Jamie Patrick makes it a point that what he is attempting in Lake Tahoe tomorrow is not a marathon swim.
But it is certainly an adventure.
Starting at 6 am, surrounded by a team of marathon swimmers, endurance athletes, fitness fanatics and friends, Patrick will wrapped himself in neoprene and take off on a 68-mile swim around the perimeter of Lake Tahoe.
His adventure, neoprene or not, will be followed by many including those in the mainstream media and those who know him personally and those who have only heard of a California waterman who relentlessly follows his dreams in lakes and rivers.
His focus will not be on whether he is following the rules of marathon swimming, but on the raw, fundamental premise of his chosen exploit.
“I am about the adventure in everything,” he explains. “From riding my bike through the night “just because”, to swimming upstream in the creek behind my house during a rain storm, to walking home from work 17 miles, to doing two marathons back to back for the fun of it. I have sailed all over the world. I have done 12 hour pool swims, swam in 12 different pools in 12 days just for the fun of it. I have taken a train with my bike 200 miles down the California coast and turned around and rode back. I have run 78 miles on a one mile loop. I have swam with whales, sharks, and dolphins in the wild. My first Ironman I did without training, just to see if I could do it. I love adventure.”
And adventure involves risk-taking. Success is not a given in Patrick’s 68-mile perimeter swim, but difficulties certainly are. At 6,225 feet (1,897 meters) nestled in the mountains between the states of California and Nevada, Patrick will undoubtedly face pain, discomfort, vomiting, muscle fatigue and a host of other physiological trauma and psychological obstacles on the estimated 45-hour swim.
His effort will be dramatic and emotional. It will tug on the eye ducts of those in his 25-person crew. They will see Patrick go through a whole host of emotions and configurations over two days in the freshwater lake. His skin will soften and swell. His stomach will growl and hurl up nutrition. He will feel lightheaded and sore. Yet he will forge on, always within 75 meters of the coast.
In a world where Americans regularly use escalators, microwaves, air conditioners and ready-made foods, Patrick’s swim takes up back to a time when life on the frontier was not so easy and comfortable. His swim will be a struggle where he will meet his physical limits and will have to convince himself that he has to go beyond. As the pain is etched in his face, his crew and his family will sympathize with him…but they will leave him in to continue swimming in a living hell.
Stroke after stroke, mile after mile, Patrick will fight on like adventurers of old. His swim is a repetitive solo feat that is not seen as dramatic television. But, as is the case with channel swimmers, it is an unforgettable experience for those who witness it firsthand. The inner battle is as intriguing as the struggle against nature.
His swim – 68 miles of a match between man and nature, a self-determined test of wills – will be available for viewing in real-time here.
This is his passion. Lake Tahoe is his field of play. The Sierra Nevada mountains is where Patrick has decided to give himself the ultimate test. And he motivates us to seek our own Lake Tahoe.
Reference: swimmers who have swum longer than 24 hours are posted here.
Copyright © 2012 by World Open Water Swimming Association