Rough waters lie ahead for Jordan Waxman. But the Rockleigh resident appreciates the challenge – in fact, he’s invited it.
Waxman is training to swim the English Channel between Calais, France, and Dover, England in late 2008. Although it’s a solitary mission of one man against 21 miles of murky, salty, choppy, leech-infested water, Waxman has a team behind him.

Hackensack’s Catherine Santoro, Waxman’s chiropractor and kinesiologist, often realigns his spine, and has taught him breathing techniques used by world-class speed skaters. Message therapist Gloria Brenner brings her “MRI fingers” to Waxman’s home, for a soothing recovery from workouts. Dov Torenberg of The Bicycle Workshop, Tenafly, will ensure Waxman has the right bike as he readies for the big day, and Drew McKinnon of Ridgewood Cycle Shop makes sure the bike has the right wheels. Tenafly’s Josh Levinson is the only person Waxman feels he can call and say: “Wanna go for a 100-mile bike ride?” Even Diana Yomtobian at Monte Carlo men’s clothing store in Westwood will be with Waxman in spirit. She’s had to tailor all his business suits, because he’s lost so much weight while training.

But Waxman’s biggest support has come from wife Caren and their three kids: Jacob, 8; Lilly, 7; and Jonah, 5. “We’ve had to sacrifice a lot of quality time,” says Waxman, 43, a private banker for Merrill Lynch. Yet, at the end of each training day, he concludes, this is something he just has to do: “I’m the type of person, when I hear ‘You can’t do that,’ I start thinking of ways to make it possible.”

Waxman has been building up to this moment for years. A breaststroke specialist at McGill University in Montreal, he’s completed both a 28-mile swim around Manhattan and, this past October, the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, which includes a rigorous “swim” leg. Waxman’s already begun cold-water training, donning his wetsuit for the frigid Lower New York Bay in winter. He estimates it will take 60,000 to 70,000 strokes to clear the English Channel.

“I’m lucky my wife is still with me through all this, through 22 hours a week of training,” says Waxman. “[The whole family’s] support has kept me going.”