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Controversy mars Nyad’s Cuba-Florida swim feat
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Diana Nyad is defending her 177-kilometer swim from Cuba to Florida against skeptics who are asking whether she got into or held onto a boat during part of the journey.
Nyad said she swam without holding onto any of the boats or people accompanying her.
“I swam. We made it, our team, from the rocks of Cuba to the beach of Florida, in squeaky-clean, ethical fashion,” Nyad said. Her critics are suspicious about long stretches of the 53-hour swim where Nyad appeared to have either picked up incredible speed or to have gone without food or drink.
Since Nyad finished her swim on September 2, long-distance swimmers have been debating it on social media and in online forums.
Nyad’s speed, at some points more than doubling, has drawn particular scrutiny. Her team has attributed her speed to the fast-moving Gulf Stream flowing in her favor.
The 64-year-old endurance athlete and her team held a conference call with some of the skeptics who questioned her navigator’s credentials and observations of the currents.
Nyad’s navigator, John Bartlett, said her fastest speed averaged about 3.97 mph (6.39 kph) over a 5.5-hour period over abou 30.58 kilometers, crossing the strongest parts of the Gulf Stream, which was flowing at a favorable angle.
“What you’re seeing is the combination of the speed of Diana propelling herself in the water and the speed of the current carrying us across the bottom,” he said.
An oceanography professor at the University of Miami said data collected from a research buoy drifting in an eddy referenced by Bartlett confirms that ocean currents contributed as much to Nyad’s speed as Bartlett said they did.
The eddy appears periodically in that region, and it alters the course of the Gulf Stream.
“So, if you’re close to (the eddy), you’re going to benefit from it, too,” Tamay Ozgokmen said. “I don’t have trouble believing that she said she essentially doubled her speed during her swim, because of the ocean currents.”
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