Gary's Creek Man Page! Welcome!
Anthropologists argue over the meaning and origin of the word 'Slav'. Some say it was those who dwelled by swamps, rivers or lakes.
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Creek Man Diary
Flying Fingered Solo Swimmer (PDF)
I swim 2 to 3 miles around 5 days a week, 12 months a year in the estuaries of Maine and NH. Tell anyone that you swim outdoors in Maine during winter and you are immediately met with glassy eyed disbelief and judged as insane. People are shocked in the dead of winter to see footprints leading from the creek up the street directly to my house. Folks still stop their cars and try to figure out who or what I am. A seal? River monster? Some have called the police.
My whole life I dwelled along rivers. Winter swimming is something that didn't just happen over night. This science experiment began in the Lamprey river years ago. Just one early autumn rain or cold night would destroy an entire season of joyful swimming. I had to learn to adapt to this so the science experiment began to extend my swimming season. I am not genetically altered, but this way of life is the result of years of experimentation with scuba and surfing gear and the study of our most beautiful estuaries . The waters in Maine are perhaps the coldest waters to swim in the lower 48 states.
I had to legitimize my sport so in January of 2008 I decided that I would swim from Portsmouth, NH to the Isle of Shoals 6 miles off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine to raise money for the Krempel's Brain Injury Foundation and Stepping Stones of Portsmouth, NH. I was met with disbelief all the way up to that fateful day when the air temperature was 9 degrees Fahrenheit and the water was 39. After four and a half hours of fighting strong currents, I became the first to make the 6 mile swim in winter. The money came after I made the swim and my crew and I raised $17,000 for the charity.
The 'Creekman Swims for Charity' became an annual event. My boat crew and I found it to be a great way to have fun and break up the dull winter months by doing good for those in need. I in return get to swim in the most stunning of waterways. In January of 2009 I swam the entire length of Sagamore creek into the Piscataqua River for Seacoast Hospice. It was only 5.5 miles, but the toughest swim ever fighting an outgoing current for a mile. I raised $16,000 for Share Our Strength by swimming 5.5 miles of the York River in an hour and one half in December of 2009. My life is so odd that the NH charitibles Foundation awarded a grant to write, produce, and perform a play on my musical life and swimming adventures through the Harborlight Stage Theater Company entitled 'Creekman..... The Adventures of the Accordion Playing Merman.'
In February of 2011 my charity swim will take me to two separate lighthouses in Portsmouth Harbor to raise money for the American Lighthouse foundation. I will start in Rye, NH then swim to Whaleback Lighthouse. I will grab a rock from this lighthouse then swim to the Portsmouth Lighthouse then to Capn' Simeon's Galley in Kittery, Maine to play a benefit for this foundation with my band, the Serfs.
I know of no better prayer and medicine.
Jan 2008: Creek Man Swam to Isles of Shoals
Click Here to read about Gary's swim in January 2008.
Photo by Deb Cram, December 2007
