident dropping in, because it's jacking and you've got about one second to get it together, while overcoming the demonic drop with the offshore wind in your eyes! I watched these guys for the years I was there. And there are days when I'm in Malibu, where I became the fastest paddler out there. It is what it is. All through cutting my teeth out at Sunset Beach.

WAIMEAIKAU

This July I was at Waimea. It was so beautiful. I decided to swim from the point at Waimea to the other point with the big rocks. These Hawaiian lifeguards were watching me, and they go, "Dude, did you just do the race?"

I go, "Yeah."

They go, "Hey, man, you're a good swimmer. We could use you as a lifeguard."

I got as high as a kite - that I would be at a lifeguard station where my hero Eddie Aikau used to work. Think of it. For 50 years I'd watched that guy, and then one day they offered me a job there. Fifteen bucks an hour — that's about enough for milk or a slice of bread on Oahu! 

But the prospect of manning the same lifeguard tower that was the roost for so many years of Eddie Aikau - it was overwhelming, and one of the proudest moments of my life!

WHY NOW

What inspired you to do it this time?

I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to prove that I still have it. I felt this was something I'd thought about for a long time. I knew it would be hard, but I also wanted to do it in Tom Zahn's memory, to prove I was faithful to his legacy of working out, staying in shape, staying with it. All the things Tom used to do every day. I was inspired by his example, and I felt this was my way of paying Tom back, so that Tom would know I continued his legacy. I thought about him the whole way over.

It's like Lou Gehrig. He's ill, but he still goes to the park because he still wants to play. And the thought of giving up would have been abhorrent!

THE WARM SHOULDER

How far back does the light bulb go?

I was thinking about it the last couple years. I was going to do the Molokai-to-Oahu race last year. I signed up and paid my entry. I've still got the shirt. But then my shoulder weighed in and it was a negative.

Molokai to Oahu would be warmer, anyway. I know people who've done it. Tom and Nick Carroll did it one year with no wind, and they said it was torture: Oahu looming in front of you and never getting any closer.

I didn't do it because something was wrong with my shoulder. If there was ever a race designed to destroy your shoulders, it's Molokai to Oahu.

I was at the finish a few years ago. Tuffer Marsolek from Malibu finished. His parents were there at the finish line and they were jazzed. Gene Rink was there, too, with his family.

I met a woman -  Christina Degano, Felipe Pomar's wife - several years ago, a PhD in physiology, holistic stuff and a total visionary. She's a maven when it comes to holistic living, stem cell reproduction. I got on a protocol with her, and she gave me stuff to do. I'm not going to say it was that, but I healed my rotator cup. I want to give credit to this wonderful woman.

TRAINING

How much did you train?

Every day but Saturday. My Sabbath is Saturday. I don't drive on the Sabbath. That's my day of rest.

Yes I have said before the Jews invented Shabbat so they wouldn't work themselves to death.

You literally need one day for your body to recover. The other days, I was averaging 12 to 15 miles a day.

From where to where?

Mother's Beach. Mother's Beach is in the marina at Marina Del Rey, far inside, two and a half miles from where the breakwater enters the marina, where they have the American flag.  It's flat water. There are no waves in sight. It's like a lake. I would start there, go north to Santa Monica Canyon  or to Sunset, and then turn back.

I thought you were training at Malibu.

I was. I started at Malibu, because I love that course from Malibu to the first point past Corral Beach 

Latigo.

Latigo. Go north to Latigo, come back. Later on I increased it, paddling to Point Dume. But Malibu was my first start, because I love it so much. It's all beautiful. It's like a dream.

Trained for how long?

Half a year. The way it works is the first three or four months you feel it. You feel your muscles. After a while, when you're paddling up to about 20 or 25 miles, you don't feel it. you're kinda like a robot, totally bereft of human mortality, you're like zeus on the water. a total high.

THE SHARK AND THE DOLPHINS

Any close encounters on these training paddles?

I saw a couple of sharks. But what was really incredible was the day I saw a shark about two miles out. As soon as I saw the shark, all of a sudden dolphins were pacing me. Literally, if I slowed down, they'd slow down. If I sped up, they'd go faster. There was a mother and a little baby, a yard away from me. I could touch the baby. It was just uncanny, almost Divine Providence. It was so close, and the whole time I was exalted.

There was an attack at Marina, south of Moss Landing, a place that has always given me the creeps. Todd Endris got hit by a white shark and chewed up pretty bad. He said the dolphins came in and circled him like bodyguards. It sounds like Flipper, but I interviewed him, and that's what he said.

Wow. Well, I wasn't attacked or anything, but there was a shark in there. I wasn't worried about it. The sharks are always there.

Duke trained offshore of Sans Souci Beach in Waikiki, and when people asked about sharks, he said, "I don't bodda them; they don't bodda me."

So basically, the dolphins were amazing. The mother and the baby right next to me the whole time. I was on cloud nine.

SWIMMING MALIBU

I've been swimming at Simpkins Pool in Santa Cruz. I sucked but am getting better. That pool is what Malibu should do. It's great.

I've been swimming about a mile a day for muscle balance. When I'm at Malibu and the surf sucks, or the tide's too low or too high, or it's a south wind, I swim. If it's those October days, pristine, absolutely perfect, two to three feet, I surf every wave. Otherwise I start at the lifeguard tower, the one with the little garage, and go out past the second buoy, where they moor the Baywatch boat. With goggles, I can see everything in the water. It's so clear. It's the most beautiful swim you could ever imagine.

TWO IN THE MORNING

So after all that: day of. What day was the race?

August 30th. A Sunday.

If it had been Saturday?

I would never do it. So I'll tell you the thing I didn't tell you. How did I get to Catalina? I left at 2 o'clock on Sunday morning, on a boat from a guy in the marina. That was my guide boat the whole race. I got there just in time for the start at 6. I didn't sleep the night before. Talk about strategy, right?

Which board were you on this time?

A 12-footer. By the way, I had a chin pad. Everybody's got a chin pad.

That would be very painful without it. Does anybody do it without one?

No, it's not possible. Zahn did it without a chin pad. Ouch. It's unreal.

What did you carry?

A water bottle.

How were conditions?

Very good. The water was very warm.

That helps, doesn't it?

Big time. When I did it 45 years ago, the water was cold, and there was a west wind.

I've heard that sucks. I know a good waterman who didn't finish one year because he got seasick. When you watch shows about Navy SEALs training, they jump out of airplanes and do forced marches, but you know what gets them?

Being cold.

Yep. How does it start? Running off the beach?

It's a water start, at the Isthmus. They fire a horn, and you just go. There were a lot of boats, but they had to stay outside.

Walk me through it.

About three miles out, the boat captain said there was a shark ahead. There was no wind at all, then later there was wind. The water was so warm, but it was tough. It was definitely choppy the last five miles.

Knee paddling or prone?

Prone only. I don't knee paddle. Tom Zahn didn't knee paddle. A lot of guys knee paddle.

See anything unusual, or were you just chugging?

Just chugging. As you get toward the south, you see all the beach. The view from Catalina is pretty cool, actually.

Did you ever think of giving up?

No. I never thought of it.

THE FINISH

So at the finish, was there anyone close to you?

No. Gene Rink was announcing and he let people know who I was and what I had done.

Everyone stood for a group photo. But Gene made sure they waited for me.

Gene is a good person.

I ran up the beach. I did my job. 

Winning time in the Unlimited class was Finn Aune's 5:27:07 and you were 9:04:33.34.

By the way, for the first 10 miles, guess what? I didn't have a compass and I didn’t link up with the guide boat until 10 miles out. 

Oh yeah, that could waste time. That's not efficient. Did you go home and go to sleep?

No way, I was doing the party that night.

NEXT YEAR

So you're going to do it again?

I'm going to do it next year. I want to do it faster because I made mistakes this year.