Saw this in the local news today, thought I’d pass it along for those who haven’t heard of him (& his accomplishments). He’s currently (10:29 EST) North of Whitefish Point, on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Oh, his only support is the raft he’s towing behind him.
On October 7, 2003, in a self-sufficient staged event, Dreyer became the first to swim the length of a Great Lake (Michigan), swimming an estimated 422 miles from Michigan City, Indiana to the Mackinac Bridge, while pulling his supplies in a kayak attached to his ankles. He battled 15-20 foot waves on six different occasions during his epic month-long, 18-stage journey. As part of his preparation for this event, he swam 10 miles in Lake Michigan while towing a quarter-ton of sand bags in a dinghy.
That’s a huge accomplishment. But 2.5 days seems like a long time…people do the English Channel at over 2 mph, even with the currents. Are the currents in the lake that strong? Just curious on why it takes so long…
Georgian Bay is at the top end of Lake Huron on the Canadian side. I don’t have a map of the great lakes to post but if you have a look at one you’ll see it.
“If successful, he will have crossed his fifth Great Lake, while becoming the first to swim across a Great Lake self-sufficiently, and breaking the Lake Superior distance record he set in 2002 (48 miles).”
I would guess if he was the first to do all 5, that would be trumpeted. Given the “one of the only” quote in the article, I guess a few people have done it before.
Did the other people tow a Zodiac behind them? It’s bad enough he is swimming that far, but doing it while towing a few hundred pounds of boat and gear? Sheesh!
I’m sure not. Obviously towing the zodiac would really slow him down. I guess I was just surprised to hear that someone went slower than 1 mph. A recent thread said someone did the English Channel in 7.X hours. 21 miles, but you swim more due to the currents. Over 3 mph. So my initial thought was this seemed “slow”.
Guess other long-distance swimmers can get their food/drink thrown to them from support boats. By doing it “solo”, he had to lug all of his stuff. Add to that the fatigue of going for that long…crazy stuff.
I could not do this swim, but I was let down by the story a little.
How do they define swimming across the lake? I was thinking he would take the widest part, which would be a few hundred miles. The lenght of the lake is probably close to 600 miles. I had the impression that he swam 350 miles (the entire length) of Lake Michigan.
It’s still really impressive though. He didn’t need to carry water though - he could just drink straight from the lake without any problems.
He didn’t need to carry water though - he could just drink straight from the lake without any problems.
Only if he doesn’t mind spending the next two months sitting on the pot, squirting.
Jim is an amazing individual and driven like few others. He has been and is an inspiration to many including all QR employees. We made actually some double thick suits for him as some of the swims he does are in unbelieavably cold water.
Cheers,
Herbert
QR
He didn’t need to carry water though - he could just drink straight from the lake without any problems.
Only if he doesn’t mind spending the next two months sitting on the pot, squirting.
This was in Lake Superior. Not some swamp-ass Lake Okechobee or something like that.
