Annals of Adventure–Splish-Splash: When he was a child, Jim Dreyer, 40, almost drowned. This week he wrapped up a little swim….that took him from one end of Lake Michigan to the other, 340 miles total in 31 days. Before you gasp “That’s one crazy motherf***er!” it’s important to note that it wasn’t a continuous swim. Instead it was broken into 16 stages, and Dreyer kicked back in a camper at various campsites along the way to rest between the 20-30 mile stages. But still: he had to swim through 12-20 foot swells on occasion (“it was like being dropped off a two-story building”), and kept churning through hail, winds up to 40 knots, and even a little snow. He lost 20 pounds of muscle mass through the ordeal. Dreyer probably should have a Great Lakes fish named after him. Prior to this stunt, he made the first direct crossing of Lake Michigan (65 miles, 41 hours), swam across Lake Huron (53 miles, 39 hours), and bagged Lake Erie (immediately following the swim with a full marathon through beach sand) and Lake Ontario (completing a full marathon and 130 miles of biking before hitting the water). Dreyer twice set the Lake Superior distance record (his best now stands at at 48 miles), braving 37 degree water. With all that time in the Lakes it’s amazing he wasn’t run down by the Edmund Fitzgerald . For all this, and for raising money for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America while risking permanent prune skin, I hereby nominate Jim Dreyer Wetass of the Week.

Swimicus Nonstopicus Jim Dreyer: “I wonder what’s on Oprah…..”