A 9-year-old California boy braved San Francisco Bay's icy-cold waters and strong currents Tuesday morning and swam from Aquatic Park to Alcatraz and back.
James Savage of Los Banos propelled his body through the Bay for over four miles.
A mere 57 pounds, the boy wonder captured the world record for youngest person to complete the round-trip journey between the shore and the Rock.
The record was previously held by 10-year-old
Anaya Khanzodé of Sunnyvale, who completed the swim last year.
"This is very typical of his personality," coach Josh Weinberger said in an interview. "He's an amazing kid with amazing goals. With a big heart and a strong body, he puts it all together and makes it all happen."
James and his family got up at 3 a.m. to make the drive to San Francisco, and he and his coach dove into the water at about 7 a.m.
The journey is usually only three miles long, but yesterday the currents were strong and the swells big, and the pair was forced to take a less-direct route.
Weinberger said James became a little frightened on the swim to the former prison. "I talked with him and coached him through it," he said. "Then after we got to the Rock everything was easy going."
James, nicknamed "Super Duck" by his friends, has been training for the swim for months, on average about five hours a day. The fourth-grader practices daily with his
Los Banos Skimmers swim team, and about every other day he swims three miles around Los Banos Creek Reservoir, often with his coach swimming at his side and parents following him in kayaks.
"There were days when it was cold and rainy," James' mom, Jillian Savage, said. "Instead of sitting at home by the fire he was out there swimming."
This isn't James' first open-water swim. He completed the one-way trip from the shore to Alcatraz last year, after weeks of begging his parents to allow him do it.
Five days before the race, we finally let him register," Jillian said. "He went out and did it and totally fell in love with open-water swimming. He got out of the water and said I want to do another one."
The next swim was to Coronado Island in San Diego, and again he said that he wanted to do another.
Jillian says her son shows tenacity and persistence in everything he does.
"He's my kid that will set a goal and he will do whatever it takes to get him to that goal," she said.
In his first year with the Los Banos Skimmers at age 5, he was determined to bring in the most money for a swimathon fundraiser. He succeeded and has done so every year since. He has also become known for swimming the most laps at the annual event.
"The first year he was five and he swam 18 laps," Jillian said "At six, he said, 'I'm going to swim 100 laps,' and he did. At seven, he said, 'I'm going to swim 200 laps' and then he did it. The next time, he said I'm going to swim 300. The next closest kid was a 15-year-old who stopped at 254. He tried so hard to beat James."
At the end of yesterday's swim, James walked out of the Bay shivering and notified his parents that he wanted pizza. On the drive home, the Savage family stopped at Mountain Mike's in Belmont and ordered James a large pepperoni.
But the young swimmer didn't eat much as he was focused on trying to win toys from the claw machine.
"I've never seen anyone with so much determination that this kid has all wrapped up in 57 pounds," Jillian said.
