Upcoming Open Water Swim

This weekend, our team will be swimming in Aquatic Park in San Francisco. Earlier this week, the San Francisco Chronicle posted a story about that started like this:

Schools of creepy brownish jellyfish known for their painful stings are lurking in San Francisco Bay waving their long, poisonous tentacles like they own the place.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of sea creatures known as Pacific sea nettles have been spotted in the bay feeding on small fish and plankton when they aren't stinging swimmers.

One touch from a nettle's long, brown tentacles will result in a powerful, numbing jolt that can hurt for hours and sometimes days. Read more.

I e-mailed my coach last night if I should be worried about this. He sent an e-mail out to the team:

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle about Jellyfish in the bay has a few folks on edge this week. I did an extensive search of the available data and asked on a message board for local triathletes within the last few days. Several people reported they swam at AP and didn't see a single jellyfish. The receptionist at the Dolphin club said he swims every day and as of this morning had not seen a single jellyfish in the water at AP in over 6 months. It appears the jellyfish are not in the AP area. I will paddle out and check it out before everyone hits the water just to be sure but I'm pretty confident we will be just fine.

I was actually feeling pretty good after Coach Dave's message and was sharing this story with others when somebody had to say, "You can always be the first to see one." My anxiety level instantly spiked upon hearing this.