The cure for anything is salt water—sweat, tears, or the sea :: Isak Dinesen
You must live in the present, Launch yourself on every wave, Find eternity in each moment :: Henry David Thoreau
Three months, 1400 kilometers and nearly 3,000,000 strokes after he started his swim Rob Dyke circumnavigated Vancouver Island. The feat required mental, physical and spiritual strength, which are off the scale, and in future years people will still be in awe of the Man Who Swam Around Vancouver Island.
I spent a couple of days on the support boat and watched the never-varying ritual, which, after 3 months, lead up to the final few exultant strokes, the applause and songs of the spectators and the blessing of the Songhees Chief.
End of an Epic Journey
Distance swimmer, Rob Dyke, center, celebrates with support crew Ian Scanlan, left, and Peter deZwager as he wades ashore near Clover Point after completing a grueling 94-day swim around Vancouver Island. Dyke undertook the aquatic journey to raise funds for the Red Cross water safety program.
Each day the boat would motor out to the starting point determined by a GPS finder. There was little talk other than technicalities of tide tables and of the currents and eddies that, on the Eastern leg of the journey, ricocheted and swirled off the smaller islands.
It is not good enough for things to be planned—they still have to be done: :: Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Rob bit into his first ‘sandwich’ of the day; a ‘sandwich’ being the team’s term for a Halls Extra Strong cough candy between two layers of Trident Double Berry gum. The taste combination might not sound attractive to you, but Rob used it to mute the many splendored flavors of the ocean as he swam past pulp mills, fish farms and estuaries.
Once in the water the swim typically lasted between 5 to 7 hours, broken up into 40-minute segments. Twenty minutes breathing left; twenty minutes breathing right; stop; tread water; drink some hot Gatorade and have 3 or 4 liters of warm water funneled inside his wetsuit; then off for another 40 minutes with a fresh ‘sandwich’ between cheek and gums. These are the sort of rituals and the discipline that hide behind every great achievement.
Words cannot describe the joy and the pain that were part of this journey, but the following flash clips, 'Pain' and 'Joy', might help:
The swim began with a party at Speakwell and ended the same way. Family and friends finally getting to crack the magnum of Champagne that Rob had been saving to mark the end of this chapter in his adventurous life.
We embarrassed Rob by playing ‘The Ballad of Robbie Dyke’, written and recorded by myself and Gus Verstraten. Then we brought things back to normal by playing the bootleg version whose lyrics might not be suitable for a family webzine. To purchase a copy of the Ballad of Robbie Dyke click on [this link] with profits going to the Red Cross Island Aquathon.
Click to hear a clip!
More than $50,000 has so far been raised for the Red Cross and money is continuing to flow in now that Rob is being featured on radio and TV and in the print media. He has emerged from his enforced solitude in the ocean as a thoughtful, dramatic and eloquent speaker. Testimony to his ability to enthrall an audience was a recent presentation to 1300 high school students.
Rob's message is so amazingly powerful. Tears in my eyes followed by a smile across my face, followed by a lump in my throat. His motivating way is so quiet and profound. The feedback we got from the kids was wonderful. Imagine hundreds of kids on the bleachers and more on the floor, all completely mesmerized by his session.
Rob is not an unusual god-like person, he is one of us; he did what he did with help of good friends and with a smile on his face. These are the amazing and powerful messages of Rob Dyke’s talk.
:: Wendy Thomas, Frances Kelsey Secondary School
Now Rob is off the high seas and between adventures he is available for speaking and can be booked through Speakwell [Click here].
Learn the secret of the sea? Only those who brave its dangers Comprehend its mystery :: H.W. Longfellow
"See, son... this is why I save these bits."
The Ballad of Robbie Dyke :: Lyrics by Martin Collis
He’s a Buddha in a wetsuit With a Mona Lisa smile, Put him in cold water He’ll swim 1000 miles
He’s a stoic, he’s got fortitude And courage you can’t fake. Other structures crumble This Dyke doesn’t break.
Robbie Dyke.
10,000 smacks across the face From the pounding west coast surf. Jellyfish attack him For intruding on their turf.
He doesn’t wait for time and tide, He swims inside the pain, Gets a shower, sleeps 10 hours And does it all again.
Robbie Dyke.
Bridge: It’s a breath taking, gut aching, limb-shaking swim; spirit breaking enterprise for anyone but him.
If Terry Fox came back to earth He’d shake Rob by the hand. Lance Armstrong knows what he is worth, Rick Hansen understands.
In UK he’d be ‘Sir Robert’ Bush can’t think what to say, “Should Vancouver Island Be in the USA?”
Not on your life.
Killer whales and porpoises Assume he’s one of them. Fishermen call him crazy, First Nations call him friend.
When you ask Rob why he does it He’s somehow at a loss, “It’s not for me I fight the seas It’s for the big Red Cross.”
Not Robbie Dyke.
Bridge: It’s a breath taking, gut aching, limb-shaking swim; spirit breaking enterprise for anyone but him.
Cruel, unusual punishment It’s torture by the seas. Salt into the wetsuit wounds While face and fingers freeze.
1400 painful K, No motor and no bike. It’s another great Canadian By the name of Robbie Dyke.
fall back
speakwell