Greetings Finheads!  Welcome to the Shark Tank. 

​

Here you will have access to all things Jim "The Shark" Dreyer (view Intro Video).  Learn about his current project, Swim Mission 22,  view information on his legendary Great Lakes Ultra-Marathon Series, his "strength swimming" feats (such as his appearance on Stan Lee's Superhumans and his Cornerstone Strength Swim Campaign), watch Shark Bytes YouTube

videos, and connect with him through Facebook.

​

Jim “The Shark” Dreyer's ultra-marathon career, while unorthodox in its very nature,

has followed a natural progression ... partly out of necessity, but mostly as an

effort to continuously raise the bar.

​​

Jim started his career in 1998, by swimming 65 miles across Lake Michigan in a

style customary to a marathon swimmer ... he followed a support boat.

​​

By 2000, just swimming wasn't enough.  He began combining Ironman-distance

running and biking with swimming record distances across Great Lakes ...

something previously unheard of ... and other than Jim, still unheard of. 

His pinnacle multi-sport event was a 56-mile swim across Lake Ontario,

immediately following a 26.2 marathon run through the beach sand and a

130-mile leg on the bike.

​

In 2003, Jim once again ventured as a pioneer ... swimming the length of Lake Michigan self-sufficiently (422 miles in 18 consecutive stages), towing the weight of his supplies from his ankles.  In doing so, he discovered that swimming in such a manner may be the key, and the only way to successfully swim across Lake Superior. 

​

Jim completed crossing his fifth Great Lake in 2005 with a continuous 60-mile, self-sufficient swim of Lake Superior ... swimming alone through raging seas and navigating his way to Canada while towing 250 pounds of supplies from his waist.

​

After bearing the weight of his supplies through grueling ultra-marathon events, starting in 2013, feats of strength like towing large numbers of bricks, car ferries and barges across wide expanses of water, seemed a natural progression for Jim “The Shark” Dreyer.

​

 

​

​

​

                                                                                                   In 2021, Jim “The Shark” Dreyer founded Swim Mission 22, an organization

                                                                                                   which empowers disabled U.S. Veterans through open water swimming as

                                                                                                   experiential therapy. 

 

                                                                                                   On July 9, 2022, Swim Mission 22 will host the first annual Reach the Beach –

                                                                                                   Chicago swim, a 22-mile relay race and distance competition fundraiser. 

                                                                                                   Following the public event, Jim will team with the Veterans in a joint mission                                                                                                           which will have him swimming the outbound half of the course and the Veteran                                                                                                     Swim Team swimming the return portion to REACH THE BEACH.

 

Of course, when The Shark is in the water you know there is more to the story. 

 

Called the Dusk ‘til Dawn Cannonball Swim, Jim “The Shark” Dreyer will swim while bearing 22 pounds of deadweight (negative buoyancy) strapped to his body, including a cannonball - and in his words, “Sink or swim (S.O.S.) for Veterans.”  He will begin from Chicago at sunset and swim for 9 hours overnight to the furthest point offshore he can reach before sunrise.  His goal is to swim at least 11 miles to the turnaround point on the Reach the Beach – Chicago swim course.

 

At sunrise the next morning, the Veteran Swim Team will find and relieve Jim somewhere beyond the Lake Michigan horizon and make the swim back to shore to complete the roundtrip mission in a self-affirming and truly inspiring adventure of their own. 

 

Jim believes his cannonball swim will be the hardest thing he’s ever done … yet he plans to make it an annual part of Reach the Beach – Chicago and try to make it a little further from shore each year.

 

Will this be his 20th world record?  Will it set a new record every time The Shark beats his previous distance swimming with a cannonball?   Well, this feat of strength is quite specific, and it is pretty safe to say it is unprecedented.  However, not wishing to get caught up in making subjective “apples to oranges” comparisons and “world record” definitions, let’s just call the anticipated results of the Dusk ‘til Dawn Cannonball Swim a “new strength standard.”

​

To keep up on Jim The Shark” Dreyer’s Swim Mission 22 project, please see www.SwimMission22.com.