Funny! He should try it! It will build character. But Just to clarify the swim I took, From the Canadian side of the Peace Bridge at the pier , we dove in there, swam to the American side and touched the breakwall and swam back to the Canadian side at the railroad bridge and climbed out there. We were damn exhausted to swim that hard, in fact I almost drowned from fatigue. I suppose you could do the same swim in reverse starting from the American side.
Maybe they could make a summer marathon in Buffalo, pay entry fees, get a number to make the strenuous swim. If you want to get crazy, incorporate a full Iron Man competition and this would be the swimming portion of it.