Open Water Guides
Barry
Barry is our very accomplished and extremely enthusiastic kayak guide for our Expedition swims. Barry watches over our swimmers and helps them experience the safest and most exciting swims ever! Barry also leads the Saturday Swims. He's been making our swimmers smile and laugh since 2008.
Christina
Christina was a very accomplished age group swimmer and is now a competitive open water swimmer and masters swimmer. She has completed many swims in San Francisco Bay, including from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge. Christina helps introduce new open water swimmers to the Bay by making them comfortable and safe and teaching them basic open water skills. She joined Swim Art in the 2009 season.
Colin
Colin is a lifelong surfer, kayaker, and bay swimmer. He is also a professional photographer who has captured many beautiful shots of swimmers in San Francisco Bay. Colin joined Swim Art in the 2007 season and leads the Advanced group at our Group Swims. He is very valuable to us as the expert kayaker for our Expedition Swims, with his knowledge of the currents and all of the conditions that make Bay swims challenging. Read more.
Dorette
Trifiniti triathlon coaching. Dorette joined Swim Art in the 2008 season and helps lead all levels of swimmers at our Group Swims. She is an accomplished triathlete and swimmer herself and has been coaching triathlon for over seven years. She writes a regular column called "Splash and Dash" for the MoreMarin website.
Gary
With more than 640 Alcatraz swims to his name, Gary is the Alcatraz expert extraordinaire. In 2009, Gary completed the grueling 12-mile swim to Rottnest Island in Western Australia. Gary joined Swim Art in the 2007 season and established our Expedition program of challenging Bay swims. He also helps coach, teach, and lead the Advanced Group Swims. Read more about Gary here.
Henrique
Henrique grew up in the water, on the Brazilian coast. A successful swimmer and surfer, Henrique coaches our swimmers to improve their technique and form. He completed his first Alcatraz swim this summer. Henrique joined Swim Art in the 2009 season and helped lead all levels at our Group Swims.
Kyle
Kyle has been kayaking and surfing in and around the San Francisco Bay his whole life. Kyle joined Swim Art in the 2009 season and leads the Advanced Group Swims and our Expedition Swims. He brings his superior knowledge of water and the Bay to help our swimmers have fun and successful swims.
Nate
Nate is a personal trainer and a triathlete coach for Trifiniti. Nate joined Swim Art in the 2009 season and helped coach, teach, and lead the Intermediate and Beginner groups with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.
Sarah
After swimming with Swim Art from 2005 to 2007, Sarah fell in love with Bay swimming. She became a Swim Art Guide in 2008 and now swims with both the South End Rowing Club and the Temescal Aquatic Masters in Oakland. She has completed numerous open water swims, including AT&T Park to Aquatic Park, Treasure Island to Embarcadero, and the Trans-Tahoe relay. When she is dry, Sarah is a librarian to 350 high school students. Sarah is most recently famous for her interview in the SF Chronicle article about jellyfish in the Bay.
Leslie Thomas