By Lindsay Peyton

If you take a second look when you see West Seattle resident Sam Day swimming at Alki Beach, you’re not alone. 

It’s hard not to be surprised – and perhaps perplexed -- when a man swims by, paddling with a brick in each hand. 

His friend, swimmer Stuart Johnston, clearly recalls his first time seeing Day in the water: “I thought what weirdness is this?” 

Day describes himself as a “brick swimmer” – and as far as he knows, it’s a sport of one. 

A while back, his brother Dan was doing some digging into the family history and uncovered an usual story about their great-great-grandfather, Frederick Christian Thompson. 

The Danish seaman, who went to work on a boat as a teenager, used to swim around a tall ship with a brick in each hand. 

Day was already an open water swimmer – and up for the challenge of following in his forefather’s footsteps. 

The first time he tried swimming with bricks, he only made it 20 strokes forward. The masonry paddles are awkward to maneuver, heavy to hold and slow a swimmer down. “When you try to balance that weight in the water, it affects how you float,” Day said. “Your stroke falls apart.” 

In the frigid waters of Puget Sound, holding onto anything while swimming is also challenging. 

“My hands start to lose grip, because of the cold,” Day said. “I’ll be really struggling to hold onto the bricks.”

After training for the past few years, Day set a goal. He wanted to swim a mile with the bricks in Puget Sound. He selected Saturday, Oct. 7 for the trial. 

On the morning of the big day, the swimmer stood with his feet in the water, acclimating to the temperature of the ocean, which was about 55 degrees. 

He stared out on the course of his journey – and around 8:30 a.m. plunged into the water. 

His friend Jerome Leslie officiated from a boat, chugging along while Day moved forward brick by brick. 

After an hour and five minutes, Day was able to reach his goal. He had already checked with the Guinness World Records to see if the event could make a mark on history. 

Day said the group refused to recognize the effort, because swimming with bricks is not something anyone else does. 

“I have no interest in doing what everyone else is doing,” Day said. He does hope, however, to inspire others to do something unique for themselves. 

“Anytime you do something that no one else has done before, it should inspire people to try something they’ve never done before,” he said. 
 

Day’s friends cheering from the shore admitted that they now wanted to try swimming a little with bricks – or at least to challenge themselves to a new feat. 

“It motivates you to do something harder,” Johnston said. He said the physical test alone was a major accomplishment. Swimming without a wet suit is hard enough, he added, as is swimming in the open water. Day is a founding member of the Notorious Alki Swimmers, who meet year-round to swim in the Puget Sound. 

“They range from people who just want to splash around to those who want to swim the English Channel,” Day said. “Some of us are world-class swimmers. Most of us are somewhere in between.”

Day also turned his passion for brick swimming into art. He has a series of oil paintings depicting the sport. 

The first painting in the series is a representation of resurfacing. 

“It’s about going up to the surface and exhaling,” Day said. “It is symbolic of coming up after divorce.”

The artist said brick swimming is a metaphor for overcoming obstacles. 

“A brick is something that can drown me, but I’m using it as a paddle to propel myself,” Day said. “I’m using something that could make me weak as something to make me strong.”He has been drawing since childhood – and said his illustrations were first published when he was only 11. “By the time I was in high school, I started doing it regularly,” Day said. 

He attended the Art Institute of Seattle, where he studied graphic design and advertising. 

In 2004, Day was commissioned to paint a wedding – live, as it took place. Now he is a regular wedding painter. 

Day’s studio is open by appointment.

For more information about his art, visit www.samday.com. 

For more information about his brick swimming, visit http://brickswimmer.weebly.com.