Strait takes on bay challenge
By PAT FRIDGEN Echo Pilot

The Straits at the Chesapeake Bay: Gavin, Sue, Dallas and Greg.

For a Greencastle man, touching the ground after a 4.4 mile open water swim was the best part of the day.

Dallas Strait, 25, participated in the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim on June 10, raising money for the March of Dimes. He also discovered that training pays off for a physically exhausting activity.

Strait learned about the annual charity event from a friend and was inspired. He swam the auxiliary one-mile swim three times before taking the plunge.

"I felt froggy, that I could do the whole bridge."

He and four others teamed up to train at the Hagerstown YMCA pool three days a week over the winter. When the weather warmed they did endurance swims at Greenbrier State Park.

"I can't imagine doing anything for two-and-a-half hours," said Strait. "They knew what to do."

The average finishing time at the Bay Swim was 2 hours and 25 minutes, so Strait set his goal for between 2:30 and 2:45. Whenever he was reluctant to head to the pool, a pal reminded him 'The boat ride is no fun.'

The boat ride was what happened to any swimmer who had to drop out of the event part way across the bay. Strait considered that embarrassing and determined to make it to the finish line.

On the big day, he headed to Maryland. He wasn't nervous until he got to the toll bridge; then it hit him and he realized he couldn't, or wouldn't, turn back.

He joined 599 other swimmers, the number limited for safety reasons. Donned in a wetsuit for buoyancy, a swim cap with i.d. information and an ankle chip that recorded his time and location, he entered the water at Sandy Point State Park at 9:30 a.m.

Strait began his nonstop freestyle swim with the first wave of slower swimmers. Fifteen minutes later the second wave of faster swimmers took off. A few of them passed him eventually.

He heeded advice from a friend on the best place to catch the current between the east- and westbound spans of the William Preston Lane, Jr., Memorial Bridge. The water temperature was 74 degrees on the calm day.

"They called it flat but I thought it was choppy," he said. "The current can get whipping through there pretty good."

Rescue boats were stationed approximately every fifty yards, the Coast Guard was present and helicopters monitored from above. Buoys marked every mile.

At the four-mile mark he cramped up but decided, "There's no way on earth they're taking me out of here."

He touched shore on Kent Island at noon.

"I wasn't first and I wasn't last," he said.

He was greeted by his parents Sue and Greg, and brother Gavin. He was drained but happy, though the thought of food made him nauseous.

Strait plans to do it again. Because he raised $1000, well over the amount needed for a guaranteed spot, he bypasses the lottery system for entry. This year he got in because someone else dropped out.

The event has raised $1,000,000 for the March of Dimes and Bay area environmental and boating safety causes since 1992.

Greg, 52, participated on a smaller basis. He swam the onemile event at 9 a.m.

Father and son now have more in common than work at Strait Steel Inc. At the water cooler they can hash over braving the elements, persevering through fatigue, and achieving success for a good cause.