{"id":1440,"date":"2023-03-02T20:52:15","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T20:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2023\/03\/02\/free-solo-confidential-how-the-openwaterpedia-vandal-gave-himself-away\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:52:07","slug":"free-solo-confidential-how-the-openwaterpedia-vandal-gave-himself-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/free-solo-confidential-how-the-openwaterpedia-vandal-gave-himself-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Solo Confidential: How The Openwaterpedia Vandal Gave Himself Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

I became, in the 1970s, the best ocean swimmer in the world. I held all the major records on planet Earth, out in the open sea.
\n<\/em>\u2014Diana Nyad, Wilshire Ebell, 7 Oct 2019<\/p>\n

Diana Nyad arguably held a record in one major 1970s ocean swim \u2014 the Capri\u2013Naples race \u2014 but she never completed any others, much less held records in them. In 1976, she attempted the<\/em> major ocean swim on the planet, the English Channel, three times and failed three times. She never came close to being the best swimmer of the decade.<\/p>\n

However, between February and April of 2019, someone vandalized Openwaterpedia \u2014 the self-styled \u201cWikipedia for the open water swimming world\u201d \u2014 to make it look like she was.<\/p>\n

The culprit used an ingeniously simple ploy, replacing every \u201c7\u201d with a \u201c6\u201d on the entries of the legitimately great swimmers of the 1970s. This effectively moved their 70s swims into the 60s.<\/p>\n

The culprit made two other replacements as a diversion: \u201c3\u201d for \u201c4\u201d; and the Cyrillic \u201cs\u201d<\/a> for the Latin \u201cs\u201d in every occurrence of \u201copenwaterswimming,\u201d thereby breaking every openwaterswimming.com link.<\/p>\n

Those changes and the alterations to over 3000 other Openwaterpedia entries provided a smokescreen that obscured the saboteur\u2019s goal: Make Diana Nyad\u2019s best-of-the-70s lie appear true.<\/p>\n

Until a few weeks ago, I couldn\u2019t be sure who went to so much trouble for Diana, though it seemed like it could be only one person: Steven Munatones. He’d performed other shady jobs for Nyad, some of which dovetail with the Openwaterpedia vandalism. The packet of documents he sent to the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF), presumably to prompt them to both ratify Nyad\u2019s Cuba\u2013Florida crossing and nominate her for induction, was timed to arrive just after the vandal subtracted a decade from most of the greatest swims of the 1970s. After the ISHOF scheme failed, he used Openwaterpedia to falsely ratify Nyad\u2019s Cuba endeavor.<\/p>\n

But I didn\u2019t have absolute proof that Munatones \u2014 International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame inductee, World Open Water Swimming Associaton co-owner, and Diana Nyad\u2019s most steadfast defender in the marathon swimming community \u2014 was responsible.<\/p>\n

I do now.
\n<\/p>\n

Please Keep This Confidential<\/span><\/p>\n

The story begins on December 5, when Munatones published a new Openwaterpedia entry he called “Free Solo (confidential)”\u00a0(archived<\/a>), a curious title since anyone with an internet connection could see it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Above:<\/strong> Detail from \u201cFree Solo (confidential)\u201d<\/a> from before Steven erased everything from the page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFree Solo\u201d describes an 8-hour, 50-minute Catalina crossing Steven says he completed on September 7. In the post, he takes a page or two from the Diana Nyad playbook, focusing on the dangers \u2014 sharks, jellyfish, lancetfish, hypothermia, flotsam, jetsam, orcas (in the Catalina Channel!?), etc. \u2014 while remaining vague about what he actually accomplished. Did he complete a sub-9-hour crossing while towing all his gear, receiving no outside assistance, and swimming three extra miles? Or did he do something else entirely?<\/p>\n

On the morning of December 9, I wrote Steven and asked why he hadn\u2019t mentioned his Catalina free solo anywhere but Openwaterpedia.<\/p>\n

He never wrote back. But at 7:30 pm, he blanked \u201cFree Solo\u201d<\/a> and then added a link to my Openwaterpedia entry:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He must have had misgivings because he removed the link a few minutes later.<\/p>\n

Then, sometime on or before December 30, Steven had an idea. He added a new link on \u201cFree Solo,\u201d this time to a page called \u201cW\u201d:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He then linked the \u201cW\u201d page to a new entry, \u201cWh,\u201d which linked to \u201cWhy,\u201d and so on until 55 clicks later, we would reach our final destination,<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

which linked back to my Openwaterpedia entry.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, an Openwaterpedia administrator deleted \u201cW\u201d and its 55 brethren<\/a>. But their footprints remain in the logs, so we can still track Steven\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Above:<\/strong> Detail from Openwaterpedia log<\/a> showing some of Steven\u2019s December 30 handiwork. Scroll down to see all the \u201cWhydoes . . .\u201d-related data.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A Free Solo By Any Other Name<\/h5>\n

Two hours after finishing his \u201cWhydoesdan . . .\u201d project, Steven published \u201cFor Skolnick\u201d:<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As of this writing, \u201cFor Skolnick\u201d remains on Openwaterpedia. It\u2019s identical to \u201cFree Solo \u201d but for a few key differences:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • A new swimmer:<\/strong> \u201cSteven Munatones\u201d becomes \u201cMike Chavez.\u201d<\/li>\n
  • Other names disappear: <\/strong>Steven purges all other personal names, including those of his family and crew. What\u2019s more, Steven\u2019s escort boat, the Mas Pesos, becomes \u201cthe boat.\u201d The name deletion suggests Steven had second thoughts about involving family and friends in his latest subterfuge. Or that one or more of those he named in \u201cFree Solo\u201d had their own misgivings and asked to be removed.<\/li>\n
  • Support boat photo vanishes<\/strong>: Steven leaves off an image that had the caption, \u201cCaptain Charlie Loust<\/a> and\u00a0Coach Chris Morgan<\/a>\u00a0aboard the Mas Pesos.\u201d<\/li>\n
  • \u201cFree solo\u201d disappears from the introduction<\/strong>: Steven removes both instances of the term from the introductory paragraph.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Everything else, including pictures and videos bearing Steven\u2019s real name, remains the same. In other words, the change from \u201cSteven Munatones\u201d to \u201cMichael Chavez\u201d makes as much sense as calling the initial post \u201cconfidential.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \"Poster<\/a>
    Above:<\/strong> Yes, Steven Munatones actually captioned this video, “Michael Chavez talking about his heart attack at Harvard University.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    A month later, after deleting all the \u201cWhydoes . . .\u201d pages,<\/a> the Openwaterpedia administrator blocks Steven\u2019s<\/a> account for \u201cInserting nonsense\/gibberish into pages.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    What The Gibberish Tells Us<\/span><\/p>\n

    When I first saw \u201cWhydoesdan . . . ,\u201d et al., I was touched that Steven devoted so much time to me. So imagine my disappointment when I learned that creating those 56 pages took only 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    Above:<\/strong> Detail showing the beginning and end of Steven\u2019s 56-entry flurry of page creations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    After a few days of sulking, I realized two things. First, only one other user edited Openwaterpedia that quickly: the Openwaterpedia vandal. Second, comparing the timing of the culprit\u2019s edits to Steven\u2019s during the vandalism could tell me whether or not Steven was the vandal. If he were the vandal, then I\u2019d find little or no overlap in the times of their contributions. Significant overlap would prove Steven couldn\u2019t be the perpetrator.<\/p>\n

    I started by creating a spreadsheet<\/a> combining the vandal\u2019s edits with Steven\u2019s. Then I sorted it by time. And there it was in peach (Steven) and green (the vandal): distinct periods when Steven edits alternating with distinct periods when the vandal edits. Minimal overlap.<\/p>\n

    In other words, Steven sabotaged his own website.<\/p>\n

    For example, look at March 3\u20134, the period during which the vandal hit most of the main targets:<\/p>\n