From Marblehead to D.C., an environmental activist sounds his watery alarm

Christopher Swain has the gear: an extra thick wetsuit, hood, gloves, goggles, and booties. He waded into the waves off Marblehead's Devereux Beach looking like the spawn of the Michelin Man or the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

This was a training swim, the good reason for being in the water. "I do enough strokes so that the ice cream headache goes away," he explained. Swain is conditioning his body for long hours in cold water in preparation for a long-distance swim from his Marblehead hometown to Washington, D.C.

He plans to depart Wednesday on the 1,000-mile Atlantic coast swim as part of an environmental education campaign aimed at protecting the oceans. He'll visit school classrooms along the way to help students develop study projects on the oceans and marine life. "I can go out there and swim, then come into the classroom and say, 'This is what I'm seeing related to global climate change, pollution, and overfishing.' "

He also wants to inspire adults to "take decisive action to leave their comfort zones and live in more sustainable ways," he said. "There's no more time for talking or wishing or hoping about what you're going to do for the world."

Anybody who says he's going to swim 1,000 miles in the cold ocean may sound like he's already in over his head, but Swain has a long track record of swimming extreme distances, sometimes in filthy water, to bring attention to environmental causes.

He swam the entire 1,243-mile length of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest over a 13-month period beginning in June 2002. In 2004, he swam the 315-mile Hudson River, and 129 miles in Lake Champlain. That year, he also swam 81 miles down the entire length of the Charles River into Boston Harbor, a feat that earned him national recognition in a feature on ABC "World News Tonight."

"Whatever it is, people need to work on protecting that piece of the natural world that they love and enjoy," said Swain.

Russell Wells, a science teacher at Tower School in Marblehead, has brought Swain into his classroom to speak about water quality and pollution.

"I think a genuine passion for clean water is what motivates him," said Wells. "He's the type of person who has that easily distinguishable, genuine passion."

Swain is 41. He's 5 foot 11 inches, and a stocky 215 pounds. He has intentionally nudged his body fat above 20 percent to provide some warmth during his swim. Swain is trained as an acupuncturist, but his career is on hold while he undertakes his long-distance swim, he said. Donors are supporting the journey.

The logistics around the swim have taken a lot of planning. Supporters will follow Swain in boats, such as a sea kayak or an inflatable, for safety.

Swain figures to spend about six hours a day in the water, covering roughly 6 miles in that time, though the weather, wind, and water conditions can have huge effects on his daily mileage.

"In winter gear you can't actually swim very well," he said. And when his face freezes, he can't tell when his mouth is out of the water to breath.

His ballpark guess is that he'll need 200 days of swimming to complete the 1,000 miles. Typically, he will swim three days in a row and then take time off to recover, to visit classrooms, and to see his children. Swain has two daughters: Rowan, 8, and Celilo, 5. After the short recovery, he'll return to where he left off - a spot marked by shore objects and by GPS - and start again.

"There's no incentive for me to skip any part of it," he said. "It's not for a speed record. I want to know the water."

Nicole Butterfield, a teacher and administrator at Whitby School in Greenwich, Conn., has worked with Swain on several of his environmental projects.

"We're always eager to host him at our school, no matter what the event - whether he was swimming the Hudson in our area or swimming the Columbia," she said. "My elementary school students are always very eager and enthusiastic when he comes because he's an incredible role model and a very engaging speaker. He can mobilize kids to take action on these environmental causes very readily because they look up to him."

She plans to have Swain speak at her school again when he reaches Long Island Sound along his 1,000-mile swim.

Swain tries to help students decide what aspect of the environment excites them, because that's where they are most likely to make some difference. "People shouldn't bother to work on any environmental issue that doesn't connect to anything they do or use," said Swain. "The people who actually get somewhere are the ones whose activity comes from a direct experience with a part of the natural world they love."

For instance, he said, President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid hunter and outdoorsman, set aside land for conservation. And John Muir, a founder of the Sierra Club, took long hiking adventures through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

"Duck hunters and fishermen are excellent conservationists because they come back with enthusiasm from the activities they enjoy," said Swain. "I love the water. I want my daughters to grow up in a healthy world. I want them to think I was willing to put it all on the line, and that I helped."

Swain will begin his swim at noon Wednesday from the public dock known as the landing, off Front Street. Schoolchildren will be on hand for his departure, and Swain welcomes anyone who wants to see him off. Festivities start at 10:30 a.m. He will post online updates during his swim at: www.changents.com/christopherswain.