Story of friend and co worker John Jaha

Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming!

Swimming in open water from Alcatraz to San Francisco seems like a big deal… unless you’re John Jeha, loan officer in the Mortgage California Walnut Creek branch. 

With the determination only a loan officer in the last 5 years can have, John Jeha made a commitment a few years ago and stuck with it.  He committed to competing in (and completing) 50 endurance athletic events in 50 weeks for his 50th birthday.  He not only accomplished his goal, he raised money throughout for The Challenged Athlete Foundation.

John began swimming competitively more than 40 years ago, and started swimming in open water competitions about 30 years ago.  Cold-water swimming is any form of swimming that would be extreme in terms of distance, water temperature or water conditions done in the cold.  Typically standard swim wear is used – no wet suits. 

After college, he started participating in Triathlons and has completed over 200 to date, including seven Ironman distance races.  He also competed in the World Championship Ironman in Hawaii twice and the Half Ironman World Championship in Clearwater Florida twice. 

John’s cold water swimming has included swimming in the bay from Alcatraz over 60 times (the water temperature has ranged from 48 to 63!), as well as the span of the Golden Gate from San Francisco to Marin.  His longest swim to date was from Candlestick Point to Aquatic Park – a distance of 11.5 miles.  He’s also swim the width of Lake Tahoe (11 miles) and Donner Lake (5.4 miles).  All of these swims have been done with pilots in kayaks and/or motorized support boards (zodiacs or small 15-20 foot boats).

While he’s swimming and biking and running himself, he also finds time to coach a Masters Swim Practice twice a week for novice adult swimmers and triathletes.  On September 7, 2012, he took 5 swimmers from his group (who 2 years ago could barely swim across a pool) to Alcatraz and they all swam from “The Rock” to The City, navigating currents, tides and ship traffic. 

“Coaching and teaching is a great love of mine and the accomplishments of these swimmers is one of the highlights of my coaching career,” says John.

His next personal challenge is to achieve membership in the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, which includes 21 miles across the English Channel, 21 miles across the Catalina Channel and 28.5 miles around the island of Manhattan in New York.