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Michigan long-distance swimmer to attempt new world record for continuous swim
22/06/2006 2:12:00 PM
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BYRON CENTER, Mich. (AP) - Long-distance swimmer Jim Dreyer, who has completed crossings of each of the five Great Lakes, said he will attempt to set a new world distance record for a continuous swim.
Dreyer, 42, of Byron Center, announced Thursday that he will try to swim nonstop for 200 kilometres or more by making at least 31 consecutive crossings of the Straits of Mackinac, where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet.
Weather permitting, he plans to begin the swim on Sept. 1 and complete it within 72 to 84 hours, returning to shore sometime on Sept. 4, which is Labour Day.
He will attempt the feat without the aid of a support boat, as he did last August when he completed a 95-kilometre crossing of Lake Superior while pulling 113 kilograms of supplies and navigational and communications equipment behind him in an inflatable raft.
"Pursuing the overall world distance record is the next logical quest, if I want to continue raising the bar," Dreyer said in a written release.
In 1998, Australian Susie Maroney swam 196 kilometres from Mexico to Cuba in 38 hours and 33 minutes, according to the Guinness World Records Web site.
Guinness described the feat as the longest distance ever swum without flippers in open sea, while Dreyer called it the world distance record for a continuous swim.
Dreyer said he expects his planned swim to take about twice as long because Maroney was aided by the Gulf Stream while the water in the Straits of Mackinac "is notorious for its strong and constant cross currents."
then do it 
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