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Men put down beers, take swim

By MICHAEL A. MOHAMMED
Published December 15, 2006

TAMPA - Two guys abandoned their beers at Channelside on Thursday night to see who could swim to Harbour Island first.

Only one made it.

The pair sat with a woman at an outside table at Bennigan's. Each of them ordered a single beer, though it "definitely wasn't their first drink," said bartender Dana Hart.

Hart overheard them daring each other to do something when suddenly the two men stripped off their shirts, shoes and socks and handed them to their female companion. They ran downstairs, jumped a wrought-iron gate and dived into the water, still wearing their jeans.

Soon, dozens of onlookers lined the balconies along the water to cheer the swimmers on. The distance from Channelside to Harbour Island is roughly 625 feet, or about two football fields.

The first guy made it a third of the way and stopped to cheer his friend on. The second guy made it to him, but then turned to swim back to shore, where Tampa police handcuffed him, said Annette Vondeylan, another spectator.

Meanwhile, the first guy had reached the two-thirds mark but stopped again to tread water.

"We got worried for a second," Hart said.

But the swimmer caught his breath and kicked his legs the rest of the way to shore. He did a touchdown dance for the cheering Channelside spectators and then lay down for a few minutes on the wet grass of the island shore.

A police dispatcher said neither man was charged with a crime.

Hart said it sounded like one of them had recently broken up with his girlfriend, and his companions had taken him out to console him.

"They were here to drown their sorrows, and they almost drowned themselves," Hart joked.

Michael A. Mohammed can be reached at mmohammed@sptimes.com or 813 226-3404.

[Last modified December 15, 2006, 05:50:19]