Swimmer attempts Lake Huron crossing: Watch live GPS here

Toronto swimmer Lev Goldberg, the first openly transgender athlete to cross a Great Lake, launches a roughly 55 km, 30-hour attempt across Lake Huron—his next step toward swimming all five Great Lakes in five years.

He drove to the U.S. over Sarnia's Blue Water Bridge, but now on his way back to Ontario, he swims. 

An ultramarathon athlete who swam across Lake Ontario is one step closer to his goal of swimming across all five Great Lakes in five years. Today at sunrise, he pushed off from Port Sanilac, Mich., in an attempt to swim across Lake Huron to the area of Lambton Shores, Ontario.

Last year, Lev Goldberg, 30, swam more than 51 km non-stop, to cross Lake Ontario in just over 24 hours, making history as the first openly transgender person to swim across a Great Lake.

To successfully cross Lake Huron, the Toronto-based athlete will need to swim continuously for roughly 30 hours and at least 55 km.

When asked why attempt Lake Huron following Lake Ontario, Goldberg said he wanted to swim a similar distance that would take him a bit longer, “because truly, at the end of swimming for 24 hours I wasn’t done, I still had more in me,” he said.

Lake Huron is the second largest of the Great Lakes, and the fourth largest lake in the world, by surface area. 

For context, swimming across Lake Huron, is equal to the length of roughly 30 Blue Water Bridges placed end-to-end, a stretch Goldberg must cover continuously, all while unable to touch his support crew or the boat at any time.

“I am not even one second faster than I was last year,” said Goldberg on his swimming pace, “but I am so much more durable,” he said.

To train his body, Goldberg built on longer and more frequent swims totalling ten or more hours, which last year, left him unable to fully lift his arms afterwards due to pain. This year, with an added weekly weight training session, that pain is “non-existent," he said, adding he has learned he can train in bigger volumes without risk of injury or needing extra recovery time.

The exact time Goldberg starts his swim is determined by Solo Swims Ontario, the safety organization that authorizes and tracks Great Lake swim crossings to ensure they are done with preparation and safety, taking into account wind, currents and weather.

“You can prepare for this all you want and know that your mind and body are not going to fail you to get to the other side, but lakes do not exist for people to swim across them,” said Goldberg, “and ultimately, the lake is going to have the type of day the lake is going to have.”

During his swim, Goldberg cannot use fins on his feet or paddles in his hands to help, nor a wetsuit or drysuit that work to keep swimmers warm. Instead, Goldberg will swim in only a regulated speedo and swim cap. 

For fuel, the vegan athlete will eat every 30 minutes, reaching into a net extended from his support crew in the boat, towards him in the water. During the crossing he will eat up to 70 times, taking in a total of at least 12,000 calories. High carb, neutral flavoured gels and vegan marshmallows are what he eats most often, said Goldberg. 

“Although I am consuming so much, I am burning more than that,” he said, “I can never actually eat the amount I am burning!”

Using a pacer, Goldberg will be joined by another swimmer for company during the day, but rules state he must swim alone all through the dark of night.

“I’m probably one of the luckiest people who have ever lived on earth, for the coalescence of being able to live and exist safely as myself,” said Goldberg, “but also to be able to do this unimaginable thing and have the material opportunity and support of other people to do so – it is an enormous privilege and I just feel I have won the lottery.”

With no financial support through traditional sporting grants or sponsors, often because of transphobia and laws barring trans athletes from sports and funding, the full-time therapist said he is using his life savings to be able to make his swim crossing goals possible.

To help offset costs, Goldberg is collecting donations through his GoFundMe. Any donations he receives beyond the costs of his boat and logistics for crossing will be directly donated to LGBT Youthline. Last year, he donated a total of $7000 to the youth-led mental health organization.

Click here to watch a live GPS tracker of Goldberg’s 30 hour Lake Huron swim crossing.