SAULT STE. MARIE — Leg three of a historic 411-mile swim to remember those who died on the Edmund Fitzgerald nearly 50 years ago, completed in Sault Ste. Marie Wednesday afternoon.
17 teams with a total of 68 swimmers are on a mission to complete the intended route and cargo delivery of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
It’s part of the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim.
The Fitzgerald sank 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 during a severe storm.
The swim started this past Saturday morning at the site where the Fitzgerald sank.
Today, four swimmers started their 20-mile heat in Brimley and ended in Sault Ste. Marie.
The event is expected to end on August 28 in Detroit where the swimmers will deliver some iron ore pellets to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.
The pellets are from the same dock in Superior, Wisconsin where the Fitzgerald was loaded for the last time.
A group of four women swimmers, called “The Chubby Mermaids”, wrapped up the third of the 17 heats.
“When we started, the water was calm. And I literally rolled over on my back and looked at the sky and started to giving gratitude to everything and for the ability to do this beautiful event. Then when the water started getting choppy, I was like, really Mother Nature, you couldn’t have just let have let us continue having that lovely flatness,” said Tracey Lawie who finished leg 3 of the swim on Wednesday.
Swimmers are raising money for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society to preserve the Whitefish Point Light Station.
