To Benefit Epilepsy Foundation—

Another Successful Swim For Jim Bayles

By Shannon Hicks

Jim Bayles is becoming for some people synonymous with marathon swims.

Mr Bayles swam 11 miles — across Pollock Rip Channel, from Monomy Point, Cape Cod, to Nantucket Island in Massachusetts — on July 27 in his latest effort to raise money for epilepsy research. It was his 11th swim done to raise funds for epilepsy research, and it was done almost two years to the day after his English Channel swim in 2002.

Donations are forwarded to The Epilepsy Foundation. Mr Bayles’s 19-year-old daughter, Katie, suffers from the neurological disorder. To date Mr Bayles has raised close to $130,000 for the cause through this and other swims, which date back to July 1994.

The Newtown resident would like to let people know that donations may still be sent to The Epilepsy Foundation of Connecticut, Inc, 386 Main Street, Middletown CT 06457-3360; telephone 860-346-1924; and online at www.EpilepsyFoundation.org/Connecticut. Donations should be made in Mr Bayles’s name.

While last month’s was the latest marathon swim for Mr Bayles, the outings are anything but routine. In addition to his 11 swims for charity, he did one qualifying swim that took him along the Housatonic River from the Shepaug Dam to the final lake just before the Stevenson Dam on Lake Zoar. It took Mr Bayles just over six hours to make the swim.

“That was done in November, and the idea is to swim in below-60 degree water,” he explained.

Set-up for each swim is different. There are water temperatures, tides and currents to take into consideration, among other things.

“These swims don’t become routine,” said Mr Bayles from his home last weekend. “You have to think about where you’ll go with the swim, how you’ll swim, everything.

“We also keep switching them up,” he added. He has done two swims across Long Island Sound.

Last month, the 52-year-old father of three emerged from the water at Great Point in Nantucket 5 hours and 43 minutes after he slipped into the water in Chatham.

He traveled between 2 and 2.5 knots per hour, according to Chris Smith and Mark Power, the owners of the boat that carried Mr Bayles’s wife, Trina, and daughter, Jen, and his equipment across the sound during the swim. The water temperatures were close to 55 degrees when he began warming up, had reached 61 by the time he was ready to begin swimming at 5:34 am, but then the water cooled again as the swim progressed.

“It was a lot colder than I expected,” said Mr Bayles, who did not wear a wet suit for the swim in the 56-degree water.

Mr Bayles faced four-foot waves and heavy boat traffic while making the crossing. He stopped about every 1,000 meters to tread water and rest.

He said after the swim that he has already decided his next swim will be a little closer to home where the water temperature is more hospitable.

“I think we’ve gone as far north as we want to go,” he said.

In 2002, Mr Bayles swam the English Channel, considered by distance swimmers to be the most important open water swim in the world. Fewer people have successfully swum the English Channel than have been in space or climbed Mount Everest. Mr Bayles is one of fewer than 25 people age 50 and over to successfully swim the channel. His time is the third fastest on record for swimmers 50 and over.

Other swims of note include swimming from the Tappan Zee Bridge to midtown Manhattan; from Greenwich to downtown Manhattan; swimming around Manhattan; and swimming from Sandy Hook, N.J., to downtown Manhattan. Mr Bayles believes he is the only swimmer to have swum under all the major bridges in the tri-state region, except those over the Arthur Kill that connect Staten Island to New Jersey.

When he is preparing for a swim as a fundraiser Mr Bayles looks to friends and past donors for financial support. He also looks for prepublicity help in newspaper, television, and radio stations in the areas where he will be swimming.

“We try for publicity to bring attention to the swim and also to the disease,” he explained. “The Epilepsy Foundation doesn’t receive as much publicity as other groups.

“You see a lot about cancers, or children’s diabetes, but not as much about epilepsy,” he continued.

Often while Jim Bayles is preparing for a swim, he will receive notes from people who have read about his work on behalf of epilepsy. One of the best things that comes out of his work, he says, is the communication from others whose lives have been touched by epilepsy.

“Between eight and ten letters came in while I was preparing for Cape Cod,” said Mr Bayles, “and people would tell me ‘This is for my husband, my sister, my friend’ … whomever.

“That’s really gratifying,” he said of the letters. “That’s at least eight people who were touched enough by the disease to take the time to support me.

“Whatever people want to give, whatever moves them,” he said of how people decide to donate. “We’re grateful for anything.

“The money is important,” he said, “but so is the recognition and the publicity for epilepsy.”

Jim and Trina Bayles moved to Butterfield Road in Newtown in 1996 along with their three daughters, Jen, Brooke, and Katie.

More information about Mr Bayles and his swims is available at www.SwimmingForHope.com.