Diana Nyad Fact Check Annex

Last August, the Platypus Institute’s NeuronFire podcast aired an interview with Diana Nyad. Regular visitors to the Annex will recognize most of the tales that Nyad tells host David Bach, M.D. — the lethality of box jellyfish, for instance, and the hordes of swimmers lined up to swim “the Mount Everest of Earth’s Oceans.” But Nyad came up with some new material for the occasion. Of that material, one gem, one precious opal of nonsense, shines out above the rest: Nyad names the three greatest marathon swimmers on earth. After doing so, she attacks the two who aren’t her.
Continue reading “Nyad names the three best distance swimmers on the planet. You’ll have to guess the other two.”

I recently stumbled on Wendy Lawrence’s 1978 article about Nyad’s first Cuba-Florida attempt: “The Sea Spoils a Dream.” My favorite bit is the photo below. It shows Olympic gold medalist Donna de Varona and others at the end of the adventure.

Some other things we’ve been doing here at the Annex:
Continue reading “Annex Update: “The Sea Spoils a Dream,” Nyad Rakes in the Spoils, and a Runt Spoils for a Fight”

Update 22 Feb 2021: Added that Webb attempted to cross the Niagara River below the falls, not above them (thanks to information provided by a well-informed reader).

In the summer of 1976,  Diana Nyad flies to England…

happily accompanied by my two closest friends . . . and by an American film crew of seven. We were off to make, assist, and record history. I was attempting to become the first woman to complete the double crossing of the English Channel. (Other Shores, 1978, p. 121)

During the flight, Nyad reads the Channel Swimming Association (CSA) handbook. “Who knows the story of Captain Matthew Webb . . . ?” she paraphrases:

Webb was the first to swim across. . . . Some weeks later Webb tried to cross the Niagara River four hundred meters above the falls; he is buried at the bottom. (p. 122)

The way Nyad describes it, Webb barely had time to dry off before steaming across the Atlantic. Once in the U.S., he’d have to race for Niagara and immediately jump back in the water.

Continue reading “The Captain and Diana”

drogue: a device, typically conical or funnel-shaped with open ends, towed behind a boat, aircraft, or other moving object to reduce speed or improve stability.

I had thought that during her Cuba-to-Florida crossing, Diana Nyad rested in one of two ways: she held onto (or hooked onto) her “directional streamer,” or she snoozed on the boat, possibly while someone swam in her place. Maybe both.

But Nyad’s guide boat just dragged another option into the picture. Once you see it, you’ll grasp the possibilities immediately.

Continue reading “Going Drogue”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

We know that Diana Nyad lies. She lies frequently, brazenly, and — in all likelihood — compulsively. But why?

She lies because she can’t live without adoration. To receive that adoration, Nyad must be the best — must be “epic” — at everything she does. She must swim epically, play squash epically, even wake up epically.

But no one can be epic at everything, so Nyad must act and write and talk as if she is.

Why does she need so much adoration? Maria Konnikova — journalist, professional poker player, and holder of a psychology PhD from Harvard — provides the answer in her 2011 article “Less Than Artful Choices: Narcissistic Personality Disorder According to Donald Trump.” Konnikova compares the utterances of the not-yet-president Donald Trump to the diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).* You can plug in “Nyad” wherever you see “Trump,” and, voilá, the story still works.

Continue reading “NYAD’S LIES, PART 2: Obviously the Greatest — Diana Nyad and Narcissistic Personality Disorder”