The old men and the sea
JUDGE ROBERT BEACH, third from the left, with his championship relay team near San Diego.
The old men and the sea
Judge Robert Beach holds record for long-distance swimmers age 85-89
Senior Editor
Once a three-pack-a-day smoker who got winded climbing stairs, in 1967 Sixth Circuit Judge Robert Beach tossed his cigarettes and jumped in the pool. And he’s been swimming laps and racking up competition ribbons and trophies from all over the world ever since.
A recent cause to celebrate was joining a team of six octogenarians who broke the record in their age bracket for the 22-mile relay across the Catalina Channel near San Diego.
At the race’s finish at noon on August 20, they stood in their wet swimsuits, linking arms and grinning proudly at the shoreline of Portuguese Bend near Rancho Palos Verdes. Later, they donned T-shirts that proclaimed: “World Record Team 80+ — The Old Men and the Sea — 12:15:33.”
At 85, Beach was the oldest on the swim team, and the third to plunge into the dark 72-degree water at 1 a.m. and again at 7 a.m. in a relay race that began at midnight to avoid blustery afternoon winds, accompanied by safety navigators on kayaks and paddleboards.
A long-distance freestyler who gets up before dawn to swim 4,000-meters for 1 hour and 20 minutes every day at North Shore Aquatic Center’s 50-meter pool in St. Pete, Beach is the top distance swimmer in his age group of 85-89 in the country.
And Beach thinks he may be Florida’s longest-serving state judge, appointed in 1967 by Gov. Claude Kirk, the same year he gave up smoking. After serving 25 years on the bench in the Sixth Circuit, he has been a senior judge for the past 23 years, still called to preside over both county and circuit court cases several times a month.
“Swimming saved my life,” Judge Beach said. “I am still pushing it hard, except my body says don’t push so hard. As I got older, my times got slower. It really dropped off at 75. The beauty of that is everyone else got slower, too.”
He’s competed in Germany, Sweden, Canada, and Australia, in pools, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Once, he tried swimming the English Channel, and made it a mile and eight-tenths from France when the tide changed.
He’s swum from Alcatraz to San Francisco. Also this year, he joined a team of guys over 80 and gals under 50 for a relay race across Lake Tahoe that took them five hours.
When he turned 85 this year, he broke the national record in the 5K (three miles) with 1 hour and 55 minutes, replacing the old record of 2 hours and 18 minutes.
Yes, he could just leisurely paddle around the Gulf of Mexico near his condo on appropriately named Beach Drive, but the thrill of a competition keeps him going — physically and mentally.
“Competition is an inducement to keep training, and you have companionship your own age doing the same thing,” said Judge Beach.
“It’s very competitive. And I always enjoy seeing two guys racing each other in their 80s, still talking about how they beat each other in high school.”
Born in Hollywood, California, Beach was raised in Santa Monica and loved swimming in the Pacific Ocean and for his high school swim team as a freshman.
“My mother put me in military school because I was naughty,” Judge Beach said with a chuckle. “And that was the end of my swim career.”
When he quit smoking in 1967, “It was time to start thinking about the future.”
His doctor suggested swimming because it’s easier on your joints than running. In 1971, he learned about the U.S. Masters Swimming, and helped put on a swim meet. His tip for long-distance swimming is to start slow and add distance little by little.
“It’s a long process, particularly if you were a smoker like I was. Back in 2000, I got a call from a buddy who told me they were doing a study program for ex-smokers at the Moffitt Cancer Center.”
Beach wanted to participate and had to take a lung capacity test. If he blew over 70, they wouldn’t want him.
“I huffed and puffed and blew in and thought I broke the machine. They said, ‘Congratulations, you’re in the study. You blew a 58.’”
“They gave me X-rays and CAT scans. They said, ‘The good news is you don’t have cancer. The bad news is you have emphysema.’”
Not that he let that diagnosis hold him back. He decided to hike to the top of 19,341-foot Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, along his many travels to 120 countries on all seven continents.
He was packing for a trip to Malta on November 21, and will only have Albania and Ukraine to visit to complete his bucket list.
He’s convinced that swimming is what keeps his resting heart rate at 42 (up a tad from its former 37) and makes any prescription meds unnecessary.
And he’s certain that the weightlessness and rhythm of swimming help clear his mind so he can still rule fairly from the bench at 85.
“When I’m swimming, I feel isolated. There are no phones ringing. If I have a knotty problem and have to make a decision, many times I can work it out as I am swimming.”
On land, he drives a vintage Porsche and keeps his calendar full.
“My main goal is to be happy until the end.”
