Connecticut Man Attempts Vineyard To Nantucket Swim… Fails Miserably

ACK – After seven hours in the water and more than 10 miles Tuesday, Jim Bayles’ attempted swim from Martha’s Vineyard to Nantucket ended 3.7 miles from Eel Point when the 63-year-old Newtown, Conn. man ran out of energy.

He left Chappaquiddick Island at 8:30 a.m. this morning and at noon was about one to two miles from Muskeget, said Marty Morse, who is operating the safety boat that is trailing Bayles on the swim. A patch of fog had just rolled in, so they were navigating by GPS instead of by landmarks.

By about 3 p.m. Bayles was swimming into the wind, which was sapping his strength, and around 3:30 he decided to give up his attempt.

Oh man, so close! If it weren’t for those pesky little details like fog, wind, strength and stamina he would have had it easily.

Seriously though, let’s put aside the fact that he didn’t factor in the possibility of fog and wind… ON AN OCEAN. Don’t you think that maybe, just maybe, if you are going to swim from Martha’s Vineyard to Nantucket you would make sure that you… you know… can swim that far?

Running out of energy is just not a good enough excuse for me to not make fun of someone like this. Test yourself out in a pool first, maybe even have someone point a fan at you to simulate the wind that is known to kick up in the Atlantic every now and again.

Get bit by a shark, stung by a jellyfish, swimmer’s ear, anything. Literally anything is a better reason for quitting than “I got tired”. Getting tired is legit the ONE thing you are actually in control of. This dude should have to pay those charities out of pocket. Shit, he should have to pay me and all of you for wasting our time writing and reading about his tired ass.