62-Year-old Cuba to Florida Swimmer Presses on Despite Portuguese Man o’ War Stings
- Posted on September 24, 2011 at 6:17pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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(AP) Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad pressed on through the Florida Straits on Saturday morning, her pace a little slower after a rough night of painful Portuguese Man o’ War stings but still making progress around a quarter of the way to her goal.
Nyad’s team, which is updating fans and well-wishers throughout the world via social media, reported that she was about 25 miles off the coast of Cuba. She is hoping to complete 103 miles to Florida, besting her own record for an open-water swim without a shark cage by about a half-mile.
“It’s been a challenging night and morning,” her assistants said through Facebook, Twitter and her personal website. “Diana recovered from the multiple Portuguese Man O’ War stings enough to swim — but she is struggling right now. Her usual stroke pace, between 52 and 55 strokes per minute, has dropped to 48, but she is able to swim.”
Nyad suffered stings on both arms, her face and her side. She later complained of breathing problems, and two doctors gave her a steroid shot, oxygen and other medicine, they said.
“Night turned into day as the dawn broke slowly on the horizon. ‘You’re doing better. I can see it,’” her chief handler told Nyad.
Nyad says her strategy for enduring the roughly 60 hours it should take her to swim from Cuba to Florida, testing the limits of human exhaustion at the age of 62, is to focus on one partial goal after another.
“The mental approach has to be to parcel it out. No one could swim the whole thing while thinking about the whole thing,” she said on her website. “Till I get a glimpse of the final shore I can’t start obsessing on it — it’s too far away, too nebulous — I don’t know where it is. So I’m going to take it night by day: first get through the nighttime and then get through the daytime, and then the nighttime again, and so on.”
She told reporters Friday in Havana that she likes to sing songs inside her head to pass the hours. Among her favorites: The Beatles, Janis Joplin, and Bob Dylan.
Nyad is making her second attempt in as many months at the Cuba-Florida crossing, a lifelong dream that she first tried as a 28-year-old back in 1978, when she swam inside a steel shark cage for about 42 hours before ending the attempt. CNN coverage of Nyad’s launch from Havanna:
This summer she’s trying to do it cageless, instead relying on electronic equipment that surrounds her with a field that deters sharks.
An attempt in August fell short 29 hours in when, gasping for breath, Nyad threw in the towel after an 11-hour asthma attack she blamed on a bad reaction to a new medicine.
But she said the experience did not convince her that she was physically not up to the challenge, and Nyad, who insisted the problems had nothing to do with her advancing age, came to think of the aborted swim not as a failure but an unplanned dress rehearsal.
Though she had vowed there would be no second attempt, this week she flew to Cuba to take advantage of what she called a “magical window” of good weather and sea conditions. On Friday evening she jumped feet-first into the still waters off a Havana marina as her support team cheered and blew horns, and began stroking north toward the horizon.
Minutes earlier Nyad weighed herself and tipped the scales at 146 pounds. She said she expected to lose about 15 pounds (6.8 kilos) between now and her anticipated landfall in Florida on Monday morning.
Nyad is no stranger to painful stings suffered on marathon swims in the open ocean, and her assistants said she could recover and complete the journey.
“‘It was scary’ said (chief handler and close friend Bonnie) Stoll,” according to one tweet. “But Diana is happy that this happened early while she is still at her strongest.”
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kickagrandma
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:22pmBLAZE~~~ How did she do? Anybody know?
Report Post »Indymaverick
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 1:41pmIve been stung myself. Painful as hell ! Good thing my wife was around to pee on my lower leg to ease the sting.
Report Post »Discord
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 3:15amSiphonophores are so interesting.
Report Post »Wait, what was that about a swimmer?
sobeit
Posted on September 25, 2011 at 4:27pmAs a swimmer myself, I applaud her efforts.
Report Post »Sagacious
Posted on September 25, 2011 at 11:49amGrow up!!
Report Post »cyclops
Posted on September 25, 2011 at 2:29amMan……………Talk about Ouch!!!!!!!!
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on September 25, 2011 at 1:18amVery inspirational yet insane at the same time……………
Report Post »ChristinaP55
Posted on September 25, 2011 at 12:44amGodspeed to Diana! On top of the extreme physical challenge, she has the Man O’War stings to contend with. I’ve had a few of those in my day and the are very painful.
Report Post »thequeenbee
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 11:17pmI bet there weren’t wood chips under her playground equipment! Diana has bigger balls than 50% of the young men in our country. (figuratively, of course) I work in a huge retail store and the young men I see daily either weighing about 96 lbs or 496 lbs are soy sodden and soft. The little boys now are sitting in the shopping carts with their ankles crossed and mommy hovering over them saying ‘good job’ after every insignificant thing they do. We are turning into a nation of eunuchs. You go Diana, and show these people what strength, courage and persistence is and I hope you will inspire young people to get out from under mommy and daddy and strive for excellence in something. God Speed
Report Post »Pigpen
Posted on September 25, 2011 at 12:37amUh, how exactly is a woman swimming between Florida and Cuba going to “man up” our nation of “eunuchs” as you called them? Wouldn’t pointing out to a skinny wimp or to a useless fat-body that a 62 year old woman could kick their @ss tend to be MORE emasculating than inspiring? Just saying. But seriously, thanks for making me laugh by taking my Hoveround comment so seriously. Truly a classic!
Report Post »Pigpen
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 10:38pmShe’s 62 and is swimming from Florida to Cuba? That is nothing. The truly amazing thing is that she is 62 and is capable of swimming from Florida to Cuba AND she is still qualified to have Medicare pay for 91% of the cost of her Hoveround Personal Mobility Vehicle! There, now it is a Blaze story!
Report Post »thequeenbee
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 11:00pmShe is not qualified for Medicare, not until she is 65. Nice try, get your facts straight before you run your mouth (keyboard)
Report Post »Pigpen
Posted on September 25, 2011 at 12:26amYou are absolutley right, QUEENBEE, my facts were wrong. One is not entitled to either Medicaid or Medicare until one has reached the age of 65. Next time I will put forth a greater amount of effort when checking my facts before I post. And I have to THANK YOU for one other thing, QUEENBEE, your uptight response to my little joke has made me laugh longer, louder, and harder than I have EVER laughed at anyone’s post here on theBlaze. Thank you! LOL !!!
Report Post »thequeenbee
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 1:38amIf that lame joke made you laugh louder and harder than ever at someone’s post speaks to your undeveloped junior high sense of humor. If you are trying to be funny you’ll have to try harder, you missed the mark. Your joke rates a big DUH! You probably think tripping old people in walkers is funny too. The eunuch moniker must have struck a nerve.
Report Post »CleanUpAisle2013
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 9:22pmYou gotta click on the red letters “updating fans”. The amount of (updated) time she has been in the water and the number of strokes will blow you minds! Amazing endurance!
Report Post »Tamboo2
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 8:50pmSimply amazing. Wish my OCD was oriented more in the direction of exercise. This woman is somebody to emulate. Too bad today‘s gen isn’t even allowed to play on a teeter tottter or a merry-go-round. Kind of hard to raise excellence without the childhood boo-boos.
Report Post »GodsPuppet
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 8:40pmGod Bless Diane and keep her safe and strong.
Report Post »Ponyexpress
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 8:38pmIf she were hit by Portuguese man-of-war, she would not be able to proceed.
Report Post »I hate the media for bullshiting this amazing attempt. Win or lose, may God be with her.
The media, as Maxine would say can go to hell for reporting crap they have no knowledge of
kickagrandma
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 8:23pmWay to go! GOD BLESS, PROTECT, SUSTAIN AND ENCOURAGE YOU,
What a hope she gives us all!
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 7:58pmGood for her..she is still going.
Report Post »NuffSaid
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 7:31pmDo they have a cage that deters liberals? I’d put my monkey there…
You go granny!
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 8:00pmCan your monkey swim?
Report Post »I agree with you…I’d invest every cent I have, especially if it made them mute.
Tear Em Up
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 7:27pmIs she showing up the Cuban boat people??
http://traffic.libsyn.com/mikeleeandterrymartin/Number_82_Sept._24th_2011.mp3
Report Post »CatB
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 7:59pmLOL .. think they are following her?
Report Post »OlefromMN
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 7:05pmThis is one tough woman! You go girl!
Report Post »jakartaman
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 6:59pmWhen we stop trying to reach higher – shut off the lights
Report Post »You go girl!
SensibleCenter
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 6:44pmThe quest for achievement is a noble thing. It has been a key element in the greatness of this country, and humanity as a whole. To see Diana Nyad achieve this world-class athletic feat at the age of 62 would give heart to millions that great achievements are always possible with hard work and dedication. Go, Diana!
Report Post »WhiteFang
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 6:30pmWhy do people do these kinds of things?
Is it really necessary to punish your body so severely?
Maybe it is just a vanity thing, a way to exalt yourself (in their own mind).
Report Post »Common.Cents
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 6:42pmPeople do these things to push themselves. We all have our own passions. Just think if nobody ever pushed themselves what type of a world we would live in. I say great job. She could inspire others to try harder and perhaps they will affect the world.
Report Post »JustMeHere_01
Posted on September 24, 2011 at 9:17pmI think it has been a personal goal of hers to accompolish this feat. This woman wants to do this and I hope that she is able to complete her dream this time. Yes when someone wants something they will punish themselves. It is called personal pride. Something that so many of us seem to lack.
I am close to her age and I remember when I used to love jogging. I recently began walking again and trying to run again. I know it is going to be a while before I can see myself running 3 miles again. I am impressed that this woman has remained in such good shape through her life time.
Once you allow your body to become idle for a number of years at that age it is very difficult to get back into any type of shape.
You should commend this woman on her fortitude without trying to find some way to slander her dedication. Shame on you.
Report Post »000degrees
Posted on September 25, 2011 at 7:53amHey Fang, it would be like you not brushing any longer and watching the white slowly leave your fang untill one day you just would refuse to get out of bed in the morning…..:) Gotta keep pushing on (brushing)…whiter all the time….
Report Post »Old Truckers
Posted on September 25, 2011 at 10:45pmWhiteFang,
Exercise and physical goals can be satisfying. But I also see your point that many people go to extremes and in the effort to win, actually damage their body and their overall health. The desire to win at all costs is foolish and is vanity. Pushing ones self to extreme limits is not wise. Just look at old football players, all beat up and barely able to move around due to all their injuries.
Report Post »