5-minute read
Molly Boxford
Special to the USA TODAY Network
For a middle-aged guy with a wife, four children, a full time job, six chickens, two dogs and a rabbit, Jake Dolce of Rye Brook manages to spend a lot of time swimming. His love of the sport is a practically a religious calling nurtured by his devoted parents, Jed and Beth Dolce, who raised a close family unit and encouraged their children to love and respect the water. Jake, his twin, Luke, and their two older brothers, Hank and Jared, spent idyllic childhood summers on swim teams, lifeguarded and, to this day, they waterski and stage Kennedyesque swimming contests with extended family on Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire.
In 1996, Jed died at 53 years of age after a long battle with brain cancer. Jake was just 23 years old, and filled the hole left by the loss by participating in annual Swim Across America events in the Long Island Sound, which raises funds for cancer research. It has since become a family tradition and a member of the Dolce family has participated every year since then — including Jake’s 10K swims across the Sound in 2022 and 2023.
About 10 years ago, swimming provided yet another outlet for Jake when he decided to give up drinking. Early morning swims at the Rye YMCA provided much needed therapy in the form of exercise and being accountable to friends who were counting on him to be present. By the time he layered in the structure and discipline of the Westchester Masters swimming program he realized that he was experiencing a rebirth. So, at the end his forties, nearly the same age his father — also a recovering alcoholic — was when he died, Jake was determined to go after the most challenging swim of his life, the English Channel.
Fellow swimmer and Larchmont resident, Simon Hill, completed his Channel crossing in October 2022, and soon thereafter encouraged Jake to get in touch with the best Channel Crossing pilots in the business, captains and father and son team, Fred and Harry Mardle, to secure a slot with them and their old, purple fishing boat, the Masterpiece. The slot they gave Jake was early in June, at the very beginning of the year’s Channel Crossing season.
A new challenge in advance of the Channel
It would be 18 hard months before Jake would meet the Mardles in person in Folkstone, a quaint seaside town in Southeast England, from which Jake would launch his adventure. That time period would sadly be punctured by the loss of his oldest brother, Hank, who died from complications of diabetes in the winter of 2022. Nothing could have prepared Jake for this second tragic loss but he turned it into fuel for his goal. His training schedule included long qualifying swims in sub 60 degree waters which served to build his tolerance for the Channel conditions and the 20 Bridges Swim a 28.5 grueling miles around Manhattan that taught him he needed to better calibrate his caloric and hydration intake which would be critical if he wanted to be successful in the Channel Swim.
On June 5, Jake flew with his crew, brothers Luke and Jared, son Coakley and a best childhood friend to London, England. Their first full day in Folkstone was June 6, the 80th anniversary of D-Day. It wasn’t lost on them that many brave, young men had lost their lives over the very waters Jake would be swimming. He kept loose, got acclimated to the water temperatures, laughed with the locals in the pubs, did some sightseeing and, feeling ready and eager, consulted regularly with the Mardles to decide the best possible tidal conditions upon which to go.
On the morning of the June 11, Captain Harry Mardle made the call that they would meet at 1 a.m. on June 12 at the dock, board the Masterpiece and motor to the drop in location for a 2 a.m. departure. Captain Fred Mardle, pulled Jake aside to bluntly offer, “It’s going to be a good day but it’s going to be a struggle.”
‘You have to finish this. You can’t not’
At exactly 2:01 a.m. Jake began his strokes in the 57-degree waters of the Atlantic in the pitch black. Fortunately, daylight came at 4:40 a.m. and stayed with them as a spotlight for the rest of their journey.
Luke, Jared and Coakley stood close watch on the rail while the Mardles navigated the world’s most heavily trafficked shipping lanes and steered the Masterpiece clear of the Atlantic’s powerful shifting currents. Luke’s job as crew captain meant he held Jake’s lifeline in the sense that he was responsible for keeping the feeding and hydration schedule on track and closely observed his twin’s emotional and mental status. He had the authority to call it all off. Jared would play the role of companion swimmer and spiritual leader and Coakley queued up his playlist to keep the crew chill, help throw the lines with the bottles of protein drinks to his Dad, and held up a whiteboard on which he wrote short inspirational quotes such as, “Stay Hard,” from Jake’s favorite motivational speaker, David Goggins. His journey was significant because it was right of passage; he was there representing his mother and younger siblings and he was bearing witness to what would become the most important event in his young life: a demonstration of his uncle’s devotion and his father’s grit.
Asked what he was thinking while he was swimming, Jake answered, “I looked at the faces of Jared, Luke and Coakley. I was thinking about Dad, Hank, and my swim community saying a lot of Hail Marys, and telling myself ‘You have to finish this. You can’t not.’ Honestly, “I felt my Dad and Hank were with me.”
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