SPRING LAKE, MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Jul. 22, 2026) – “The Shark” is going back into the Lake Michigan waters this summer.
Ultra-marathon swimmer Jim Dreyer will attempt to tow 250 cannonballs, weighing a total of 15 hundred pounds, 22 miles into Whitehall. This effort, slated to begin on August 7th and conclude the following day, is a fundraising effort for constructing the US 250th Combat Veterans Memorial there, and his arrival is timed to coincide with the White Lake Area Maritime Festival.
The 62-year-old Spring Lake man, who has successfully crossed all five Great Lakes in his career since overcoming a childhood fear of water, explained why the 22 miles is a poignant figure to him.
Dreyer will swim with one of the cannonballs on his back to honor his late father, a World War II combat veteran, while the other 249 will be in two dinghies that will be attached to him. Weather conditions could determine a change of date for this attempt.
Last year, Dreyer organized a relay group of swimmers who successfully delivered iron ore pellets from the site of the sinking of the freighter Edmond Fitzgerald in Lake Superior to Detroit, on the 50th anniversary of that ill-fated voyage.
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