Cape Eleuthera to Manhattan:
A Swimmer's Journey

By JUSTIN DIMMEL

I am a swimmer. For the first 25 years of my life, I enjoyed recreational swimming on hot summer days to cool off. I would sometimes even summon the nerve to traverse a small lake or pond, using a medley of sidestroke, breaststroke and doggy paddle. I recall marveling at people who could sustain freestyle over any distance that exceeded 10 strokes. I could swim for survival—or so I believed—and it’s a good thing I never had to swim “for my life.” Still, I was a swimmer.

After college I became a math teacher, and in August 2005 these two unrelated arcs intersected. I accepted a position teaching at the Cape Eleuthera Island School, and decided I would learn to swim proficiently. In the two years and six months since I made that commitment, I have done more swimming in the wide-open ocean than I ever could have imagined. I have developed into a confident, strong, open water freestyler. The hours I have spent swimming in open water along the shores of my island home have been the most energizing, soothing and reflective moments of my life. Through hard work, focus and love, swimming is now central to my identity. The journey has been as incredible as it was unexpected.

The Island School—a 14-week study abroad program for US and Bahamian high-schoolers—organizes a 4-mile open water swim (called the “Super Swim”) that is a milestone for our students, many of whom begin as non-swimmers. I have helped organize and coach the swim training for our students every term since I first completed the Super Swim myself. Teaching young people to swim, helping to enhance their connection to the ocean, to their environment, and watching their confidence increase as they become better swimmers is one of the most rewarding aspects of my job. The improvement I have enjoyed pales in comparison to the leaps made by my students.

Initially my students are nervous, irritated by the salt water, uneasy with the current, uncomfortable in the chop; the students accustomed to pool swimming miss the line and the wall. But then, sometime around the eighth week, the ocean feels different. They no longer notice the salt water. They relax when they breathe and are no longer thwarted by the chop, or by a rogue wave. They develop guidance systems, learn how to swim straight and look ahead. Each term I guide 20 young people – whose swimming pedigrees are as varied as the shells on the seafloor – as they strive to become comfortable, powerful open water swimmers. For each of them, the feeling of accomplishment they experience at the finish of the Super Swim is a wellspring of positive energy and pride that will last a lifetime. My students strive to do something that many of them initially believe is impossible, and each term they’re all astounded at what they can achieve. My own experience and the experiences of my students have led me to the next destination in my journey: I want to swim in the Manhattan Island Marathon. I want to complete the MIMS not only to commemorate and celebrate my personal achievements, but also to show my students the extent to which their personal achievements have inspired me.

In 2008, Westerners will be deluged by reports on the various ways our society is failing. There will be countless news items revealing the growing obesity epidemic in Americans, the unsettling trend of increased performance-enhancing drug use and the rampant problems within the healthcare system. The Manhattan Island Marathon swim will not prevent any of these issues from impacting society; however, circumnavigating the epicenter of modern life through its historic waterways under my own power will allow me to embrace the positive aspects of our modern world. The sciences of nutrition, athletic training, overall health and wellness, and even the mechanics of freestyle swimming, are examples of present-day marvels that I encourage you to take pride in. The work that the Manhattan Island Foundation has done to return open water swimming to prominence in New York City – and its attendant celebration of cleaner, healthier waterways – taps the spirit of where we ought to be investing our energies. Thus I will participate in the Manhattan Island Marathon as an opportunity to share in the celebration of what is possible and what is worth preserving.