Swimmers To Embark On 411 Mile Swim From Wreck Of Edmund Fitzgerald To Detroit
A memorial swim is being planned next summer to commemorate the 50th year of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The course starts from where the wreck occurred and finishes in Detroit. That's the destination that the Fitzgerald was sailing to when she was lost.
WDIO interviewed Jim Dreyer, the organizer of the memorial swim and fundraiser. The Michigan man has swum across all 5 Great Lakes before, and he says at points it feels like you are on another planet when you can't see shoreline anywhere.
Here's a news clip from his attempt to swim across Lake Michigan last year.
68 people will be needed for the memorial swim.
People can register to swim the 411-mile route. There will be a support boat chartered by the US Coast Guard that will have a captain, first mate, and paramedic onboard, along with a rescue swimmer.
Swimmers will swim for an hour and a half, and then they get to rest and hour and a half while their teammates swim.
It is open for registration. They ask that you are able to swim a mile without resting, and also record your times for swimming a mile in a pool. They have 17 different stages across the lake with varying commitments. The registration is first-come, first-serve beginning 8:00 AM CT on June 10, 2024.
Fundraiser for Whitefish Point Lighthouse
Swimmers are asked to raise a minimum of $2500 for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. They are renovating the Whitefish Point Lighthouse which safeguards mariners along "Shipwreck Coast."
The official fundraising campaign begins on October 15, 2024, but people can start raising money as soon as they register.
Entry fees range from $500 - $2,000
The majority of the entry fees for the different stages are $750. You can register online beginning June 10th to participate.
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