“As the sun rises Saturday morning, Ben Tuff will do something not out of the ordinary for him: hit the water.
But this time, it’s not just for a couple of laps.
He plans toswim 19 miles from Block Island to Jamestown.
“I think that’s a lot of what drives me,” Tuff said, when asked how he plans to pull the feat off. “I’m actually not like some crazy athlete. I didn’t even know how to swim 8 years ago.”
Tuff trained. One lap turned into five laps. One mile swims turned into five miles swims. His first race included a 13-mile swim around Key West, Florida.
“Then I ramped it up to swim around Jamestown, Rhode Island, which was just over 21,” he said.
During that swim, Tuff raised $54,000 for Clean Ocean Access, a Middletown nonprofit. Tuff said every donation counts.
“I know those are going to testing, it’s going to go educating the future stewards of our ocean, it’s going to go towards recycling all the shrink wrap around boats,” he said. “It’s going to go towards clean ups of beaches across Rhode Island.”
Saturday, the Coast Guard will help keep traffic away from his route.
“I’ll have two big boats coming up on either side of me,” Tuff said.
He will also have a paddle boarder nearby to keep him energized.
“On these long swims you have to drink and feed every 30 to 35 minutes,” he said.
To stay safe from sharks, Tuff will wear a shark-repellent battery-charged pack that has a three-and-a-half foot coil tail. The pack will send electric signals to let sharks know he’s not a meal.
“It’s the only proven shark deterrent for great whites,” Tuff said.
Tuff expects to start the swim around 5:30 a.m. and finish around 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. After he reaches the shore, he will celebrate in Jamestown….”
View the whole story here: https://turnto10.com/news/local/rhode-island-man-swimming-19-miles-for-ocean-research-preservation-nonprofit