York Town News
Record-breaking "Light-to-Light" swim nets thousands for charity
By Virginia L. Woodwell
Jeff Patten has achieved his goal: beating his own record in the Light-to-Light swim and raising more than $15,000 to support York Hospital's innovative "Caring for All" program for the uninsured and underinsured. Pictured on the left, Patten prepares for swim at the town dock with his children Bodie, Abigail and Madison. In the center photo, he finishes his swim at a record pace and is pulled out of the water at Nubble light at 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26. In the final photo, Patten takes a moment after the race to celebrate with his daughter Abigail after swimming from Boon Island to the Nubble Light in less than four hours.
Photos courtesy of York Hospital
YORK BEACH - Jeff Patten will turn 49 next month.
This past week, on Saturday, Aug. 26, he swam the seven-mile stretch of open ocean between Boon Island and Nubble Light for the fifth time in 20 years - and he did so faster than he ever had before, in just three minutes short of four hours.
And, as he has before, Patten performed that feat to raise money for a charity: York Hospital this time, which staged a kind of mini-fair at Sohier Park from 1 to 4 p.m., while Patten was swimming toward it.
As a result, scores of greeters were on hand to applaud Patten as he emerged from the water at 2:45 p.m.
Appearing a little wobbly at first, and a little blue from cold where his skin was not covered by his wetsuit, Patten quickly recovered after a short rest to publicly thank the crowd and his crew, and to announce that he planned to repeat the event, dubbed "Light to Light," in some form or other - perhaps as a relay, he suggested - annually.
Patten, when he's not swimming, runs the gifted and talented program at Noble High School in Berwick.
But, a lifelong York resident, he also serves as ocean supervisor for the town, in which capacity he trains all the town's lifeguards, and joins them for all their daily swimming workouts.
He's not professionally trained, he told reporters after his swim, nor does he have a coach. What he does do in preparation for the Light-to-Light effort is a regular series of two-mile swims, lengthening them to one four-mile swim per week early in the summer, and then stretching that to five and six miles, without ever going beyond six.
Additionally, he said, he tries to pack on an extra five pounds of body fat immediately before the swim, to provide insulation and warmth.
He doesn't wear fins, he said, nor does he kick as part of his swimming stroke.
"I just pull," he laughed.
And, though he reported that he'd broken his shoulder last year, he also said that he thought he was "probably in better shape than I've ever been for any other swim."
Patten's previous Light-to-Light swims were in 1988, 1993, 1994 and 1997, and he said that the sequence represents no particular plan or pattern. The earlier swims benefited The Dream Factory.
This year, all proceeds from the event went to benefit York Hospital's "Caring for All" program, designed to help the uninsured and underinsured.
Patten said that this year he saw his swim as an opportunity to do something for the community, and to set a model of community service for his children, Abigail, 11, Madison, 10, and Bodie, 7. York Hospital had served both his parents and himself well, he told the crowd in his speech.
York Hospital President Jud Knox mingled with the crowd as it awaited Patten's arrival, and was present at his side as he emerged from the water.
On Patten's last swim from Boon Island in 1997, Knox had kayaked alongside, and in both directions, because another swimmer swam out from the Nubble before Patten swam back. That was his introduction to Patten's swimming, he said, it took a whole day and it generated a great respect for Patten.
"So," he added, "when Jeff came to us early in the summer and offered to do this for us, we were thrilled, because we knew what an enormous effort it represented, and what an enormous feat it was. We are very grateful."
Hospital officials reported Monday that the event has raised over $15,000.
In describing the swim itself, Patten reported that it had begun a little late because of heavy fog, an impression confirmed by Jim Anderson, a close-to-lifelong friend who paddled a kayak near Patten throughout the trip, passing him energy bars, ginger snaps and juice at half-hour rest intervals.
"The fog was so thick we could barely find Boon Island," Anderson said.
The fog, however, lifted after about two hours, he said, and, after that, for about an hour-and-a-half, Patten made good time.
Challenges came in the last half hour, when swells that had been one- to two-feet high rose to three feet, and the water became choppy.
The choppiness made it hard for Patten to breathe rhythmically,
"I drank a lot of salt water, and I'll pay for it later," he said.
Otherwise, he was very pleased with the trip.
Saturday's ocean temperature - at 62 to 63 Fahrenheit degrees - he termed "really nice" compared to what he'd experienced previously, though he acknowledged it fluctuated that day, and, close to the shore, dropped to 58 and 57 degrees.
Patten was also pleased with his speed: this year's just-under-four-hour record compared favorably to four-and-one-half hours when he was 28 years old, and to six-and-one-half hours in 1997.
That year, he said, he'd been troubled by seasickness, and the fog was so thick that he and his support team couldn't see the Nubble and found themselves off Perkins Cove before making a course correction.
This time, Patten credited his straight-line progress to GPS readings performed by this year's crew, who attended in two boats in addition to the kayak.
One boat contained family and friends, including York Patrolman and EMT Tyler Hathorne; the other was the York Village Fire Department's Zodiac rescue craft, with three staff aboard, including Assistant Harbormaster Mike Hanlon. The rescue craft worked to keep other boats at a safe distance, and its flashing red light, as it drew near, helped to heighten the drama for those on shore.
There, Sari Wetherill, one of the hospital's "Friendraising" team members tasked with helping to staff one of the fair booths, took phone calls from the boats every half hour, reporting on Patten's progress and condition.
"It's 1:45 p.m. and he's got a mile or less to go."
"Is he doing all right?"
"Yes, he's doing very well and he might be in in record time."
Wetherill's reports were passed along to Ian Horne, a DJ present with a remote unit of "98.7 - The Bay," a Dover, N.H., radio station livening up the fair with soft rock and running commentary by Horne. Patten's changing position was also plotted on an enlarged navigation chart on display nearby.
Using it, passers-by were invited to make a donation and a guess as to when Patten would arrive. Shannon Stone, who guessed correctly within five minutes, won that contest's $500 cash prize.
Elsewhere at the fair, other booths were providing popcorn and refreshments, face-painting, a clown and t-shirts for sale. Raffle tickets were sold for a $350 Portsmouth Kayak Adventures kayak.
Patten pulled the ticket for the kayak winner, who was York Hospital trustee Deb Pease.
Major sponsors of the event were the Viewpoint, Q-97.9 FM and Anchorage Inns. Also contributing were Sports Medicine Atlantic Orthopaedics, the town of York and Sohier Park.
For more information about York Hospital's Caring for All program, call 351-2228.
