A 60-year-old west Michigan man, Jim Dreyer, is trying again to swim across Lake Michigan, 26 years after he first did it.
Dreyer, known as “the Shark,” took off from Grand Haven Tuesday morning, heading toward Milwaukee.
Dreyer had two failed attempts last summer. He says he only made it 12 miles in the first try because a boat following him kept getting swept off course in worsening lake conditions.
“My second attempt was self-sufficient, but after like 25-plus hours of 8-foot waves, you think you’ve seen everything after you’ve been doing this for 25 years, but I never expected the force of these waves would start tearing that dinghy apart at the seams,” Dreyer said. “It literally was ripping the floor out of it, and I was going to lose all my supplies.”
Dreyer’s efforts are to raise money for the U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer’s Association.
The swim is expected to take about three days and will cover about 90 miles.
