How did you get started in swimming?

When I was eight I was afraid of everything, including putting my head in the water. My parents put me on a swim team to socialize me and lose my fear of the water. UVA coach Ralph Law was my first coach and he was very good with kids. When I was 8 1/2 I began winning ribbons and I was sold.

I did summer camps with Doc Councilman starting at the age of 13, every summer, until I turned 18. It was the first time he had accepted someone under 16. I lived in a dorm in Indiana University while in camp and had a good time. I was shy and it was an interesting way to grow up. During the winters, I went away to high school in Mercersberg, Pa in order to train.

I went to college at Indiana University and continued to train under Doc Councilman. I swam with Jim Montgomery who won gold medals in the '76 Olympics and was the first person to go under :50 in the 100 free. Gary Hall was there in the summers.

I swam marathons after college, 22 to 26 miles. At the time, they were loosely organized. Off and on I raced every year from 1980 to 1992, doing five or six races some years.

I worked for a computer company for a while but didn't like it and decided to go back to Indiana University to pursue a Masters degree. I coached the Indiana distance swimmers during the winter, under Doc, for 3 years and got a masters in Sports Fitness. In the summers, I was a beach patrol lifeguard in Atlantic City, NJ. While in grad school I had more time to train and started doing the Chesapeake Bay swim. The bay didn't seem that long compared to the marathons. Then it was cool -kind of a training swim for longer races. Fletcher Hanks came up with $200 in prize money for 2 or 3 years as well.

For my first year after completing undergrad, I just swam. In 1987-88 (after grad school) I started a corporate fitness business in Charlottesville, VA with a friend. We didn't make much money but I did get to swim a lot. Then I came to this area and swam with John Flanagan. I got a job in sales so I had to wake up at 4AM to swim with his kids in Alexandria. I used to nap in my car at noon!

After about 3 years I got a free ticket to Australia. The race organizers of the Sydney Harbor 22 mile race (Manley to Darling Harbor) paid my way. I got 3rd and won $6,000. I was happy with that and traveled for a few months around Australia, scuba diving on the Barrier Reef. Then I trained hard in Perth with Shelley Taylor. I found I had overtrained when I went to Argentina for my next race, and didn't do well. It seemed to validate my need to rest 3 weeks before a swim. (Sometimes I start resting 5 weeks before a race.)

I quit my job when I got the ticket to Australia and wound up travelling for two years visiting South America, Australia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, India, Nepal, Thailand and Italy. In 1992 I trained for 10 days in Costa Rica and went to Italy to do the Capri race. Then I did a series of races in Italian open water which basically paid my expenses.

Then it was off to Greece turkey, India and the rest.

During a two year stint travelling, swimming and doing odd jobs, I wound up in India and started doing photography. Finishing the trip in Nepal and Thailand, it became a two year journey. I came back to photo assist for Paul Fetters (fellow DCRPer and open water swimmer) doing commercial and editorial photography. Now, I have my own business.

Now I just do fun swimming, for example 2 mile races. I might do a long one again, someday. But for now, I enjoy pursuing photography and it allows me to travel, which I love.

Yes. If you're doing an 8 or 10 hour race, the end of the day always shows up. By the end of the day you're going to feel miserable anyway. If you quit you're not going to feel any better. You might as well finish and go hard!

It's fun to think - what are other people doing right now?

I like the people at DCRP. They're fun. I think it's important to try to have fun when you're swimming.

For more about James, see his photographic web site.