2 men to swim across Lake Michigan, an arduous adventure few have accomplished
Two endurance swimmers — Bryan Huffman and Jim Dreyer — are separately planning to freestyle across Lake Michigan next month, a feat that is not only difficult, but dangerous, and has been accomplished by only a few others.
Huffman, a 49-year-old ophthalmologist who swam the English Channel last year, is seeking to swim the Great Lake for the first time, but without a wetsuit, which is even an even more formidable challenge. Dreyer, who turns 60 in August and is nicknamed the Shark, swam it in 1998, when he was much younger.
"It's going to be a big challenge. It's a long way to go," Huffman said Wednesday. "But I think we got a good shot at it. The Great Lakes are right here in Michigan and hardly anyone has ever done it. I thought, it's right in my back yard and it would be a perfect swim to do."
It's a 50 mile or more swim, and the water can be cold and choppy, others who have attempted it have said. It will be especially difficult without a wetsuit, which helps with the chill. However, unlike open water ocean swimming, the water is fresh and there are no stinging jellyfish.
Both of them are planning to start in Wisconsin and end up in Michigan, but at different times.
Drowning, a leading cause of death
The two men hope to their accomplishment will raise money for causes they care about: Huffman, for swimming lessons at the Holland Aquatic Center, where he is a member; and Dreyer, for the Chief Petty Officers Association, a group that aims to help those enlisted in the Coast Guard.
"With the English Channel swim, the reward was just finishing," Huffman, who aims to start at Rawley Point Lighthouse, just north of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and finish at Big Sable Point Lighthouse, said. "Now, though, the reward will be finishing and knowing that kids will have access to affordable swim lessons."
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Drowning is a leading causes of death for children and young people, and Huffman hopes to change that. He has been training, he said, and his wife, their two teenage sons, and others in the eye clinic where he works are excited for him, and will be cheering him on.
It's thrilling, he said, to attempt to "take something that seems undoable and to accomplish it."
Huffman said aims to start the swim Aug. 11, when the water will be the warmest, about 70 degrees. But he may need to adjust that date depending on the weather. He'll be accompanied by a boat with a safety team of about a dozen people that includes his sister, a nurse.
"In the middle of the lake, you're on your own," he said, adding that deaths are rare during these long swims, but they do occur. "The Coast Guard can come out and help, but, it's going to be an hour or more before they are there. And we don't want to have to rely on that."
An 'invincible' lake is defeated
A few folks tried to swim across Lake Michigan in the 1950s, and then Chicago car dealership owner Jim Moran began offering prizes to anyone who could swim from Chicago to Michigan City, Indiana. In 1961, Ted Erikson, then-33, did it.
He triumphed over storms and exhaustion to earn some money and enduring glory. The feat was the second line of his obituary in the Chicago-Sun Times in 2021. The first line called him "one of Chicago's greatest open-water long-distance swimmers."
Before Ted Erikson, others attempted to swim across Lake Michigan. One of them, teacher Harry Briggs, tried three times, the last in 1960, before quitting. After that, a Chicago Tribune editorial referred to Lake Michigan as "invincible," adding that to defeat it, it would take "a rare degree of cooperation from nature."
In 2015, Chris Lechner, of Asheville, North Carolina, came ever so close. He was only a quarter-mile away from shore when he gave up. He was reportedly taken off course by a rip tide and began to hallucinate and worry he was swimming in circles. The orthopedic surgeon was rescued near Saugatuck Dunes State Park.
"I faced all my fears. I faced all the dangers and I conquered them all, with a lot of help of course," Lechner reflected to the Asheville Citizen-Times, saying that instead of reading a book, he wanted to live one. "To me, that's what I'd define as a success."
And 2020, a group of six Holland-Zeeland area friends and swimmers ― Jon Ornée, his brother David, Nick Hobson, Jeremy Sall, Todd Suttor and Matt Smith — swam the lake as a relay, according to digital news magazine Rapid Growth Media. It took them almost 21 hours.
For the challenge and the glory
Dreyer, who has crossed all five Great Lakes, has spent a lifetime challenging himself in the water.
After conquering Lake Michigan, Dreyer swam across Huron in 1999, Erie and Ontario in 2000 and Superior in 2005. It took him a few tries to make it. In 2013, he towed a ton of bricks on a 22-mile swim across Lake St. Clair to Detroit. And in 2015, he swam 3½-miles to Mackinac Island tugging a barge carrying a car loaded with fudge.
Starting Aug. 1, the Associated Press reported, he is attempting to swim at least 82½ miles across Lake Michigan a second time without getting out of the water, from Milwaukee to Grand Haven.
Dreyer swam the lake the first time when he was 34.
When he finally finished the 41-hour swim, he was greeted by a crowd of nearly 200 supporters, the Free Press reported. He kissed the Ludington shoreline and dragged himself to the beach. It took 16 hours longer than he had planned.
Dreyer faced 3-foot waves and 70-degree water temperatures. To stay nourished and hydrated, he ate baby food and drank sports drinks sent through a tube. To celebrate, he said he planed to throw — what else? — a pool party.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2 men to swim separately across Lake Michigan in August
