Chuck Cantoni appears to be the oldest person ever to complete the swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco.

At 87, the resident of Del Webb-Woodbridge in Manteca conducted research online only to discover that a Florida man did likewise but on his 87th birthday.

“I had him by four months,” he said on Wednesday.

Cantoni’s main reason for tackling the Aug. 13 swim in the San Francisco Bay from the historic “Rock” – a small island located 1.25 miles offshores that was once a federal penitentiary (strong currents and cold waters made escaping nearly impossible for prisoners) – was to raise awareness for hydrocephalus.

His son Jason was born with the neurological condition that required surgery when he was two days old. That was the first of his many medical procedures. Jason is now 50.

Chuck Cantoni, who had just become accustomed to wearing a wetsuit, was joined by swim buddy Steve Haney, who is the son of fellow Del Webber Mike Haney, in the open waters. They were there on behalf of the non-profit Team Hydro Foundation, dedicated to raising money for hydrocephalus research.

Cantoni, who grew in Silicon Valley, was comfortable in the water having done a variety of water sports. But swimming in the bay proved to be much different.

He was an engineer and also worked medical profession doing imaging in radiology and cardiology. Cantoni took swim lessons about 50 years ago for exercise after suffering a back injury.

He and his wife of 58 years, Bonnie, have been residents of Del Webb for the past five years. Cantoni would swim regularly at the local pool prior to the COVID-19 pandemic before opting for a nearby gym.

He did some swimming outside the comforts of a pool, going to Discovery Bay. He moved on to do more serious training with the Odyssey Open Water Swimming in the Berkeley Marina.

This was all in preparation for the Team Hydro Foundation-sponsored swim from Alcatraz to SF. Cantoni and others, in order to qualify, had to prove their physical endurance along with having a swim buddy and doing so in open salt wasters in a wetsuit.

Cantoni met those requirements by May and decided to signup for the task at hand.

“On big day, we put on our wet suits – a fishing boat took us out to the island and dropped us in the bay at 7 a.m. – and my swim buddy and I were accompanied by two kayaks and a (30 foot) boat nearby,” he recalled.

The water temperatures that day was about 62 degrees with waves being about 2.5 feet mid-channel. Cantoni was used to the smaller waves in the Berkeley Marina.

And then there were the strong currents in the bay.

“With some repositioning to counter the strong currents, it took us 1 hour. 11 minutes to reach the beach. The youngers swimmers, of course, did it in 30 minutes,” he said.

Cantoni’s wife Bonnie was greatly relieved with he reached the shores of San Francisco as he was also greeted by his three sons – Jason included – and granddaughter Susan, who flew in from Arizona.

Along with his personal accomplishment, Cantoni was thrilled to be among the 50 swimmers on this day to raise $121,000 for the Team Hydro Foundation.

“One-hundred percent of that will go towards the research,” he said.