www.mlive.com/.../davisons_jason_lassen_looks_to.html
Form the article:
On Aug. 1 and 2, Lassen will attempt to be the first person to swim from Beaver Island in Lake Michigan to mainland Michigan, ending at Good Hart. The swim is just over 18 miles long, qualifying as a marathon distance because it is over 10 kilometers, or roughly 6.2 miles.
"I laid out the route of this swim, so I would be the first person to do this swim at all," Lassen, 39, said. "There are all kinds of first swims out there in the world right now as open-water marathon swimming becomes more popular and people are putting routes together. A friend and I originally talked about going around the island, but decided to do that channel."
Lassen plans to do it all *** stoke. That made a skeptic out of me, until I read that he had done Catalina that way. Now, I'm guessing he'll make it. I'm definitely rooting for him.
I found this because I'm going to visit Beaver Island, so I checked Google news about it. Lassen is planning to do it about 2 days before I get there, though.
Thanks for the link to Beaver Island! Apparently there are many small islands in an archipelago; this, of course, calls for a Tour of Islands.
I wonder if they are inhabited... by other than chipmunks and deer, I mean. Long John Silver!
:)
And MickYoung, thanks for the original article link! It's thrilling that folks feel able to ply the waters and develop their own challenges. I'll be watching.
Good on Jason and all the good forces in the world be with u. Jason used
to be on our team when they lived in Oregon and when he swam Catalina all
breaststroke. He is an amazing guy when he puts his mind to something special he wants to do. If any one can pull it off it will be Jason.
Thanks for the link to Beaver Island! Apparently there are many small islands in an archipelago; this, of course, calls for a Tour of Islands.
I wonder if they are inhabited... by other than chipmunks and deer, I mean. Long John Silver!
I understand that only Beaver Island itself is inhabited, althought peopel I know go out to the closet biggest of the other islands, Garden Island to picnic. I understand someone spent a winter out there.
I'm not sure how much of the Archipelago is parkland and how much is privately owned. There is a strong Native American presence - there is an active burial site opn an otherwise uninhabited island.
Tour of the Islands.
I'm thinking of swimming from Beaver Island to Garden Island. It's only two miles or wo. I'm sure it's been done before, but if no one has "officially" done it, I could get my name in the record books.
Hey, it's a lot easier than swimming from Cuba, plus no sharks nor jellysfish!
It might be fun to get a group of people to tour the islands, with maybe a boat carrying camoping gear and beer. Probably early August is the time to do it.
Beaver Island is my favorite place in the world. I just got back from there a couple of weeks ago. The water was warmer than ever which is great for me.
I did my own little swim to a shipwreck on the far South of the Island (in a manner I don't suggest). I had a kayak and thought about taking it to Garden Island but even kayaking there seemed like too much.
The other Islands have some fascinating histories as well. Garden Island had a medicine woman that lived there until relatively recently. I went by boat to High Island once, which once had a religous cult living on it and Indians and a school in the early 1900s. Now it is nothing but poison ivy.
The other islands are pretty much state owned and uninhabited. However, one guy owns 2/3 of South Fox Island. You can rent it out for just $250,000/week. www.bptransportation.com/index_mich1.html
That would be a heck of a swim to the mainland. Most of my family barely survived the ferry ride!
Let us know how you did on your trip.
But, he had a good quote, "There is always a monster in the bottom of the lake and that freaks you out every once in a while."
The monster turned out to be Old Man Withers from the abandoned amusement park.
But, he had a good quote, "There is always a monster in the bottom of the lake and that freaks you out every once in a while."
I love that quote. It's funny it home yet I read it in the first article not knowing the swim had already been done.
Apparantly boat exhaust was the issue:
www.mlive.com/.../davisons_jason_lassen_to_use_f.html
Too bad. He got really unlucky as the weather has been so warm and calm he could have likely easily done it 20+ days in July.
