Cold but flat may be bad for champagne, but it's a good thing when you're talking about an early morning swim in San Francisco Bay.
Flat water was what swimmers faced in Monday's annual New Year's Day Alcatraz Swim. But the chilly event had to be shortened because of poor visibility.
The dozens who took the plunge were basically OK with that.
"Great start to the year," one brave swimmer said. "This is what you call jaw freeze." A fellow swimmer agreed: "Yeah, great. A little irish coffee? What more could you want? Let's do it again."
Some of the swimmers said they were happy to stay near the guide boats because of recent attacks by sea lions in the very same waters. At least two swimmers were bit near Aquatic Park last month.
There were no sea lion encounters reported Monday.
