Paul Timmons: From NJ to Delaware
Paul Timmons bid good morning Monday to a couple on beach chairs near the Cape May Lighthouse who were watching the sunrise and then waded past them out into the Atlantic Ocean.
He never returned.
Timmons, 37, swam an estimated 15 miles across the Delaware Bay to Rehoboth Beach as a charity fundraiser for a Delaware hospital.
The swim was not completely unassisted. About an hour into the swim, Timmons climbed into his support boat. On a day when air temperatures in southern New Jersey would climb into the high 90s, Timmons got so cold he had to change into a more insulated wetsuit. But then it was back in the water to continue the grueling crossing. He completed it in about seven hours and 15 minutes.
“I felt pretty good,” Timmons said by phone afterward. He works as a fitness instructor at his own gym. “I got cold. That was something I did not anticipate. I don't normally get cold.”
The water temperature dropped from 71 degrees near the Cape May Point beach to 67 degrees in deeper currents, he said.
Timmons, who competes in triathlons, performed the stunt as a charity benefit for Beebe Medical Center, where his grandfather was treated for cancer. To his knowledge, nobody has ever swum across the bay before. That could not be confirmed independently Monday.
“It's something I've been kicking around for several years,” he said. “How many times do you get to do something nobody else has done?”
Timmons has been training for the bay crossing for months. He swam 12 miles around Key West, Fla., in about six hours as a practice run. But swimming in the Delaware Bay is altogether different.
The bay is notorious for its tidal currents that can suck boats — or swimmers — out past the “rips” into the open ocean. The open water has jellyfish (he got stung about 10 times Monday) and probably sharks, too. But Timmons said he didn't even see a dolphin.
“I'm glad. Just seeing the dorsal fin would have freaked me out,” he said. “I had no problems. The water was like a pond all day.”
Perhaps the biggest danger is manmade. To get to Delaware, Timmons had to cross a busy shipping channel. Monstrous oil tankers and container ships regularly travel to and from ports in Philadelphia and Camden. Even if the pilots saw him, there would be no way to turn or slow the hulking vessels.
That's where his support boat came in. Timmons' friends accompanied him in a larger boat along with two ocean kayaks.
When he reached Delaware, he inadvertently came ashore on a beach closed to protect endangered piping plovers. He climbed into a boat that carried him to a beach near Lewes, Del., where a crowd of friends waited. He jumped back in the water and paddled in for a more dramatic landing.
“He was amazingly energetic. He came out of the water and pumped both fists in the air,” hospital spokesman Mark Thompson said. “It's an amazing feat of endurance.”
Timmons followed approximately the same route the Cape May-Lewes Ferry takes between its ports in Lower Township and Lewes, which is about 11 miles from Cape May Point. Delaware River and Bay Authority spokesman James Salmon said the ferry takes a more roundabout route of 17 miles across the bay.
“I'm not aware of anyone swimming across. It definitely takes a lot of stamina and ability to do it,” Salmon said.
Middle Township kayaker Peter Lomax paddled solo across the bay in 1997. It took about four hours, he said, aided by a following sea that helped propel him along.
“I've never heard of anyone swimming across the bay,” Lomax said. “Good for him! That's great! The Delaware Bay can be very placid and in very little time can become a hazardous place.”
With the currents, Timmons estimated he swam 15.1 miles Monday.
“I'm tired,” he said after landing. “My arms are pretty sore. It was the single most gratifying thing I've ever done in my life.”
source: www.pressofatlanticcity.com
