Shirwin Smith and Gordie Nash announcing results and giving out prizes. Gordie founded the race in 1976. Shirwin, a veteran open-water competitor, owns and runs the Open Water Rowing Center. Gradually the boats are hosed down, returned to the Center's sheds or lashed on car tops. Announcements are made about other open-water races later in the spring and summer.
Several competitors gather round the damaged boat and exchange repair advice.
They drift away. By two o'clock these Californian athletes are gone, many of them to a second sport. The Bay, seen from the Golden Gate Bridge, appears peaceful. The wind is still light, but if you look hard you can see the current eddies, a line of overfalls, and occasional clumps of flotsam. And if you squint and use your imagination, you can see the breaking waves and fog and tidal rips Shirwin and Gordie may have next year.