Swim from Sandy Hook, NJ to Downtown Manhattan
18 Miles
September 20, 2000
This is the second swim on the 20th of September. It is the second time I've had to dodge a hurricane. This is the first time I am swimming with someone from the coast guard auxiliary. I hope they know how to run the boat the way Chris does.
The New York Harbor Swim for the Cure
Andy and I left for the Jersey Coast at 4:00 PM on Tuesday, September 19th, 2000, later than we wanted. I had all the bagels, food and other comforts. We were staying at the Fairfield Motor Lodge. It was on the beach and a few miles south of Sandy Hook. It wasn't the nicest place, but it was comfortable and close. As always did when growing up and visiting my grandmother in Manasquan, NJ, I checked to see if the Atlantic Ocean had moved, but it hadn't. It was still there. It was not as calm as Long Island Sound. Let's hope the wind dies down from the Hurricane.
We ate at a Portuguese Restaurant next to the motor lodge. The food was pretty good, but there was not enough pasta. The next morning, at 5:30 AM, we left for the Coast Guard Station, approximately 15 minutes away.
When we found the main building, it was wide open. I ate some bananas as well as a bagel or two, but, the Coast Guard Auxiliary were not there. It turns out that they had a problem getting out of their own harbor, coincidently enough Manasquan, as they almost ran aground. They showed up at least 30 minutes late.
I had planned to get in the water at 6:30 AM, but instead I jumped off the boat at 7:05 AM and swam to shore. At about 7:10 AM, I said a short prayer, thought about some of my favorite sayings and pushed off from chest deep water. While I planned to swim due North towards Manhattan, I was pushed eastward towards Romer Shoals Lighthouse. I wanted to go north, but I am a small craft and was pushed east by the tides. I made it to the lighthouse in about 1 hour and 15 minutes for the 2.5 miles.
As usual, I stopped every 55 minutes for a 5-minute break. The first break was difficult because of the wind and waves. Also, the first time I took a break I thought I was going to get run over. It turns out that a different captain took over and it was much easier to get food and water. Another time, about 1/2 hour after a break I was trying to stretch and the spotters in the boat thought I was in trouble. The next thing I knew I ran into the boat and smashed my hand.
From the Romer Shoals Lighthouse, I went west towards West Bank Light. The distance was again about 2.5 miles, but it took at least 3 hours to get there. It was slow going as I was buffeted by 20 to 25 mile per hour winds and 5' to 7' waves. Every once in a while a 9' wave hit as well. I was pretty battered and frustrated. In fact, Andy Greco, who was calling various people to let them know of my progress, he lost his cell phone signal due to the waves.
Another hour and I was only a mile north of West Bank Lighthouse. However, the winds began to die and the waves lessened. I finally started to get moving as I felt as if I was in a better current. I went by Swinburne Island, which was about 2 miles north of West Bank Lighthouse. The island once had some buildings, which were now derelict and abandoned. It isn't much of an island and while a neat place to live, it would be brutal in either a hurricane or a Nor'easter. I was now in the lee of Staten Island and the swim was easy, I was just tired.
About another mile north of Swinburne is Hoffman Island, a flat island with greenery but no buildings. When we neared this Island, the boat took off. I had visions that one of the auxiliarists was either sick. Worse, I thought Andy Greco was sick. They appeared on the other side of Hoffman Island in a few minutes, and they started to search for me. I could see them, but they had a hard time finding me. They were more worried about me than I was. They couldn't go the way I went because of the depth of the water. I never felt near the bottom, but their depth finder said otherwise.
It was 1:00 PM, and I was 1.5 miles south of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Traditionally, the water is quite choppy, but not this time. I swam under the bridge at about 2:00 PM, two hours later than I had planned. As usual, I swam backstroke under the bridge. This was the last bridge that I had to swim under to complete swim under all the major bridges in the tri-state region except the bridges connecting Staten Island and New Jersey over the Arthur Kill. This bridge, while the longest bridge, was definitely the ugliest. It had nothing distinctive. The nicest bridge was the Hell Gate Rail Road Bridge. The most surprising was the fact that the Tri-Boro Bridge was a suspension bridge.
Just past the Verrazano Narrows Bridge is an old fort and abandoned lighthouse called Fort Wadsworth. This fort, built along with Fort Hamilton, the fort that is now the base of the Statue of Liberty and the old fort at Battery Park were built to protect the harbor during the war of 1812. All of these forts were never used as the British never attacked New York after it abandoned it during the Revolutionary War.
From just east of Staten Island I went across the channel towards Brooklyn. I went north-north east towards a tower. I had to go approximately 2,000 meters or 1.25 miles to swim diagonally towards Brooklyn. The tide was moving at about 1.5 miles per hour on average, and dropping after 2:30 PM and I had 2.5 hours to go the 7.8 miles. I knew that I might run out of tide and current. High tide at the Battery was 2:30, but it takes approximately 2 hours for the current to turn around and ebb out. I knew that it was going to be close and I wished we hadn't lost 45 minutes at the start of the swim and another 15 minutes during the first time I refueled at the beginning of the swim.
The rest of the swim was going to be a test of endurance. My shoulders were numb. I would swim 50 strokes breathing to my right, take 10 breaststrokes and then swim 50 strokes to the left. I could now clearly see Manhattan looming behind Governor's Island. However, from my perspective, I thought Governor's Island was Battery Park. At about 1/4th of a mile I realized I was not near Manhattan but Governor's Island. I had to swim around the island, which cost me approximately 1/8th of a mile or 3 minutes.
With the horns blaring on Governor's Island, telling all to keep off, I swam around the Island and on towards the Battery. At about 4:17 PM, 9 hours, 7 minutes and 19 seconds after I dove off the Sandy Hook, New Jersey shore I touched the rock bulkhead next to the old fire tug pier at the Battery.
My shoulders were numb, my back sore, but the spirit was elated. The hardest thing to do was to climb up the ladder. The lower rung was only a foot below the surface. My back was no longer working well and it was difficult to bend the back enough. I did manage to get my feet on the lowest rung and climbed up.
After we finished, I went with Andy and my friends from Chase to the marina at North Cove at the World Financial Center. There, Mike Winter, Brian Hubert, Mel Spivak, Judith Lecoin and Eric Johnson met me in the Park. After a beer, a phone call to Trina and to Brian Saxton of the Danbury News-Times, we headed back to Sandy Hook and home.
While I am already looking towards another swim, this is the last for Juvenile Diabetes Foundation as Katie has asked that she would like me to start swimming for Epilepsy Foundation to help out her disease.