Long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad is so close to completing a lifelong dream that she could see the lights of Key West in the wee hours Monday.
She began her fifth attempt to swim across the often treacherous Florida Straits – home to stinging box jellyfish, sharks, sudden storms, eddies and the strong Gulf Stream – on Saturday from Hemingway Marina in Havana.
Nyad, who recently turned 64, is trying to become the first person to complete the swim without the wave-breaking aid of a shark cage.
Despite a Sunday night storm that brought winds of up to 23 knots and bouts with nausea, Nyad was making good time in the first half of the swim with about 51 strokes per minute. A favorable current helped her average about two miles per hour, and by about 5 a.m. Monday she was on course to swim 112 statute miles and conquer her dream.
Her navigator John Bartlett predicted she will arrive at Smather’s Beach in Key West between 4 and 6 p.m., after about 80 hours in the water battling sleep deprivation, dehydration and exhaustion as well as the elements. The prediction was posted on her website, www.diananyad.com, when she was about 10 miles from the island city.
Nyad is expected to cross reef marker 32 at 11 a.m., leaving her 5 miles to swim in a heavily boated area with strong currents.
As Bartlett planned Nyad’s final approach, the exhausted swimmer stopped numerous times to tread water and try to restore her energy. In past attempts, seeing the sunrise has uplifted her, a team member wrote.
“The greatest variable here is the extension of human endurance,” said Bartlett, who is leading her escort boat Voyager. “How long will it take her to make those last 100 strokes at the end, and all the ones from here to then?”
People from around the world are rooting for Nyad on her website and social media.
“With every breath you take, I hope you know how many, many people are inspired and thrilled at your great effort, tenacity, focus, vision, commitment and integrity,” wrote whybaby on her website.
Shawn Kraus wrote simply: “HISTORY AWAITS!!!”
For Nyad, the journey began 35 years ago in 1978, when she first tried with a shark cage but came up short. She gave up swimming for decades, but conquering the Florida Straits continued to eat away at her soul. So in her 60s, she plunged back into the water and trained to regain her old form.
With a good marketing team that helped raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to support such an endeavor, she made her second attempt in 2011. It was hampered by shoulder pain and an asthma attack. Months later, jellyfish stings ended a third attempt.
Last year, she tried for a fourth time and the jellyfish got her again. She was pulled from the water, her face badly swollen.
This time at dusk and night hours when the jellyfish and other stinging creatures are most prevalent, she will wear a jellyfish protection suit. The first night she wore a specially designed prosthetic face make that also covers her lips, but it made it difficult to swim. The second night they used a protection cream, dubbed “Sting Stopper,” that was created by jellyfish expert Angel Yanagihara and the University of Hawaii.
A diver also was in the water with Nyad to scout for jellyfish. If any were seen, the mask would go on, according to her website. The divers are part of a 35-person support crew that includes kayakers, accompanying her in a flotilla of five boats.
She began her fifth attempt to swim across the often treacherous Florida Straits – home to stinging box jellyfish, sharks, sudden storms, eddies and the strong Gulf Stream – on Saturday from Hemingway Marina in Havana.
Nyad, who recently turned 64, is trying to become the first person to complete the swim without the wave-breaking aid of a shark cage.
Despite a Sunday night storm that brought winds of up to 23 knots and bouts with nausea, Nyad was making good time in the first half of the swim with about 51 strokes per minute. A favorable current helped her average about two miles per hour, and by about 5 a.m. Monday she was on course to swim 112 statute miles and conquer her dream.
Her navigator John Bartlett predicted she will arrive at Smather’s Beach in Key West between 4 and 6 p.m., after about 80 hours in the water battling sleep deprivation, dehydration and exhaustion as well as the elements. The prediction was posted on her website, www.diananyad.com, when she was about 10 miles from the island city.
Nyad is expected to cross reef marker 32 at 11 a.m., leaving her 5 miles to swim in a heavily boated area with strong currents.
As Bartlett planned Nyad’s final approach, the exhausted swimmer stopped numerous times to tread water and try to restore her energy. In past attempts, seeing the sunrise has uplifted her, a team member wrote.
“The greatest variable here is the extension of human endurance,” said Bartlett, who is leading her escort boat Voyager. “How long will it take her to make those last 100 strokes at the end, and all the ones from here to then?”
People from around the world are rooting for Nyad on her website and social media.
“With every breath you take, I hope you know how many, many people are inspired and thrilled at your great effort, tenacity, focus, vision, commitment and integrity,” wrote whybaby on her website.
Shawn Kraus wrote simply: “HISTORY AWAITS!!!”
For Nyad, the journey began 35 years ago in 1978, when she first tried with a shark cage but came up short. She gave up swimming for decades, but conquering the Florida Straits continued to eat away at her soul. So in her 60s, she plunged back into the water and trained to regain her old form.
With a good marketing team that helped raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to support such an endeavor, she made her second attempt in 2011. It was hampered by shoulder pain and an asthma attack. Months later, jellyfish stings ended a third attempt.
Last year, she tried for a fourth time and the jellyfish got her again. She was pulled from the water, her face badly swollen.
This time at dusk and night hours when the jellyfish and other stinging creatures are most prevalent, she will wear a jellyfish protection suit. The first night she wore a specially designed prosthetic face make that also covers her lips, but it made it difficult to swim. The second night they used a protection cream, dubbed “Sting Stopper,” that was created by jellyfish expert Angel Yanagihara and the University of Hawaii.
A diver also was in the water with Nyad to scout for jellyfish. If any were seen, the mask would go on, according to her website. The divers are part of a 35-person support crew that includes kayakers, accompanying her in a flotilla of five boats.