The 75th Huntington Beach Pier Swim was postponed two times (originally scheduled in June, it was postponed again in August) due to large surf (photos above courtesy of Stevie Ray). This past Saturday, the event was held in 1-2 meter pounding surf on Halloween morning. It totally makes sense in the Southern California city known as Surf City USA.
Steve West and Trina Schaetz won the respective men’s and women’s masters division. West, a multiple winner of the annual Pier Swim who first did the swim in 1981, was happy to see his partner Schaetz, primarily a sprint freestyler and breaststroker in the pool, do so well. “We biked over here. The surf was great. They postponed the start a bit because of the surf for us masters.”
78-year-old Tom Gallagher [shown on left above] was a typical finisher, coming out with a huge smile on his face. He said, “I do this every year. It was rough. I did not bodysurf in this year. I have been swimming in New Jersey and when I moved out here [to Southern California, I started doing all these ocean swims. I did not know these kinds of events existed before I came out here.”
The Irvine Novaquatics (shown below on right) outpointed last year’s team winner Swim Long Beach to capture the Gene Belshe Memorial Perpetual Trophy as the event’s high-scoring team.
© 2026 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“
World Open Water Swimming Federation, an exclusively human-powered project