Life Is But A Dream

(6 of 7)

Swimming for 16 hours straight in freezing water, fighting a 2-m.p.h. current and dodging ships might not be everyone's fantasy. But surrounded by his family on his 69th birthday, upon being asked how he wanted to celebrate his 70th, George Brunstad heard the words "swim the English Channel" pop out of his mouth. At that point Brunstad, who happens to be actor Matt Damon's uncle, had been swimming competitively in Masters programs for 31 years, and he had won more than 100 Masters championships. As he recalls, "Everyone said, 'Yeah, you can do it! That'd be great!' And my wife stood there with her arms folded and her lip kind of out, shaking her head no way." Brunstad then informed his wife Judy, a devout Christian, that Channel swimmers Jim Bales and Dave Parcel had used their swims to raise significant sums of money for charity. "She said, 'Is that right? So this wouldn't just be for your personal glory?' And after that she got on board with a vengeance."

Neither Brunstad's work life nor his pre--Channel swimming retirement would have suited the lazy or faint of heart. In the Air Force, he flew B-52 bombers. The day he left the military, he began piloting for American Airlines, and upon his mandatory retirement at 60, he bought a Russian-designed, Chinese-built MiG-17 fighter, which he used to do tricks at air shows, zooming at speeds up to Mach 1.1 and pulling up to 9 Gs. ("Isn't that what every grandfather does?" Brunstad asks.) But his real passion all along was long-distance swimming, particularly open-water swimming, which he discovered in 1992. Competing in races, often in Long Island Sound, Brunstad loved not only the physical challenge but also the camaraderie with competitors. When Brunstad decided to attempt the English Channel, he knew he would be swimming for the history books, trying to beat the record for the oldest swimmer, set by Clifford Batt of Australia at age 67 in 1987.

He also knew he would be swimming to raise money to build a medical center, school and orphanage in the Haitian village of Hinche, which he and Judy had visited with their church group.

To train for the Channel, Brunstad cut his swimming back from five to three days a week, stroking 4,000 m to 6,000 m in the pool on Monday and Wednesday, with his longest swim on Friday, which started out at 8,000 m and increased to 22,400 m, just shy of 14 miles. To train for the cold water, Brunstad took cold showers all winter and swam in Long Island Sound. When the sound got too warm, he rented a cottage in Brunswick, Maine, where he would swim in the open water for up to eight hours at a stretch.