It began as a solo venture but it ended up bringing a community together.<\/p>\n
When Glenn Vickery started planning a swim that would circumnavigate Lake of Bays\u2014a distance of about 210 kilometres\u2014he knew he’d need support, he just didn’t realize how much he’d get.<\/p>\n
Vickery wanted to raise awareness for shoreline preservation and, as a lifelong swimmer, a long-distance swim seemed like the perfect fit. He’d swim it in stages over about three months, enlisting support vessels and coordinating landing spots along the way. His wife Arlee was on board from the start, so he knew he’d have her paddling by his side for the duration. He had the early commitment of Captain Bruce Jamieson of Lake of Bays Boat Tours who provided a support boat as needed, particularly for the chilly first stages\u2014the water was just 8\u00b0C when Vickery began swimming on May 19. And he envisioned a couple of group swims as he approached the lake’s three villages along with some fanfare at the end of each to help raise awareness. But the support he actually got was unexpected.<\/p>\n
On almost every stage of the swim, people joined him in the water for at least part of the five to eight-kilometre distance he swam each time. He heard shouts of encouragement from people on decks and docks and passing boats. Waterfront cottagers and residents he’d never met before offered up their docks as landing points and quite often they’d have a party waiting when he arrived. “We had a lot of champagne at docks,” he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
“The project was born from the spirit of Lake of Bays. I didn\u2019t do it on my own. Any problem I had, people were there to help,” Vickery told the assembled crowd when he emerged from the water at the South Portage dock on August 6 to complete the project, adding that they stopped at about 72 docks around the lake along the way, far more than the number planned. “Every bay on this lake had its own personality, every bay came out and supported us, every bay gave us first class treatment… And I think what that told me is there is a really strong community around the lake, something that I\u2019ve never seen before.”<\/p>\n
There was the party with the man celebrating his 81st birthday in Montgomery Bay, which was named for his family who has been on Lake of Bays for 100 years. There was the barbecue at Bondi Village Resort where a bagpiper piped Vickery out of the water and where there was a popcorn kernel-spitting contest that revealed an unknown talent\u2014Vickery sent his sailing more than 25 feet to take second place. There were the official parties in Baysville and Dorset and the unofficial ones hosted on docks around the lake. There were sandwiches and snacks, cake and champagne. And there were many, many enthusiastic people.<\/p>\n
In Rabbit\u2019s Bay, for example, a flotilla of kayaks and paddleboarders met Vickery and his support crew. They were invited to a dock\u2014not their end spot for that stage\u2014for coffee and homemade muffins, and other people on the bay paddled over to join in. “A lot had never met each other before, even though they were on the same bay,” said Vickery. “They made new friends and connections. That was really special.”<\/p>\n\n\t\t