Steve Hyde: International Surf Festival Dwight Crum Pier to Pier swim master
South Bay Swim Team (SOBA) coach Steve Hyde. Photo
For the past two decades, Steve Hyde has tracked his swimmers’ finish times in the International Surf Festival Dwight Crum Pier to Pier Swim. The race is held the first Sunday in August.
Because some years the swim is easier than others, due to changes in the surf, currents and water temperature, Hyde tracks not just his swimmers’ times, but their percentile rankings.
The two-mile race from the Hermosa Beach Pier to the Manhattan Beach pier is the focal point of the South Bay Swim Team’s (SOBA) masters program, which Hyde coaches year around, five mornings a week at Begg Pool in Manhattan Beach and five evenings a week at the Hawthorne High pool.
When the ocean temperature reach 60 degrees in the late spring, Hyde adds Saturday morning ocean swims at the Manhattan pier to his workouts.
South Bay Swim Team coach Steve Hyde. Photo
SOBA’s roughly 100 master swimmers range from nationally ranked, master swimmers and ocean lifeguards to triathletes and recreational swimmers. They all come to Hyde with a common goal — to better their times in the Pier to Pier.
Hyde began coaching swimmers while still at AviationHigh School. He swam and played water polo at El Camino College under legendary coach and lifeguard Rudy Kroon and then at Long BeachState. In 1984, he started South Bay Waves, a swimming and triathlon team that evolved into SOBA.
Over the years, Hyde said, his coaching strategy for the Pier to Pier has shifted from emphasizing distance to emphasizing strength-building.
“Are we feeling ferocious?” Hyde asks his swimmers at the start of workouts. Then he outlines the workout’s goal, without a lot of specifics. He doesn’t like white-board workouts, he says, because they tempt swimmers to pace themselves. Hyde expects 100 percent effort during each drill. Except that drills are not really drills. “They are what you should be doing all the time,” he emphasizes.
“There is no reason not to do flip turns on every lap, except laziness…Think of each push off the wall as a thigh-master exercise… dolphin, dolphin dolphin at least to the backstroke flags,” he repeats throughout the workouts.
Coach Steve Hyde. Photo
A typical workout begins with a 500 yard warm up, followed by a dozen “descending” intervals of 100 to 500 yards.
“Descending” means increasingly faster.
“The sets are back-end loaded to build mental as well as physical toughness. The goal is to finish hard, with quality, and not get sloppy,” he said.
One of his strength-building drills is to make every fourth lap butterfly, a stroke that requires both arms and both legs to fire at full power to avoid drowning.
Somewhere during almost every workout, Hyde throws in what he calls a “goggle to goggle, Speedo to Speedo” race set.
“Since when did competition become a dirty word? We can all swim long distances. But we aren’t joggers. We’re racers!” he exclaimed one recent morning while jumping up and down for emphasis on the Begg pool deck.
“There will be a pop quiz at the end of this set,” Hyde commonly announces. That means he’ll expect each swimmer to know his or her time.
“Look at the clock. The clock is not your enemy. It’s your friend,” he’ll say.
Cold water therapy
Hyde’s ocean workouts are meant to get his swimmers comfortable entering and exiting through the surf, and to accustom them to cold water.
“You get your therapy in the ocean and your conditioning in the pool,” he says.
Ocean workouts begin with “ins and outs.”
“Hurdle step, skip, dolphin, shallow dive with hands out front,” Hyde exhorts. During “Oh poop” moments, when large waves approach, “dive and grab the bottom,” he says.
The Pier to Pier start is challenging even for elite swimmers because of the “pinch point” rounding the end of the Hermosa pier. The 1,000 plus swimmers line up on the beach just two blocks, or roughly 500 yards south of the pier.
The start of the Dwight Crum Pier to Pier Swim is challenging for even elite swimmers. Photo
Hyde advises swimmers who want to avoid getting kicked and crawled over to line up south of the pack.
“You’re swimming the hypotenuse. It won’t add that much distance,” he explains.
(Lining up 50 yards south of the pack adds approximately 35 yards or a little more than a pool length from the start to to the end of the Hermosa pier.)
The current between the piers is notoriously unpredictable, and can switch from north to south overnight.
When he started coaching and swimming the Pier to Pier, Hyde said, he’d paddle out the evening before the race and drop ping pong balls in the water to determine the speed and direction of the current.
The one constant Hyde has observed is that the water tends to sweep out to sea beginning a few hundred years south of the Manhattan pier, causing swimmers to “comet tail” around the pier. To take advantage of the current, he recommends approaching the end of the pier from the inside rather than the outside.
“Bodysurf in if you can time a wave, but never wait for a wave,” he advises.
One of Hyde’s recent rants concerned a lifeguard who lost an open ocean race because she stopped to wait for a wave to bodysurf in.
“When in doubt, swim until your hands touch the bottom. There is no greater momentum killer than trying to put your feet down when the water is still 10 feet deep,” he said. B
SouthBay Swim Clubs
SouthBay Swim Team (SOBA)
SOBA Masters: beginners to competitive swimmers. Begg Pool, Manhattan Beach Mon. – Fri., 6:15 to 7:15 a.m. Hawthorne Pool Mon. – Fri. 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sun. 8 to 9 a.m. $55/mth.
SOBA Youth: Prospective swimmers must be able swim the length of the pool in freestyle, and also know basic stroke skills in backstroke and breaststroke. Hawthorne Pool. Mon. – Fri. evenings. Times vary by swim groups.
SouthBaySwimTeam.org., SouthBaySwimTeam@socal.rr.com
Surfside Swim Team:
Open to youths 4-years-old through high school who can freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly for at least 25 yards. Mon. – Fri in the evenings at either the Redondo or Mira Costa high school pools. A senior swim program is also offered.
C swimmers: $175, B swimmers: $175, A swimmers: $190, senior swimmers $210 per quarter with discounts for multi-swimmer families and other swimming groups such as Junior guards.
SurfSideSwimTeam.com. Surfside Swim Team, PO Box 381, Manhattan Beach, CA 90267.
Beach Cities Swim School
Children learn basics of water safety and competitive swimming strokes through an eight-tier progression. The first four levels involve water safety and learning to swim. Levels 5-8 offer lead to an introduction to competitive swimming. Class schedules and fees vary.
Family Lap Swimming: Sat., Sun., 1:30-3:30 p.m. ($4 entry fee; $3 Redondo residents). Classes are held at the Redondo High pool. Private party pool rentals available.
BeachCitiesSwimming.com, BCSSummerLessons@gmail.com.
Manhattan Beach Dolphin Swim Team
Sponsored by the Manhattan BeachParks and Rec department for ages 5 through 17 year around at Begg Pool. Swimmers may attend as many or as few swim practices as they wish. Interested swimmers must enroll in the Pre-Swim Team class to be given an opportunity to join the Manhattan Beach Dolphins. Swimmers must be able to swim 25 yards freestyle and 25 yards backstroke. The goal to include every child who has a wish to participate. Ci.Manhattan-Beach.ca.us. mbdolphins@citymb.info. (310) 802-5429.
El Segundo Aquatic Programs
El Segundo Parks and Rec offers an extensive swim program, ranging from tad poles (3-years-old), to a youth swim team and an adult masters program. Three-week group lessons $20. Recreation swim free to residents, $3 non residents. Urho Saari Swim Stadium.
ElSegundo.org.
Swim Kids
Beginning to advanced coaching for kids and adults in a private pool, including Junior Lifeguard test preparation. Instructor Bonnie Spivey is a former Los Angeles County Lifeguard, holder of multiple national masters swim records, and age group winner of the Dwight Crum Pier to Pier Swim.
SwimKids.net. (310) 545-5525.
Southern California Aquatics(SCAQ)
SCAQ is the largest masters swimming program in the United States, with over 50 weekly workouts in the SouthBay and West Los Angeles. Programs offered for every level of adult, from novice to Olympian. Local workouts at Redondo High and Loyola Marymount pools. Director Clay Evans is a former Canadian Olympian and holder of 40 national masters and world records. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Masters Aquatic Coaches Association.
Swim.net/scaq.
SouthBayAdultSchool swimming
Monday and Wednesday classes, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. beginning adult swim classes at the Redondo High pool. Three months, $84. Lap swimming at the same times, location and price.
SouthBayAdultSchool.org., (310) 937-3340 ext3308
Los AngelesPeninsula Swimmers (LAPS)
Masters swim program ranging from beginners to masters world champions. Must be able to swim one length, safely. $68 monthly. 5 to 6:30 a.m. daily, except Wed., and Sun. Victor E. Benstead Torrance Plunge. Coach Tyler Storie captained the USC swim team and is a three time Olympics Trials qualifier.
LAPSMasters.org. B