Chalk up one for . . . well, a strong and distinctive way to earn attention.
"We can all pull together just the way I pulled these bricks," Jim Dreyer said at Belle Isle.
[Earlier photo from his website]
Tom Greenwood was at Belle Isle when professional swimmer Jim "The Shark" Dreyer of Byron Center walked onto shore Wednesday -- 50-plus hours after entering the water in Algonac on Monday and towing two skiffs with 2,000 pounds of bricks all 23 miles of the way.
Dreyer not only undertook the watery marathon in order to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity, but to also raise the morale of Detroit and its residents. . . . "I just wanted to show that we can all pull together just the way I pulled these bricks."
The power-athlete swam alone with no rescue boat trailing him, Greenwood writes.
A three-man crew monitored him from land as he made his way.
"We kept track of him and made sure he was safe," crew member Nate Zandee said. "Last night, I swam out to him to check and see if he was OK; sometimes he begins to hallucinate on these very long swims. He often sleeps while he's swimming and I ended up waking him up."
