Swimming from Cuba to Florida, Why?

[Ratickle]

Sometimes you just have to wonder about why people try stuff. I know it wouldn't even cross my mind as a worthwhile endeavor.

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Cuba-to-Florida swimmer Diana Nyad plows on despite storm - News | FOX Sports on MSN

Diana Nyad slogged across the Straits of Florida for a third straight day Monday, hopeful she could fend off hypothermia, jellyfish and stormy weather as she inched toward a swimming record.

Nyad, who turns 63 on Wednesday, is making her third attempt since last summer to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. She also made a failed try with a cage in 1978.

"She's doing well," a spokeswoman for the swimmer, Alex Crotin, said Monday afternoon.

Nyad had been expected to arrive somewhere in the Florida Keys early Tuesday, but her team tweeted Monday evening that she "lost six hours progress" in overnight storms Sunday. The team tweeted that a storm had blown Nyad off course and that "all hell broke loose" in the squall.

Monday offered far more ideal conditions, with blue skies and level seas and the Gulf Stream offering beneficial currents.

Nyad's team said the swimmer's spirits were lifted Monday afternoon by a surprise visit from a boatload of friends and family. And Monday evening, she found herself swimming among dolphins, a far happier scenario than the sharks that were feared.

 

[Bobcat]

She might want to pick up the pace a bit...we got a couple of BIG storms coming our way.

 

[Bobcat]

And she's done.

Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad was pulled from the water this morning, ending her historic Cuba-to-Florida swim.

Nyad was attempting to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. Her 63rd birthday is Wednesday. It was her fourth attempt.

Nyad's lips and tongue became increasingly swollen overnight, puffing up because of salt water. Members of her support crew of 63, which included multiple boats, slathered her face and full-body wetsuit with black-tinted lanolin to keep the jelly fish and the cold at bay.

Team members said she had been struck four times by jellyfish stings during her voyage. Jellyfish cut short her attempt to make the crossing last year.

 

[rschap1]

Husband and wife team recently made a short attempt to swim across lake michigan.
They wanted to draw attention and awareness to post-partum depression.
They did not make it across...

 

[Ratickle]

And I worry about passing the racing swim test in the pool.......

 

[Bobcat]

I remember my Scuba cert...had to tread water for 15 minutes after doing a full lap in the pool.....that was 23 years ago....I was in good shape and it was tough. Now I float a bit more:sifone:

 

[rschap1]

See whare she was pulled out...
looked ROUGH
jelly fish, lightning and storms, all swelled up from the salt water...


Did not look like a fun swim at all