“Jumping Off the Dock”
Santa Catalina Island from California
The Vision Becomes a Team Effort
It’s so exciting for this project to become a group effort…
Even in the early stages of planning for my solo swim across the Catalina Channel, I always wanted to include a relay of “sober swimmers” to really publicize the visceral meaning of “Demonstrating What’s Possible in Recovery.”
As I was booking my escort vessel for the failed 2021 attempt, I was requesting two different swim bookings - a solo and a relay - and my charter captain insisted that I concern myself with getting across as a solo swimmer first, then worry about a relay event at another time.
Well, my first attempt came and went, and I doubled down on getting across as a solo swimmer in 2022. As September of that year resulted in a successful solo crossing, I almost forgot about the relay effort. Almost.
After basking in the achievement and taking a little time to recover mentally and physically from the years of training, I remembered that I wanted to make good on this campaign I had previously initiated. I began rallying the troops. I went to Bill and Rob and expressed my interest in keeping this dream alive. They were all in. The question then became planning, recruiting and organizing a team, launching a publicity campaign, soliciting sponsorship and general fundraising for our individual causes. In other words, it was instantly overwhelming. Luckily, I had fallen in with the right group of guys.
Rob exudes an energy that simply continues to make swimming fun - for everyone around him. His charisma and enthusiasm has a way of engaging and encouraging everyone who swims with him. Rob’s joy for the water is infectious, and his ability to keep getting faster over longer distances - at 60 years of age, no less - has a way of keeping me motivated. He is our Pied Piper. As someone who’s been sober for over 30 years, he does not necessarily wave the “Recovery Flag” at every opportunity, he simply attracts others to “want what he has.”
Much of the progress of this campaign can be attributed to Bill’s project management skills. Having a sense that this was a worthwhile effort, Bill was always forwarding ideas and inspiration by way of examples of other programs & foundations, candidates for potential sponsorship and general tidbits of information such as articles & podcasts based on the theme of Recovery.
One example of this was one Saturday in November, just after Thanksgiving, when he forwarded a link to a podcast featuring Hilary Phelps. As the sister to arguably the most famous and successful swimmer in the modern world, she had embarked on a campaign to help others by relating her own story of alcoholism, recovery and vulnerability. Not only had she kept her alcoholism mostly hidden, she had also kept her recovery a secret for nearly 15 years. Realizing that her story could help others, she was opening up about her experience and using her famous name as a platform to maximize her reach.
Mind you, I had previously had fantastical ideas about involving celebrities in our project or soliciting notable names for sponsorship, and I had even reached out to a few - with no response. Undeterred, I found Hilary’s website, explained that I had a daughter, who like her, is a D-1 athlete - and at the University of Richmond, no less. And, that like her, I am a swimmer in Recovery from alcoholism. And, by chance, would she be interested in participating in a relay of sober swimmers across the Catalina Channel.
No sooner had I reached out than I forgot about it. Force of habit. Famous people do not respond to me. Fast forward just a couple of days, and I received an email - and not just from an assistant or publicist, but from Hilary herself. And not just to thank me for reaching out and politely decline my invitation, but to express a serious interest in participating!
Texts were sent. Phone calls were made. “Guess who wants to be on our relay team?” She contacted me again to advise that she had a couple of additional teammates. Her friends Ben Tuff and Charlie Engle were also endurance athletes in Recovery who wanted to be part of our team.
And so the die was cast. Whether or not this exact team ends up completing the event, it has been the catalyst which serves to move our campaign forward.
It appears that it’s all coming together…
iSwim4 had been a name…
…I’d chosen for my website, blog & fundraising efforts, and a loosely-organized idea that I might somehow serve a greater purpose through my swimming. With the encouragement of many and the help of a few others, the mission was being refined and articulated in a rambling statement that has become an evolving definition of a concept conceived in a desire to “Pay it Forward.” Somehow. Further encouraged to establish ourselves as a true non-profit, we have decided to form a 501(c)(3) entity and have engaged one of Philadelphia’s most prominent law firms to assist in this task, because they came to believe in our mission as well.
Now that I have spent 4 years in training, swimming well over 1 million meters per calendar year since 2019 - successfully achieving goals like my circumnavigation of Coronado Island and a crossing of the Catalina Channel - I often feel tired and unmotivated. My shoulders are constantly aching. I take daily naps on work days. I am not filled with the same optimistic energy that everything is going to work out for the best, as I was in my early days of sobriety when I was “riding the Pink Cloud.” So, I need to remind myself of those Pink Cloud days, when I desperately wanted to help others discover what I had discovered. I need to remind myself of how much I have to be grateful for, and how badly I want to continue to share this gratitude. I need to remember that no matter how far down our lives seem to have spiraled, we still have the capacity to experience achievement, joy and the love & respect of others. Each one of us has the potential to positively affect the lives of others and strive to achieve our own true potential.
So that is the message I try to continue to communicate. This is why I keep swimming.
-Jeff