RIDGEFIELD, Conn. (ABP) – George Brunstad gives new meaning to the term “putting feet to your faith.” In fact, he also put his arms and his legs into it. In an effort to raise awareness for his church's ministry in Haiti, Burnstad swam the English Channel.
While remarkable in itself, Brunstad's feat is all the more extraordinary because the Wilton, Conn., resident is 70 years old. His Aug. 28-29 swim set a new record, not for speed — he finished in 15 hours, 59 minutes — but because he is the oldest person ever to tackle the channel. He broke the record of Bertram Cliffort Batt of Australia, who was 67 years old when he made the journey in 1987.
Brunstad didn't swim the channel just to set a record, though. He wants people to know about a ministry his church sponsors in Hinche, Haiti.
“His inspiration for the swim came when he went with our church last November on a mission trip to Haiti,” said Robert Guffey, Brunstad's pastor at Wilton Baptist Church. “George swam to raise awareness of and money for the Center of Hope orphanage and school project that WBC sponsors in Hinche, Haiti.”
Brunstad, who is a retired American Airlines pilot, has competed in several open-water swims, even winning medals. But he said the channel swim was the most grueling feat he has undertaken.
“My preparation swimming in Long Island Sound and especially off the coast of Maine helped me,” Brunstad told the News-Times of Danbury, Conn. “But I had to swim as hard as I could for as long as I could” to make it across the channel.
Covered with a combination of lanolin and petroleum jelly to keep warm, Brunstad got into the water on the morning of Aug. 28 accompanied by a boat carrying eight people. Among them was Marcella McDonald, the oldest person to complete a double crossing of the channel (over and back in one swim), and Alison Streeter, chairperson of the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation, who has crossed the channel more than anyone else.
“People are always submitting the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation to attempt the swim,” said Streeter. “But for somebody George's age to swim it is really something.”
“After the sun went down, the temperature dropped considerably,” she continued. “The water temperature was at 66 degrees [Fahrenheit] and the outside temperature was well below that.”
Brunstad was allowed an escort swimmer for a few minutes every six hours. McDonald would swim alongside him during that time to help steer him as currents tried to push him off course. Even with that help, Brunstad swam a total of 32 miles — seven more than a direct route across the channel from England to France.
“Near the end, I had to swim four hours to make two hours' time because of the tide coming toward me,” he recalled. “It was pulling me to the north. I had to fight it.”
His hard work and perseverance paid off. At 2:12 a.m. on Aug. 29, Brunstad completed his swim. And despite the early morning hour, there were people on the beach in France cheering his arrival.
Brunstad credited the “hand of the Lord” for giving him good swim conditions.
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