Katherine grew up in coastal Southern California. Her early childhood experiences of swimming with siblings at her grandmother’s pool and darting across tide pools uncovering sea life established a lifelong love of being in and in close proximity to water. Having left California as an avid surfer, she spent years on hiatus while pursuing higher education and creative pursuits. In 2006 she returned to surfing, but in Atlantic waters. In 2008 she joined US Masters swimming, initially as a way to stay in shape between fickle surf conditions on the East Coast. US Masters introduced Katherine to organized swim training, and the vibrant swimmer community in NYC. Throughout those years she remained aware of CIBBOWS and open water swimming, as many of her fellow masters swimmers were accomplished open water and distance swimmers, but it wasn’t until 2020 amid world upheaval and disruption from the SARS-COV2 pandemic that swimming at Brighton Beach became a regular habit, entirely replacing pool workouts.
These days Katherine can be found surfing at dawn in Rockaway or swimming at Brighton between swell events. Having benefited from the kindness and generosity of the NYC open water community she’s excited to give back as a CIBBOWS volunteer.