GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — After aborting his latest attempt to swim alone across Lake Michigan, Jim Dreyer says 2027 will be his next chance to achieve the feat.
The swim — Dreyer’s second attempt this summer and fourth since 2023 — kicked off Sept. 2 in Grand Haven. Dreyer’s goal was to reach McKinley Beach in Milwaukee, an 82.9-mile point-to-point crossing.
Two days later, he announced the attempt was over .
Swimmer aborts Lake Michigan crossing again
In his account of the swim, Dreyer, 61, recounted a series of issues with navigation and weather.
“The first 24 hours were mostly a navigational nightmare. Anyone watching my satellite tracker may have questioned whether I was drunk. I promise, I was only drinking meal replacement drinks,” Dreyer wrote. “I was all over the place, piling up mileage with limited forward progress, and wasting valuable time with a closing weather window of opportunity.”
He explained that he had trouble coordinating his magnetic wrist compass with the electronic compass that was displayed on his swimming mask. Eventually, Dreyer said, he went “old school,” relying on the wrist compass, the direction of the waves, the sun and the stars.