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HANCOCK ’Äì Imagine an entire day of eight-to-ten-foot waves on Lake Superior, and then imagine swimming against them even into the night. It was a formidable challenge, even for an ultra-marathon swimmer who had already swum across the other four Great Lakes.
Jim Dreyer of Byron Center, Mich., pushed off course by the current, had to yield to the unyielding weather on Gitchee-Gumee Thursday, August 16, after a 47-mile swim. Just before 10 p.m. (EDT) Thursday, crew members pulled Dreyer into the Zodiak lifeboat and onto the escort boat, Silver Girl, with about 45 miles remaining in the direct crossing from Grand Portage, Minn., to the planned destination, Mc Lain State Park near Calumet ’Äì originally projected to be a 62-mile swim. Disappointed but not defeated, Dreyer and his crew, raising awareness and funds for the Big Brothers Big Sisters youth mentoring program, said they hope to try again next year. "Jim Dreyer’Äôs story is inspirational and an especially great story to share with young people,’Äù said Maggie Munch, Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) program director for the Western Upper Peninsula. ’ÄúThis story is characteristic of what Big Brothers Big Sisters is all about. Big Brothers Big Sisters places caring adults in the life of a child in addition to their parents and family. That caring adult acts as a mentor, setting an example, building the strengths of the child and helping that child to become a more confident, competent and caring individual. ’ÄúThrough Dreyer’Äôs example hopefully children can see that you can set goals in life,’Äù Munch added. ’ÄúYou can aim high, as high as you can possibly dream and against all odds you can go for it.’Äù Dreyer, who has made successful direct crossings of Lake Michigan (1998), Huron (1999), Erie (2000) and Ontario (2000), still hopes to be the first to make direct crossings of all five Great Lakes. ’ÄúI know I can do this with some cooperation from Mother Nature,’Äù Dreyer said Friday morning while recuperating at the Marina near Hancock’Äôs Ramada Inn. ’ÄúThe last thing I would expect is for Lake Superior to just roll over for me and make it easy ’Ķ Coming up here I was preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.’Äù Dreyer, said he was aware of Superior’Äôs changing weather moods and admitted they turned out to be ’Äúmuch as [he] had feared.’Äù Despite very cold water temperatures at the beginning of his swim, weather conditions looked mostly favorable (rain and fog expected to clear) on Wednesday, August 15, when he took off at about 10 a.m. from Grand Portage in northeastern Minnesota and headed for the Keweenaw Peninsula. ’ÄúSome of the conditions we faced on Superior I had faced before, but never for such an extended period of time,’Äù Dreyer noted. ’ÄúThe coldest water I’Äôve ever been in was 43 degrees ’Ķ When we started it was 44 degrees, after about five miles 48 degrees, after about 10 to 12 miles about 54 ’Ķ When we got close to Michigan we were hitting 60 or 61.’Äù At about noon on Wednesday,
Dreyer’Äôs Web
site, giving hourly updates,
reported: ’ÄúThe water temperature
is causing continued numbness in extremities ’Ķ so
that a fluid bottle tossed to him cannot be squeezed
by him.’Äù
Dreyer expressed great appreciation for his crew
members, who took shifts in the Zodiak lifeboat that
accompanied him at all times within about 15 feet,
but keeping him 150 feet from the escort boat,
Silver Girl, to
avoid his breathing diesel fumes from its engine.
Every half hour crew members fed him a carbohydrate
and electrolyte replacement drink and a carbohydrate
gel for energy. Occasionally he would eat a few
crackers. As far as keeping food down while swimming in the
big waves, Dreyer said, ’ÄúSometimes you can and
sometimes you can’Äôt ’Ķ I did pretty well in that
department this time. I only had a problem once.’Äù Thursday was hardly conducive to celebrating his 38th
birthday, although Dreyer was in good spirits when
the crew sang ’ÄúHappy Birthday’Äù to him early that
morning. Although weather had improved on Wednesday,
the waves began building by early Thursday. ’ÄúWe had a full day of eight-to-ten-foot waves
pushing me southwest, when we had to go
southeast,’Äù Dreyer said, ’Äúso we ended up 20
miles off course.’Äù Dreyer said he did not learn to swim until March,
1996, and he made his first goal for Big Brothers
Big Sisters by swimming directly across Lake
Michigan from Two Rivers, Wis., to Ludington, Mich.,
only two years later, in August 1998. ’ÄúI had a lifelong fear of water,’Äù Dreyer
explained. ’ÄúI nearly drowned when I was three. As
a child I was terrified of water. As an adult I was
never comfortable with it.’Äù
Two of Dreyer’Äôs crew members, Jim Smith of Grand
Rapids and Mike Wycoff of Holland, said they would
’Äúdefinitely’Äù do this again with Dreyer if he
makes another attempt to cross Lake Superior. Smith and Wycoff described the hazards involved in
stepping from the slippery platform at the back of
the Silver Girl into the lifeboat for the two-hour
shifts to accompany Dreyer and feed him. The
platform could be six feet out of the water and
seconds later be underwater. Said Captain Brian Koeman, ’ÄúWhen one of the guys
was getting into the lifeboat,
we almost had a mishap.’Äù
First Mate Phares "Admiral Perry" Weinberg noted Dreyer never touched the boat until the crew pulled him in Thursday night. Usually he would tread water while the crew members fed him. Koeman noted the back of the boat was constantly
wet, and the crew, like Dreyer, all wore wetsuits.
Wycoff said captain and crew had talked to a news
crew about the weather for several days before
leaving Grand Portage. ’ÄúWe figured we had the window between the 14th
(of August) and the 23rd,’Äù Wycoff
explained. Smith noted the weather reports said it would
improve, but it didn’Äôt. At the time the crew
pulled Dreyer from the lake, the waves were so rough
that the boat had to maintain a certain speed to
keep on course. They concluded Dreyer could not have
kept up with the boat at that speed. ’ÄúHe (Dreyer) was getting pushed off course. Every
mile he swam the current pushed him a mile off
course,’Äù Smith said. Despite his disappointment, Dreyer was in good spirits in Hancock Friday, but feeling, as he put it, ’Äúbeat up.’Äù He said it would be unrealistic to repeat the attempt this summer. ’ÄúI’Äôd never say anything is impossible, but to try something like this again you want to go out there (with conditions) as much in your favor as possible,’Äù Dreyer said.
He noted all five of his Great Lakes swims have been to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters, bringing in approximately $70,000 for the BBBS group in his own Grand Rapids area. ’ÄúI’Äôve been involved with the program since 1988,’Äù Dreyer said. ’ÄúAt the time, I was dating a girl who was a Big Sister. Every weekend we’Äôd spend time with this little girl, and we saw first-hand what a difference the program can make. Not every kid in this program comes from an unhappy home, but this particular child did. We didn’Äôt sit down and say, ’ÄòWe’Äôre here to change your life.’Äô We just spent time with her ’Äì showed her she was an important person ’Äì and her self-esteem really improved. Suddenly she was on the honor roll, which had never happened before; and she had goals of going to college and becoming a schoolteacher. I thought if, across the board, any child who needed a mentor could have one, what a difference it would make.’Äù Munch said Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Western Upper Peninsula looks forward to Dreyer’Äôs return and events at McLain State Park will be postponed until that time. Those people who have entered the Contest sponsored by the local agency will be notified by mail of the results and will receive a small token to thank them for getting involved. ’ÄúThis story is not over yet,’Äù Munch noted. ’ÄúI believe that Dreyer will be back and he will continue to try until he succeeds which will give the story a much sweeter ending. Dreyer’Äôs efforts in raising awareness of Big Brothers Big Sisters Programs are truly Superior." Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Western U.P., a program of the Good Will Farm Association, Inc., is a non-profit youth mentoring organization dedicated to providing one-to-one friendship, guidance, and opportunities to children and youth. Big Brothers Big Sisters is the premier mentoring organization in the country, serving over 700 children and youth in the Western U.P. each year. Anyone interested in learning more about Big Brothers Big Sisters can contact the main office in Hancock at (906) 487-9855. Click here for the Swim Jim Swim! Web site, which gives a full account of his Lake Superior swim, including the crew’Äôs copyrighted jokes, meant to keep Jim Dreyer in good spirits ’Ķ Editor’Äôs note: In our previous Keweenaw Today article on Jim Dreyer, we failed to note that Canadian swimmer Vicki Keith made a successful 20-mile crossing of Lake Superior from Orienta, Wis., to Two Harbors, Minn., in 1988.
’Äì Michele Anderson
July
18, 2001 |
