Three times a week, Sedona artist Michael Colpitts is at the Sedona Community Pool swimming with the Sedona Swordfish Masters team. His fellow Masters swimmers identify the octogenarian as one of the fastest swimmers among them. Colpitts’ venture into swimming is the latest chapter in what’s been an interesting life.

As a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, Colpitts was a part of the first B-52 raid into Vietnam. He recalled once watching two other B-52s crash into each other over the South China Sea at 2:30 a.m.

“What was amazing is that you didn’t really have time to process the grief,” Colpitts remembered. “You had to perform or you were going to cause other people to have accidents. So I had to do therapy through the V.A.”

While in the Air Force, Colpitts also flew Boeing 707 refueling tankers. After leaving the Air Force, Colpitts remained in the air, flying for the now defunct Trans World Airlines. Then, 21 years ago, Colpitts moved to Arizona and continues to work independently in ceramics and painting.

Colpitts lived near the water for most of his life. He’s from the coastal town of Scituate, Mass. While flying for TWA, he lived near the Atlantic Ocean in the Northeast. Immediately prior to moving to Arizona, he lived in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.

Despite that, swimming was never a big part of Colpitts’ life and he had never learned how to do lap swimming. That changed two years ago, when a physiotherapist recommended that Colpitts take up swimming.

“He was just saying that swimming is one of the best things you can do for your body,” Colpitts said. “You’re using all of your muscles and don’t have the gravity. So he said it’s good for your aerobics. You’re using your whole body to do it and you don’t have gravity holding you down so you don’t have the pressure on all of your joints.”

Colpitts was drawn into the precise nature of swimming. He swims three times a week for a half hour at a time, mixing up his exercises.

“I find it to be very complex,” he said. “Even here, how you get your elbow up and how to be able to reach, turn and get your hand into the water, all of that is something that is specific. To learn that takes a tremendous amount of focus and concentration. But I like the challenge and am doing better now than I used to.”

While swimming is now something that Colpitts does well, he struggled with it initially. He didn’t really know how to properly breathe while swimming, which led to him having a severe shortness of breath after swimming one length of the 25-yard pool.

At that point, Swordfish coach Dan Morse suggested to Colpitts that he get a snorkel and wear it while swimming. That paid immediate dividends.

Like Colpitts, Morse is from Scituate, only in Rhode Island. That prompted Colpitts to dub the pair, “The Scituate Boys.” The two bonded over the shared name of their respective hometowns as well as their New England roots. Colpitts also gave Morse a lot of credit for not only his own improvements in the water, but the work he does with swimmers of all ages.

“I think that man right there is an extraordinary human being,” Colpitts said of Morse. “He’s become a friend. I watch him with kids, with the swim teams, the high school, and he’s amazing. He’s so good with people.”