Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Hats Off To Diana Nyad On Her Attempted Swim To Cuba

Nyad Puts Early End to Cuba-to-Florida Swim



She made it about 27.5 hours further than I could ever make it.
She has my respect.

MIAMI — Three miles off Havana on Sunday evening, the Florida Straits were still glasslike when 61-year-old marathon swimmer Diana Nyad felt her right shoulder seize up with pain. But she kept swimming.

At 1:30 p.m. Monday, with the ocean swells now buffeting her, Ms. Nyad was struck by a first-ever asthma attack and struggled to breathe. But she kept swimming.

Nearly twelve hours later, half-way between Cuba and her destination of Key West, Fla., Ms. Nyad was treading water when she began vomiting. She then reluctantly allowed herself to be pulled aboard a support boat named Bellisimo, where she was quickly wrapped in blankets. After swimming nearly 29 hours, Ms. Nyad abandoned her quixotic quest to complete the 60-hour, 103-mile journey, spread across three days, between Cuba and the United States.

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