newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

In her fourth effort at swimming from Cuba to the United States, Diana Nyad had intended to land in Florida a day ahead of her 63rd birthday today.

But the elements and conditions said otherwise. Nyad was pulled from the water on the fourth day of her attempt to swim the 103-mile distance without a shark cage.

Mark Sollinger, operations director for Nyad’s team, told CBS News he made the decision at 12:55 a.m. Tuesday morning. He said, "We had a very large squall move into our location very rapidly, so that combination made it very, very, very dangerous, not only for Diana but any other member of our team in the water."

He said Nyad had been pushed off course by the squall a night later.

According to Nyad’s blog, the swimmer spent 41 hours, 45 minutes in the water. She was stung by box jellyfish nine times on Monday night, white sharks were surrounding her. Nyad’s team of divers moved the sharks away. Yet she had no interest in ending her quest when she was taken from the water. She said, “When can I get back in? I have plenty left in me, and I want to go on.”

ABC News reported that Nyad had severe sunburn, a strained bicep and could barely walk, according to her support team. Her lips and tongue had swollen up overnight, because of salt water. Nyad was swimming at a pace of 50 strokes a minute, and the trip was expected to last 60 hours.

According to CNN, Nyad first attempted the swim in 1978 and tried twice last year. She was forced to stop after suffering an 11-hour asthma attack and a number of jellyfish stings. “This has got to be the last time," she said.

Nyad won a series of swimming marathons in the 1970s and was one of the first women that swam around the island of Manhattan.