We recently caught up with Jim Myers, the new president of the Chesapeake Bay Power Boat Association (CBPBA), to chat about an upcoming volunteer opportunity with the club. Best of all? You don’t have to be a member to participate.
The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim takes place on Sunday, June 14 out of Stevensville, MD. There is a 4.4-mile Bay Swim and a one-mile Bay Challenge. The event, which has been held for over 30 years, benefits the March of Dimes, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the US Coast Guard, and other local charities. For safety, event organizers enlist volunteers from CBPBA.
The swim starts at 6:30 a.m., so it’s a sunrise swim this year, and that is due to the timing of slack tide in between the bridge spans. Volunteer boats need to be in the water by 6:15 a.m. Swimmers begin at Sandy Point and swim in between the north and south spans and end at Libbey’s Coastal Kitchen. For anyone interested in volunteering, there is a captain’s meeting on June 13 to review procedures, safety protocol, pick up equipment (flags, radios, etc.), and answer questions.
There will be jet skis and kayaks between the bridge spans to pick up any swimmer for any reason. These safety boats will take the swimmer to a nearby sweep boat and then a mother boat, so the CBPBA has boats covering the entire 4.4 miles of the course. The CBPBA needs lots of boats, of all sizes and types. They are also working with Hinckley Bay Bridge Marina to provide free slips for volunteers for Saturday night. Volunteers should expect the time commitment to be about five hours from the time you leave the marina in the morning to the time you return any equipment.
If you are not already a member of CBPBA, you will get free membership for volunteering. CBPBA is a nonprofit membership boating social club that sponsors a variety of events for all types of boats including destination cruises, poker runs, raft ups, and more. The annual membership fee is $85.
Anyone interested in volunteering needs to register by June 1. To learn more, visit cbpba.com or visit the Google Doc form to register.