SAN PEDRO, Calif. — The Bottom Scratcher stopped 300 yards off San Nicolas Island on Monday at 5:30 a.m., and Zach Jirkovsky was among those who stirred from his bunk. An environmental engineer, he had been to the island two years before for work, and ever since, he had been thinking about a return trip and about swimming the 70-mile channel back to the Southern California mainland.
It was far too great a distance to bridge alone, so he asked his friends from a swim group called the Deep Enders in Ventura, Calif., to take on the challenge as a relay.