Tribute to swimmer’s father becomes annual fundraiser

Brian Earley stood in his swim trunks on the shore of Sandy Point State Park on a cold, gray Sunday morning in June 1982 and scanned the choppy waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The currents spewed whitecaps 2 and 3 feet high, and a light, steady rain fell from dark storm clouds overhead.

“The warmest place, probably, was in the water,” Earley said, recalling that day nearly three decades ago when he swam about five miles across the Bay — the precursor to the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim, now considered one of the premier open-water swims in the nation.