Shark attack! How one man lives with sharks, loves dolphins and swims fast

Friends look on from the boat that escorted Hank Wise when he swam across the Catalina Channel in September.

Staff Writer

Oct. 17, 2025 6:38 AM PT

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“What about sharks? You know they’re out there!”

Yes, landlubbers, the sharks are out there. But they don’t have much interest in you. Really they don’t. Just ask Hank Wise. He’s not only wise, like his name suggests. He recently notched another major achievement in a long list that puts him on a path to being the greatest Catalina Channel swimmer of them all.

Count the 57-year-old Wise as one of a rare breed of marathon open water swimmers. With another successful crossing of the 20-mile Catalina Channel completed in mid-September, Wise now owns a total of eight crossings. Only one other human has crossed the beautiful, unpredictable channel that many times. And there seems little doubt that the salty, ebullient Wise will be back for another.

Those of us who love to swim in the Pacific share such stories like members of a monastic order. Coldest swims, hardest swims, choppiest swims and longest swims. But Wise, like the rest of our tribe, likes to talk mostly about the people he has met and how the water leaves him feeling: energized and alive.

The ocean is a place of dreams, comfort and memory for Wise and many others. The son of a businessman and a housewife, he grew up in Long Beach near Alamitos Bay. His parents had raised three much older siblings and left their youngest largely to his own devices. That led to a joyous progression from wading to swimming to mastering every kind of watercraft.

Those endless, feral days of childhood continued near a family mobile home close to Orange County’s Emerald Bay. He’d also become a flash in the pool, winning the junior nationals in the 400-meter freestyle when he was 17. That helped launch him onto a spot on the Stanford University swim team, which won an NCAA title in his freshman year.

Hank Wise plows through glassy waters in September, when he became only the second man to finish eight crossings of the Catalina Channel. He’s also the fastest, swimming from Catalina to the mainland. He has recorded four of the fastest times on record.

(Sean Lieppman)

After graduation, Wise craved an escape from the monotony of endless training, following the black line at the bottom of the pool. So he embarked on a series of dirt-cheap surfing safaris that took him around the Pacific. He immersed himself in sailing, scuba and all things aquatic. Like the Hawaiian surfing pioneer Duke Kahanamoku, whom he idolized, Wise had become a “waterman.” That’s a term of respect if you spend much time around people who know the Pacific Ocean.

“The ocean offered me a sense of freedom and a sense of space,” said Wise, who leads youth and adult swimming teams at Long Beach’s Belmont Plaza Pool. “Nature. Exploration. Challenges. Those things are still some of my deep loves. And it’s all in that connection with the ocean.”

Life delivered its challenges, including vision problems tied to his premature birth. In his late 20s, Wise said he “pushed a little too hard” in the surf, detaching the retina in his left eye. When he lost the eye, he did not fret about the setback. He says he considered the end of endless surgeries and treatment “a relief,” adding: “I thought, ‘I’ve got what I’ve got and I’m moving on.’ “

His life back in Southern California became more settled when he married Kristin, an artist, adopted a healthy, vegetarian lifestyle and earned a master’s degree that paved his way into coaching. The Wises had a son and named him Fox Wise. (It tickled them that their boy’s name told everyone he was wise, like a fox.)

The elder Wise was already 42 by the time two friends first invited him on a distance swim. Starting from familiar Corona del Mar and heading south and then doubling back, the threesome logged 10 miles. “I don’t want to say it was easy,” Wise said, “but I felt really, really at home.” A watery beast had been unleashed.

Before he’d had his next birthday, Wise got a couple of his brothers together (one owned a sailboat) and brought along his wife and a friend and made his first swim from Catalina to Palos Verdes. (That’s the preferred direction, because of the prevailing currents and tides.) He touched dry land in just over eight hours and six minutes. To the amazement of many, that put him only a little more than one minute behind the all-time men’s record. (There’s a separate record for swimming in the other direction.)

Hank Wise, 57, successfully mounts a rock and “dry land” at Arrow Point on Catalina Island. Wise completed his record eighth crossing of the Catalina Channel in just over eight hours.

(Sean Lieppman)

Catalina’s renown as one of the world’s great channel swims (Along with the English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar, etc.) includes the fact that the fastest two swims in history were completed by women. The all-time reigning monarch of the swim is Penny Lee Dean, who completed the swim in seven hours and 15 minutes. (A story that an amazed young Hank Wise heard, when Dean visited his middle school.)

The Waterman of Long Beach, a.k.a. Catalinator, a.k.a. Dolphin Boy has been chasing records. And in 2018 he notched the fastest-ever time, by a man, from Catalina to the mainland. Mostly, though, he says he loves the “process” of training and preparation and the joyful companionship of his fellow swimmers and “the cosmic connection between the natural realm and the human realm.”

Alex Kostich, a former All-American at Stanford and an open-water great who’s the fastest ever swimming across Lake Tahoe — said he has seen something in his old friend that transcends mere speed or technique. “Heart is what can make a champion,” said Kostich. “And Hank has boundless heart, which is the not-so-secret secret to his success.”

Today’s top stories

Homes along East Las Flores Drive lay in ruins less than two weeks after the Eaton fire devastated the area.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Fire recovery

Citing fire risk, Malibu wants to arrest homeless people who refuse to stop camping illegally.
Nine months after the fires, residents continue to struggle with housing stability, finances

Inside the allegations of racial discrimination at L.A. restaurants Great White and Gran Blanco

The local chain of popular all-day cafes is facing allegations of discrimination after intensifying social media videos claimed that Great White segregates customers based on ethnicity and race, which its owners and some employees deny.
Some employees told The Times they were told to use prejudicial practices such as turning away “ethnic” customers, while others refute the claims.

Grisly crime stories abound

New details emerge in the murder of an L.A. model found stuffed inside her own refrigerator.
The father of the missing baby Emmanuel pleaded guilty to murder in his 7-month-old son’s death.
A SoCal couple hopped in the hot tub for an early-morning soak. A grisly, coordinated attack followed

A summer without a Flex Alert

California hasn’t issued an emergency plea for the public to conserve energy, known as a Flex Alert, since 2022.
Experts credit much of the progress to a surge in battery energy storage systems in recent years.
Battery storage in California has grown more than 3,000% since 2020.

The Dodgers won Game 3 of the NLCS

The Dodgers defeated the Brewers 3-1, taking a 3-0 NLCS lead and moving within one win of the World Series.
Columnist Bill Plaschke asks: Are these Dodgers the best postseason team in baseball history?

This morning’s must reads

For your downtime

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Dining: 50 L.A. restaurants where dinner costs $50 or less, including tax and tip.
Celebration: Our 2025 guide to celebrating Día de los Muertos in SoCal.
Hiking: The 5 most common hiking emergencies and how to prevent them.

Staying in

Television: “Boston Blue” — premiering tonight on CBS — reflects the life of co-creator Brandon Sonnier, who converted to Judaism after getting injured in a horrific on-set accident where he lost part of his leg.
Recipe: Here’s a recipe for lamb and zucchini burgers with yogurt and arugula.
✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, Sudoku, word search and arcade games.

A question for you: What frustrates you the most about parking in L.A.?

Roger writes: “It drives me insane when valet parking fills up all the free and metered parking on the street. What a slimy way to get people trying to park to use your service. That should be illegal. You should only be able to valet if you have a parking lot to put the cars in.”

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And finally ... the photo of the day

This piece from Tavares Strachan’s “Inner Elder” series depicts a crowned Nina Simone as the Queen of Sheba.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Allen J. Schaben at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where a new exhibit uses art and science to unlock hidden histories.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

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