More than 30 years after her last big swim, Diana Nyad is back in the water. Nyad, a former commentator for NPR’s Morning Edition, became well-known in the 1970s for her swim around Manhattan Island and, a few years later, for swimming from the Bahamas to Florida.
Now, at age 61, she’ll soon be attempting a 103-mile swim from Cuba to Key West. She has been training relentlessly — with 9-hour, 15-hour, even a 24-hour swim.
On a recent day, she’s out for a short swim — just three hours — on the “Voyager” a 32-foot power catamaran. She and her team of trainers, boat pilots, meteorologists and shark divers are ready. They’re just waiting for the weather.
As we pull out of the harbor at Key West, her navigator, David Marchant tells her there are several days of rough weather ahead.
“It’s making me crazy,” Nyad says.
She needs the water in the Florida straits to be as warm as possible — hopefully in the high 80s. Once she takes off from Cuba, she’ll swim for at least two-and-a-half days straight — an estimated 60 hours — without a wet suit. Hypothermia is a concern when just a few tenths of a degree can make a big difference.
She also wants calm seas.
