Jim Bell's death-defying swim

I was witness to an amazing feat of bravery today as an ex-military man by the name of Jim Bell swam from the north-west shore of Tinian to Saipan. Many have died traveling by boat across this channel, so it is quite a story to witness someone SWIM this treacherous channel. Add to that the fact that Jim was 70 years old... and you get a feel for the accomplishment!


Jim had made this death-defying swim once before, in 1981, and decided it was time to try it once again. He is one of a handful that have even tried it, and one of a few that made it across alive. Well, he did it again today! Last time, when much younger, it took him 12 hours to make the crossing. Today he did it in less than four hours!


The following is the story that ran in today's Saipan Tribune about his attempted swim:


Saipan Tribune, Monday June 9, 2008

Bell tries to repeat historic swim
70-year-old swims from Tinian to Saipan today

By Agnes E. Donato
Reporter


Turning 70 today, James H. Bell will attempt to repeat his feat of nearly three decades ago by swimming across the Tinian channel.In July 1981, Bell marked his retirement from the U.S. Navy by swimming alone from Saipan to Tinian. He now wants to celebrate another milestone in his life-his 70th birthday-by swimming the same waters in the opposite direction.


“I want this adventure to be the beginning of the rest of my life. And what better place to start than where I left off 27 years ago?” he said yesterday.


Bell found his love of the open water in the early 1970s. He was on active duty with the U.S. Navy in Hawaii, and spent much of his leisure time snorkeling or scuba diving.


His military job next brought him to Guam, where he would undertake his first major swimming “project.” Every Saturday beginning in the early part of 1980, he swam four to eight miles around the island’s shoreline. Before the year ended, he had swum all around the island.


Bell said his Guam adventure was miraculous. “Completing it was more than a test of endurance. There were so much danger, so many things about the shoreline of the Guam reef that made it almost impossible,” he said.


But the danger only fueled his desire for adventure. In April 1981, he took leave from the Navy to swim the Tinian channel. The military initially approved his request for time off, but withdrew its permission after learning of Bell’s plan to swim the channel alone. At the time, Bell was only a few months away from retirement. He decided to wait.


His chance came on July 2, 1981, his second day as a civilian. Bell braved the choppy waters between Saipan and Tinian with little clue about the surf and tides, much less a clear strategy for getting around them. The only thing he was sure of was his goal, and that is to get to the other side, alive.


“I make it a point of not over-researching things. I like the challenge of the unknown. I prefer figuring things out as I get there,” Bell said.


A few things did go wrong. He had planned to swim up the channel and avoid being swept out to the ocean. After swimming for a couple of hours, he ended up miles out in the ocean and had to spend the rest of day swimming back to Tinian. He also had originally projected the swim to take about 12 hours, but at the last minute told people he would be done in six hours. When he did not show up on the Tinian shore at the expected time, a search and rescue mission was launched. Even the press joined the search, with then Pacific Daily News stringer Jack Angello renting an aircraft to survey the waters.


Bell was found eventually, and finished what he set out to do. After 12 hours of swimming, he reached a beach not too far from Tinian’s North Field.


“My feeling was pure exhilaration. It was not really relief that I was out of danger’s way. It was pleasing to know that I had the endurance to do what I did. I felt good about setting a goal and having accomplished it,” said Bell.


That great adventure was his last in a very long time. Save for climbing a few mountains in Colorado, Bell had done nothing he would describe as spectacular since the Tinian channel. After retiring from the Navy at age 43, he did not settle in any second career. Instead, he volunteered his service to the Mormon church, tried to earn a master’s degree in geology, and held various odd jobs.


As he now enters his eighth decade, however, Bell wants to see if he’s still got the resolve that pushed him across the Tinian channel 27 years ago. But his plan goes beyond duplicating his earlier feat. To make his latest effort even more interesting, he will start swimming at 7am today from his previous ending point, and attempt to make it to Saipan-anywhere on Saipan-in eight hours.


Ever the daredevil, he is not checking the tide charts nor calling for a safety escort. “There’s more incentive if you know you have to make it because your life is on the line,” he said.


Bell expects the strong current and the jellyfish to pose the biggest challenge to his mission. But he would rather keep his eyes on the rewards: a possible next swim across the Torres Strait between Papua New Guinea and Australia, and some serious suntan.


You can see more info and video of Jim's swim on Youtube. I took video of his departure, but couldn't get it to transfer on this site.


My part in this adventure was a small one: when Jim and his companion Limson Souelian (from Saipan) came by ferry to Tinian the day before Jim was to swim, I met them and gave Jim some updated info about the island. When Jim was last here, the island was covered by grass and fields, rather than jungle and brush. We studied a map of the area to try to determine where Jim had gotten out of the water after his first swim 27 years ago (he wanted to try to start from that point on his return swim). But the landscape had changed so much, we had no choice but to simply choose an access point that was available--which ended up to be Unai Lam Lam.

My wife Terri opened her computer and went to Google earth to give Jim a bird's-eye view of the island as it was today. We settled on Unai Lam Lam as a starting point, and set a time for 6am to meet, and travel to the other end of the island.

The next morning three of us--Jim, Limson and I--traveled to Unai Lam Lam beach on scooters (Jim and I shared a scooter so that we could get them back after Jim left for his swim). Once on the beach, I videotaped Jim, who said a few parting words before donning his snorkel-mask and heading out to sea. Then Limson and I traveled back to the village on the scooters.

Limson left on the 1pm ferry for Saipan, with the intent to meet Jim on the other side, and film his arrival on Saipan. To our amazement, Jim arrived on Saipan before the ferry even left Tinian! Limson took a copy of the film I had made of Jim's departure from Tinian, part of which was played during the local sports show that evening--Jim having now become a local sports legend with his daring swim across the treacherous channel!

The following is a follow-up article that was on the front page of the Saipan Tribune about the swim (note: there is one error in the article--Jim left at 7am not 6am, and made the distance in 31/2 hours not 41/2 hours as reported in the article):

Saipan Tribune, Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Bell swims Tinian-Saipan channel under five hours

By Agnes E. Donato
Reporter

A 70-year-old man who sought to repeat the historic swim he made nearly 30 years ago successfully crossed the channel between Saipan and Tinian yesterday morning, swimming the five-mile distance in less than five hours.

James H. Bell was celebrating his birthday when he made the crossing early yesterday morning, with no escort and no knowledge of the tides and surf.

He left Tinian at 6am and waded ashore on the beach of Coral Ocean Point Resort in Koblerville at 10:30am, completing the swim in four and a half hours. He had expected the crossing to take eight hours. His previous effort took 12 hours. “Maybe I'm getting better,” said Bell.

Nature, he added, made his crossing a little easier. He had prepared to swim against a strong east-to-west current. But he found the current flowing in the reverse direction, carrying him ever closer to his destination.Even the jellyfish, which had been his other worry, proved to be nothing but a mild annoyance. He got minor jellyfish stings during the swim.

“Everything has turned out very well. I'm very happy. I've been thinking about doing this for a long time. It's nice to do it and get it done,” he said.

As for his next goal to cross the Torres Strait from Papua New Guinea to the Australian mainland, he said, “I'm too beat to think about it right now. That one is going to take a while, and the conditions have to be right. My plan is to play it by ear.” In July 1981, Bell marked his retirement from the U.S. Navy by swimming alone from Saipan to Tinian. He spent most Saturdays of 1980 swimming around the island of Guam's 120-mile shoreline.

Bell resides in Boulder, Colorado.

Wow! What an experience!