Swimming feat ends halfway from Cuba
Source: Agencies |
August 10, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MARATHON swimmer Diana Nyad ended her second bid to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys about halfway through her journey early yesterday.
Elaine Lafferty, who was on the boat, posted on Twitter: "It's over." Lafferty said "the combination of factors was too much to safely continue."
According to the Twitter posts, Nyad was pulled from the water early in the morning after swimming for 29 hours. The swimmer was expected to take 60 hours to cover 166 kilometers.
Reports say Nyad herself decided to end the swim after recognizing "the conditions of five to 10-knot winds and less-than-ideal currents." An online chart plotting her track showed the Gulf Stream currents pushing her to the east of her intended course. Nyad had hoped to end her swim at the southernmost point of Key West.
According to the Twitter feed, Nyad was hoisted on to a support boat and ending the swim wrapped in blankets.
In this, her second attempt, Nyad had tried to accomplish at 61 years old what she failed to do at 28 in 1978. This time, she even attempted the swim without a shark cage, relying instead on electrical technology to keep the predators at bay.
In her first attempt in 1978, she quit after being in the water for nearly 42 hours due to strong currents and rough weather.
Had the latest attempt been successful, Nyad would have broken her own record of 165km for a cageless, open-sea swim, set in 1979 when she swam from the Bahamas to Florida.
Before the swim, Nyad told journalists she hoped her swim would inspire others of her age to live active lives.
Elaine Lafferty, who was on the boat, posted on Twitter: "It's over." Lafferty said "the combination of factors was too much to safely continue."
According to the Twitter posts, Nyad was pulled from the water early in the morning after swimming for 29 hours. The swimmer was expected to take 60 hours to cover 166 kilometers.
Reports say Nyad herself decided to end the swim after recognizing "the conditions of five to 10-knot winds and less-than-ideal currents." An online chart plotting her track showed the Gulf Stream currents pushing her to the east of her intended course. Nyad had hoped to end her swim at the southernmost point of Key West.
According to the Twitter feed, Nyad was hoisted on to a support boat and ending the swim wrapped in blankets.
In this, her second attempt, Nyad had tried to accomplish at 61 years old what she failed to do at 28 in 1978. This time, she even attempted the swim without a shark cage, relying instead on electrical technology to keep the predators at bay.
In her first attempt in 1978, she quit after being in the water for nearly 42 hours due to strong currents and rough weather.
Had the latest attempt been successful, Nyad would have broken her own record of 165km for a cageless, open-sea swim, set in 1979 when she swam from the Bahamas to Florida.
Before the swim, Nyad told journalists she hoped her swim would inspire others of her age to live active lives.
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