In August of this year - Jamie Patrick will once again set the bar by testing the human will. He will swim an estimated 60 plus hours non stop down the Sacramento River in Northern California to set the world record for the longest non wetsuit swim in history. Imagine: 240 miles of river. It isn’t hard, until you imagine yourself swimming in it. Without a wetsuit. The entire distance, without stopping. Eating as you go along, treading water, touching neither boat nor shore or person. But Jamie Patrick will do just that on August 18th: he will begin a swim that will last 240 miles from the origin of the Sacramento River to Sacramento itself.
“I will swim, because testing my mental and physical boundaries is what drives me,” said Jamie Patrick of his newest adventure: It will be an unprecedented distance without a wetsuit. His words are resolute; as if this were an act of simplicity and certitude. And perhaps it is: from below the Dam at Shasta Lake to historic downtown Sacramento, Patrick will swim the way the current goes (though over such a long distance, it will not help him much), moving from a crisp alpine water (60 degrees) to water in the valley that is naturally ten degrees warmer.
The world record attempt will begin on August 18th when the overall water temperature is at its warmest. Patrick estimates, 60 hours later on August 20th in front of the Alamar Marina and Restaurant in Sacramento. (Two sleepless, swim-filled nights lit by moonlight, his preparation includes swimming mileage that builds to 100,000 yards per week (roughly 57 miles).
In lieu of a traditional swim training program, Patrick has tailored his training to meet the specific demands of this feat: 20 minute training blocks replace the conventional 100-yard efforts to mimic the feeding schedule on his long-distance swim. Scheduled training swims are a twenty-mile swim on the eleventh of February in Sacramento followed by another swim of equal distance two weeks later on the twenty-fifth, each which will require an eight-hour effort. Patrick will do much of his training in an Endless Pool, a counter current pool in his garage that allows him to swim anytime he wants. He will do swims up to 17 hours without rest to prepare his body for the unique challenges of not only the distance, but the time required to do them. This amazing achievement follows Patrick’s 44-mile double crossing swim (44 miles) of Lake Tahoe which he successfully claimed his own last summer.
Jamie has put together and amazing team to assist him in his quest to swim 240 miles. They include Steven Munatones, past United States Olympic coach and Stacy Sims, world renowned nutritionist from Stanford University and current nutritionist to Lance Armstrong (7 time Tour de France Champion).
This is not Jamie's first event that pushes the envelope both mentally and physically. Jamie is a 15 time ironman finisher (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run), 2 time Ultraman World Championship finisher (6.2 mile swim, 260 mile bike, 52.4 mile run) an a Triple ironman finisher (7.8 mile swim, 336 mile bike, 78 mile run). Jamie can also claim to be the first to swim Clearlake 17.5 mile and the first to complete a double crossing swim of Lake Tahoe - 44 miles)