Missing AA Batteries Sink Swimmer’s Efforts to Cross Lake Michigan

Jim Dreyer was set and ready to cross Lake Michigan under his own power, swimming the full distance from Grand Haven, to Milwaukee, WIS. His journey would have covered 83 miles of open water, and likely taken him just three days to complete.

But Dreyer's efforts were literally sunk on Saturday, after an incident that, if he'd continued, could have left him swimming in circles, and exhausting him to the point of it becoming dangerous. And it was all thanks to a couple of AA batteries.

Get our free mobile app

Jim "The Shark" Dryer is a world record holder when it comes to swimming the Great Lakes, and competing in "superhuman" competitions. He was part of Stan Lee's Superhumans in 2013 where he literally pulled a 27-ton car ferry across Newport Beach Harbor.

He's also swam the "Might Mac Swim" multiple times, which requires a triple-crossing of the strait in the water. All told, Dreyer claims he's swam more than 25,000 miles in total, which would equivalent to swimming around the world.

His latest task seemed simple in comparison to most of what he's accomplished - a solo swim across Lake Michigan from Grand Haven to Milwaukee. A short 83-mile trek that he would have likely finished in just 3 days. But on Saturday, he was already three days in, and only a third of the way across the lake. His trip ended due to a simple, yet significant mistake... he dropped his AA batteries.

The batteries were for his GPS tracker, which would have told him where on the Lake he was, and kept him from swimming erratically in the water. He would have been out in open water, on the same level as the water, so no land markers would have been visible for dozens of miles.

Dryer attempted to continue his trip, despite not having navigation, and said he was fighting hallucinations, and essentially swimming in circles all night.

Finally, he decided to abandon his trip. Dryer had a simple answer to MLive about why he made the decision.

"Basically, in the end, you know, I was alone in the middle of Lake Michigan with just a compass and eyes I couldn't trust. That pretty much sums it up right there - lost the battle to my GPS."

Dreyer has made the trip before, but he did so with an escort boat in tow. This time, he wanted to make the trip all on his own. When asked if he would attempt the swim again, he didn't commit, but hinted that he might give it one more go after last year's failed attempt as well.