On Friday, Aug. 14, Jake and Josh Burella accomplished something extraordinary.
Not only did the 23-year-old twins from Wasaga Beach raise money for mental health — almost $27,000 and counting — they managed to raise the spirits of an entire community.
At approximately 5:00 a.m. Friday morning, the Burella brothers hopped off the 40-foot steel hull where they had spent the night and into the water just off the coast of Christian Island.
Accompanied along the way by the vessel filled with friends and family and guided by its captain, Kevin Johnston, the twins began their 32-kilometre trek to Collingwood with nothing but zinc on their backs and a float in tow to help the support team spot them in the water.
Hour after hour the twins swam, sometimes perfectly in sync, battling boaters and the beating sun as they made their way closer to the finish line, one stroke at a time.
“It really shifts your mindset. To see how far the swim really was and to watch people push themselves to that point… You almost feel like it shouldn’t be possible,” said Luke Burella, the twins’ older brother and a part of the team responsible for keeping the swimmers hydrated and properly fuelled with food every 25 minutes.
On land, excitement and anticipation grew as the hours passed. Primitive Patterns, the business the Burellas co-founded, set up shop in Millennium Park, selling merchandise and leading group workouts to bring awareness to the battle that was happening in the bay behind them.
Updates came from the boat as a (socially distant) crowd continued to grow, everyone counting down the kilometres together.
Around 7:30 p.m. heartache hit, and after over 14 hours of straight swimming, Josh was helped out of the water. While his mind was still motivated his body was done, and he succumbed to sheer exhaustion only two kilometres from the Collingwood destination, but 30 kilometres into the swim. Sombre murmurs spread through the crowd as the community anxiously waited to hear if he was okay, and if his twin brother would battle on without him.
Reluctantly, Jake pressed on, finding a newfound strength to finish the feat for him and his brother. As the sun dipped deeper below the bay, the group on land held cellphone lights high and cheered loudly as the solo swimmer got closer and closer to the pier.
Mere minutes after 9:00 p.m., he made it.
Tears and cheers and so many smiles spread through the crowd as family and friends and members from across the community chanted Jake and Josh’s name.
“Looking back on the whole experience, it had to happen the way it did,” said Josh. “Even though I didn’t make it to the finish line, I know I accomplished well over our goal. The whole point of it was to raise funds and awareness for mental health and to push ourselves to our limit, and for that reason, there isn’t anything I would change.”
Since the swim, Jake and Josh have had many conversations with each other, their brother and their community about if and what could have happened had they gotten the perfect weather conditions and finished together, while the sun was still up and at the speed they had planned. Both twins quickly realized that isn’t life — rarely do we receive the perfect conditions to accomplish our goals. Sometimes you are able to power through and sometimes you are not, and that doesn’t make the attempt any less powerful.
“Because of the struggle we went through … I think it had that much more of an effect. It was hard. But the fact that Jake was still able to finish for us, made it magical,” Josh added.
Donations will still be accepted for a few more weeks and the twins hope the conversation supporting youth mental health will continue.
To learn more about the GB32 or to donate, visit the swim’s fundraising page. To learn more about Jake and Josh, visit Primitive Patterns for more information.
