Swim You B____!

by Jim Donnelly, Janis Froelich, Terry Tomalin

 

On a Wednesday morning, April 15, 1998, at 9:05 AM, 35-year old Ron Collins, Clearwater Masters, plunged into the 74 degree waters of Tampa Bay at the foot of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in St. Petersburg.

Sporting only his "Victor" swim suit and swim cap, silly putty for ear plugs, and some grease in his armpits, Ron started swimming up through Tampa Bay towards the finish line at Rocky Point, in Clearwater, where there was "a drink with his name on it" waiting for him 24 miles away.

"There's a party at Whiskey Joes," Ron said just before the start of his race. "I can't be late."

Clearwater Masters coach Kelley Allen, and Randy Nutt, a Gold Coast Masters swimmer, guided Ron in their kayaks, supplying him with fresh water and Snickers bars for nourishment. Randy helped guide marathon swimmer Gail Rice in her swim around Sanibel Island in January and in her attempt to swim from Bimini to Florida last summer. As Marketing Director for The Victor swim products and Chairman of Florida Gold Coast's Open Water Committee, Randy was one of Ron's sponsors.

By 1 PM Ron had passed the St. Petersburg Pier where the current finally gave him a break. He swam under the Gandy Bridge and then the Howard Franklin before finally reaching the Courtney Campbell Parkway at Rocky Point at 6:57 PM, less than an hour behind his planned arrival time.

Ron, who started the swim at 192 pounds, lost seven pounds somewhere along the way.

"I just want to bring some attention to the sport," he said. "There are a lot of great young swimmers out there making waves. This is for them."

Last year, Collins helped organize the first Tampa Bay Open water Challenge, a 3.5-mile sprint across the bay to help raise money for the environmental group BayWatch. Organizers hoped to draw 100 swimmers to the May event and were surprised when more than twice that number showed up. This year they expect 400 swimmers to make the crossing from St. Pete's Gandy Beach to Tampa's Picnic Island.

After his swim, Ron kissed his wife Lea Ann and her two-year old son Matthew, and then reached for a swig from the champagne bottle. "It's a great reason to have a party at Whiskey Joe's with my friends," he said of the swim.

Ron's pre-swim carbo loading on the eve of his swim consisted of "chicken wings, ice cream, beers, and something else."

His speech was slurred after coming out of the water. "My tongue is swollen," he said after hosing off the dirty raccoon eyes from the goggles and the debris in the saltwater.

"I don't know how many times I yelled, 'Swim you b____!' which is what they say to English Channel swimmers who want to quit," coach Kelley Allen explained. "He kept going."

But Ron didn't need any help. He picked up speed after crossing under the Howard Franklin, and with the crowd cheering and the end in sight, Collins switched to butterfly the last 100 yards.

Randy Nutt, 38, an accomplished distance swimmer himself, summed it up best. "Some people are dreams; others are doers. Ron Collins is both."