In just a few days, 61-year old Diana Nyad hopes to spend 60 hours crawl-stroking her way from Cuba to Key West. With plenty of electronic shark repellent and a dive team ready to pluck her out of the water at the slightest sign of trouble, Nyad might as well be doing marathon laps at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center.
Nyad, you may remember, gained fame in 1975 by swimming 28 miles around the island of Manhattan in just under eight hours. Impressive when you consider the 27 billion gallons of untreated raw sewage spilling into New York City’s waterways each year. Two years later, she tried the Cuba to Key West swim inside a 20 X 40 foot steel shark cage before she was plucked out of the water after high winds and 8-foot swells pushed her way off course. She covered 76 miles, but was headed toward the Alamo in Texas, not Hemingway's cats in Key West.
In this attempt, Nyad will stop to tread water every 90 minutes and down a concoction of predigested protein and some banana or peanut butter. Kayaks carrying electronic shark shields will surround her every stroke of the way. "Picture me effectively wrapped in a 30-foot bubble of electronic pulses that repel sharks," she says.
Nyad will also have within a couple breaths four renowned shark specialists who will patrol the water for any possible shark activity.
I once swam for a swim club as a teen while living in the United Kingdom. We were called the "Lemmings." We all know what happens to Lemmings once they take to the water. As a former Lemming, I can say unequivocally Nyad's swimming exploits are remarkable. Should she and her "Extreme Dream Team" complete the Cuba to Key West swim, she would be the first person, male or female, to do so without a shark cage.
Still, Nyad couldn't hold Martin Strel's Speedo (no jock straps, thankfully, are worn). Just four years, ago, at age 52, Strel, known as the "Big River Man," swam all 3,300 miles of the Amazon River, battling parasites, piranhas and man-hungry Amazonian tribesmen along the way. Strel spent 66 days traversing the equivalent of the width of the Atlantic Ocean. His training beverage of choice: Copius amounts of wine.
Strel was attacked by piranhas more than once, eating at his back on occasion. His solution was to pour buckets of putrid blood into the water to distract the hungry critters hell-bent on skeletonizing him. Strel urinated in the water to deter the native Candiru, a vicious fish that finds any orifice in your body and eats your blood. He fought off bull sharks and stingrays. His only other protection were pink dolphins that swam with him on occasion.
How do you tell a dolphin your'e being eaten alive by piranhas?
In 2002, Strel swam the entire length of the Mississippi River (2,414 miles), and the Argentine Parana River (2,484 miles). Two years later, Strel swam the Yangtze River (2,487 miles), the longest in Asia.
His latest feat occurred just last month when he successfully completed the extreme swim in the Glen Canyon on the Colorado River (from the Glen Dam to the entrance of the Grand Canyon). The water temperature during the 16-mile dip was a mere 47 degrees F. No piranhas or sharks, just the threat of hypothermia.
My swim cap's off to both Nyad and Strel. I'm only 51, yet I have to down four Ibuprofen tablets after puttering around for two hours with my kids in our 15-foot above ground pool. My biggest fear is putting too much chlorine in the water.
I hope Nyad completes her ultra-swim. But with shark attacks decreasing in Florida four straight years (according to a recent University of Florida study), and only 79 attacks reported worldwide in 2010, Nyad need not worry.
The Big River Man's legend still takes a bite out of her latest exploit.
Apples and oranges.
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