{"id":39,"date":"2017-09-25T15:26:14","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T15:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2017\/09\/25\/everybodys-doin-it\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T12:12:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T12:12:57","slug":"everybodys-doin-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/everybodys-doin-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Everybody\u2019s Doin\u2019 It"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>From the Brink of Midnight<\/em><\/a> podcast, #9:<\/p>\n

All the great swimmers of the ocean have tried [to swim from Cuba to Florida]\u2014male, female, young, strong, fast. [28:05]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Complete nonsense.<\/p>\n

Five people who are not Diana Nyad have attempted to swim from Cuba to Florida:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Walter Poenisch \u2013 <\/strong>the first documented solo attempt, July 1978, successful with a shark cage.<\/li>\n
  2. Skip Storch \u2013 <\/strong>1993, swam about 35 miles.<\/li>\n
  3. Susie Maroney \u2013 <\/strong>1997, successful, also using a shark cage.<\/li>\n
  4. Penny Palfrey \u2013 <\/strong>2012, swam about 80 miles.<\/li>\n
  5. Chlo\u00eb McCardel \u2013 <\/strong>2013, jellyfish stings ended the attempt after 11 hours.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Of those athletes, only three \u2014 Susie Maroney, Penny Palfrey, and Chlo\u00eb McCardel \u2014 rise to the level of \u201cgreat swimmers of the ocean.\u201d The vast majority of ocean swimmers, great or otherwise, have never attempted the Florida Strait.<\/p>\n

    \u201cMale, female, young, strong, fast.\u201d Where does Nyad get this hooey?<\/p>\n

    But maybe I missed something, so I checked out Openwaterpedia\u2019s Florida Strait entry<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n

    The Florida Strait has been the site of many solo marathon swim attempts since 1950<\/strong> by reportedly over 20 individuals<\/strong> including Jose Cortinas, Leo Vigil, Rolando Elejalde, Luciana Nunez, Susie Maroney, Skip Storch (on his\u00a0Coral Reef Relief Swim,[sic] Chris Green, Diana Nyad, Walter Poenisch, Penny Palfrey and Chloe McCardel between 1978 and the present<\/strong>. Salvatore Cimmino will make an attempt in April or May 2016.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Twenty individuals? First, note that it doesn\u2019t say \u201ccrossing attempts.\u201d Rather, it says \u201csolo marathon swim attempts.\u201d That could be any long swim in the strait (see Chris Green below). And what\u2019s going on with \u201cbetween 1978 and the present\u201d? Maybe the author got blown off course while trying to write something accurate like: \u201cBetween 1978 and the present, a handful of swimmers have attempted solo crossings of the Florida Strait.\u201d<\/p>\n

    And what about \u201csince 1950\u201d? Nyad repeats this exaggeration in most of her speeches and interviews. For example, in her \u201cNever, ever give up\u201d<\/a> TED Talk from November 2013:<\/p>\n

    The greatest swimmers in the world have been trying since 1950. [:41]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    J. Cortinas overdoses after the 1950 Florida Strait relay attempt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    No one attempted a solo crossing in that year nor in any of the next 28. However, in 1950, three of the men in the Openwaterpedia entry \u2014\u00a0Jose Cortinas<\/a>,* Leo Vigil, and Rolando Elejalde, along with Bernardo Martinez \u2014 made an unsuccessful<\/a>\u00a0relay attempt. Luciana Nu\u00f1ez,\u00a0the fourth man in the entry, appears in an early article<\/a> but not in a subsequent photo<\/a>. Nu\u00f1ez may have been a late scratch, with Jose Conill (pictured in the latter image<\/a>) replacing him.<\/p>\n

    *Cortinas is the only member of the 1950 relay to have been inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame<\/a>. His entry in the LongSwims Database<\/a> lists two Catalina crossings, one in 28:55 and the other in 32:10; and a Strait of Gibraltar swim in 10:45. Not exactly \u201cgreatest\u201d caliber times.<\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n

    In 1988, Chris Green swam 30 miles off the Florida Keys<\/a>. He never attempted a Florida Strait crossing. Salvatore Cimmino has yet to set out. (See end of INCLUSIONE, il mondo pu\u00f2 essere salvato solo dalla pace \/ INCLUSION, the world can be saved only by peace<\/a>.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

    The final tally:<\/p>\n