Drew Nemetz, owner of Alpen Pantry in downtown Old Greenwich, swam the English Channel on Oct. 3, covering roughly 31 miles in 14 hours and 16 minutes.

The 44-year-old entered the water at Samphire Hoe on England's coast around 3 a.m. in darkness, with a green neon glow illuminating the water around him. He emerged at Cap Blanc-Nez in France, joining fewer than 2,200 swimmers who have completed a solo Channel crossing since 1875, according to Save the Sound. That is less than one-third the number of people who have summited Mount Everest.

"I was like, 'Holy cow, I did it! I am done!'" Nemetz recalled saying when he reached France.

Nemetz faced choppy water, mid-60s temperatures and jellyfish along the way. The official crossing distance is 21 miles, but rough conditions pushed his actual swim to about 31 miles. He fueled the effort with bananas, potatoes and electrolyte drinks after seasickness ruled out heavier food.

Peter Linderoth, Save the Sound's director of healthy waters and lands, was part of Nemetz's support crew aboard the boat Masterpiece. Linderoth said Nemetz got stung by a jellyfish that landed on his head and shoulders "like an English bonnet" but shook it off and kept swimming.

At one point, Nemetz could see the silhouette of France but swimming directly toward it would have meant fighting the current. Boat operator Harry Mardle steered him along a different path, telling him to put his head down and follow the boat.

The swim doubled as a fundraiser for Save the Sound, the Long Island Sound conservation nonprofit. Nemetz raised more than $21,000, according to the organization. Sound Shore Dispatch, reporting on Oct. 8, had put the total at more than $20,000.

Nemetz grew up in Old Greenwich, where pollution once forced beaches near his home to close for more than a week. He has written that illegal medical waste shut down Tod's Point one summer during his childhood, and his parents enrolled him and his brother in a swim club instead.

He swam at Greenwich High School and attended college on a swimming scholarship before stepping away from the sport for about 20 years. He picked it back up around the time of the pandemic.

He now trains year-round in Long Island Sound off Oakland Beach in Rye, N.Y., often hitting the water by 5 a.m. He completed the 20 Bridges Swim Around Manhattan in eight hours and 24 minutes before the Channel crossing. The Channel was his longest swim in both time and distance.

Nemetz is now targeting the Santa Catalina Channel swim in California, which would complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. Only 400 swimmers had earned that distinction as of October 2025, according to Triple Crown records. Nemetz said he has reached out to potential boat captains and hopes to complete the Catalina swim in 2027 or 2028.

More than 140 supporters followed his crossing in real time through a WhatsApp group titled "Drew Channel Crossing 2026."

Save the Sound will host a Zoom webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 4, where Nemetz will share the story of his crossing and Linderoth will discuss the organization's clean water work.