Jim Dreyer tried the unprecedented, the unpredictable, and the unknown, but came out safe, smiling, and undeterred after being rescued in the middle of Lake Michigan.

“It was a 25-hour beatdown, but I did not call for rescue,” he said about this unaccompanied solo swim across Lake Michigan.  “Lake Michigan landed a flurry of punches, but I can take a punch and I was still in the fight.” 

Dreyer’s team sent a boat out nearly 30 miles from Milwaukee in 8-foot waves to check on his condition and to provide him with important information.   “My team was constantly vigilant while working tirelessly with each other on both sides of the lake, and with Coast Guard Station Milwaukee.  The consensus was that these were the roughest conditions any of my team’s boats could endure, and conditions would get worse, as 10-12 foot waves were forecasted for the next two days.  I was informed that If I turned down this rescue and needed rescue later, it would be left to the U.S. Coast Guard.” 

His boat crew discovered that Dreyer’s supply dinghy that he was pulled along had encountered as much as possible and was coming apart at the seams. “I am swimming to support the Coast Guard’s Chief Petty Officers’ Association, not lean on them for rescue and spend taxpayer’s money.  That is the last thing I wanted to do.  My supply dinghy was on borrowed time, and with worsening conditions for a prolonged period, I was in real danger of losing my supplies.  A Coast Guard rescue is likely what it would have come down to and I couldn’t let that happen.”

His self-sufficient attempt, not to discount his dryland and rescue teams, was called Lake Michigan – The Silver Sequel, and required Dreyer to pull a 225-pound supply dinghy non-stop while self-navigating for 82.5 miles between Milwaukee, Wisconsin to his hometown of Grand Haven, Michigan.  The 60-year-old started swimming before 5:00 pm this past Monday, but he soon started hitting 3-5 foot waves head on until he was about 5 miles offshore.  Then, the conditions worsened. He encountered 6-8 foot waves until he was pulled out of Lake Michigan. “I could not make much progress when trying to stay on course by swimming directly east.  The best I could do was swim northeast.  Even then, I was making much more progress getting off course to the north than progressing east toward Michigan.  I wanted to persevere long enough for conditions to change so I could begin heading directly east.”

Dreyer was pulled from the water at around 6:30 pm, roughly 14.2 miles off the coast and 18.5 off course to the north.  He had logged 26.7 miles in 25 hours 38 minutes in his attempt.

“Tuesday afternoon, I noticed my dinghy was taking on a lot of water and discovered the keel and floor was being torn away by the force of the waves,” Dreyer said.  “I dove under the pitching dinghy and wrapped bungee cords around the craft, cinching them up the best I could.  This was just a band aide, and I was pulling a significant amount of additional weight from the incoming water.  The rips kept getting larger, and I was racing time to keep from losing my supplies.” 

But 2024 is another year.  

“Physically I was just fine after this significant challenge. While I am very disappointed this swim ended as it did, I am more confident than ever that I can do this.  I really wanted to get it done this year, but am out of time.  I have other plans for 2024, but somehow, I believe I will find a way to juggle everything and get it done.”

© 2023 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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