No more cold water training required! What next?!

firebah

Great news we no longer have to train to be able to withstand cold water. Of course in this case the water will be a 'cold' mid 80's for the swim. http://diananyad.com/prep-for-hypothermia/

bobswims

Is it just me, or does anyone else think a squeeze bicycle water bottle with heated water over the head and neck in would work better? This guy has too much time on his hands.

loneswimmer

I await the introduction of inflatable arm bands to Channel swimming with great excitement.

Walter

Please make mine with a longer hose so that I can have self-serve "sunshine" showers between stops as well.

timsroot

Will she be doing so little swimming that she won't be generating any body heat? I'm confused.

I guess I applaud her tenacity, and she's done much longer swims than I have, but wouldn't it get old trying and not succeeding at the same swim over and over and over? I'd think you'd want to try something else.

Hopefully she makes it across this time, then we can stop hearing about her.

david_barra

taking the extreme out of the dream... one degree at a time

ViveBene

I was pretty sure Channel rules required the consumption of hot chicken soup, with the unconsumed portion thrown over head and shoulders for warmth.
This conjures up a Chick O'Sea drawing of a chicken sitting atop a swimmer's head, both heading into the shipping lanes...

WaterGirl

I wonder if she's planning to sleep. That would explain why she'd be worried about getting cold.

I think sleeping in the water might be a good strategy. Those currents are insane. The window for swimming straight thru on a perfect day is practically impossible. If Penny wasn't fast enough (on any given Sunday), I don't see how Dianne could hope to be. Being ready to spend a whole lot of time in the water seems like the only way she might be able to complete it.

evmo

Response from Diana, with comments from @david_barra and others:

http://diananyad.com/response-to-heat-drip-dialogue

Walter

Wow. Seems like people who don't have much knowledge about OWS (not talking about Dave) actually follow her and care enough to comment. I think that's nice.

AquaRob

I keep checking up on this one... the comments continue to get more interesting... I enjoy people calling out @david_barra without realizing he has a rather substantial ows resume behind him and is, in my opinion, one of the most legit dudes in the open water scene right now

david_barra

AquaRob wrote:

I keep checking up on this one... the comments continue to get more interesting... I enjoy people calling out @david_barra without realizing he has a rather substantial ows resume behind him and is, in my opinion, one of the most legit dudes in the open water scene right now

well it takes a legit dude to know a legit dude! (is that a line from the big lebowski?)
you are too kind, my friend.
I never considered that the wrath of the dream team would be unleashed upon me for stating the obvious! oh... the interwebs can be so fun!

loneswimmer

Niek, regardless of what I think of the specifics I don't think anyone is served by insulting each other. After all, the abuse Dave Barra and others over there received on Diana's blog hasn't served the overall discussion well and I don't think we should do the same. Diana asked me on Twitter to comment on her blog but after seeing the abuse received why would I bother? Instead the argument becomes haranguing by non-swimmers.

I would question what "Approved by the sport of ocean swimming" means, it seems to be conferring a legitimacy to discussions such as we've had here and elsewhere that I was unaware existed.

I dislike also how she conflates issues. She mentions Finis as designing gear for Olympic issues and immediately adds herself, apparently using the current Olympics to confer some kind of legitimacy. Then she goes on to talk about the increase of jellies worldwide, which is true to seems to imply we will all be doing this soon.

But we have widely discussed stinger suits and rash guards here, and can do so again but it is not right that we accept Penny and dismiss Diana over the same issue because of concerns with other aspects of Diana's swim(s).

I wouldn't swim across the outflow from Sellafield Nuclear Power Station because I'd consider it too dangerous. Same over lava flows, live electrical wires or extremely polluted water, crocodiles, piranha or many different dangers. I fail to understand why jellyfish at the same level of danger means it's suddenly ok to wear a suit and confers a special status.

loneswimmer

Ok Niek, I didn't want to sound heavy handed, I agree with most of what you say also. I wrote an article as a response to a Twitter request from Diana Nyad, but kept it on my site rather than join the circus. I'm expecting the attacks by the Xtreme Dream stormtroppers will start in a few hours.

IronMike

Nice, and well said.

bobswims

Niek wrote:

Diana Nyad to Sport New Jellyfish-Proof Wetsuit for Cuba to Florida Swim
http://youtu.be/bmmINI6_CSc and http://youtu.be/jCC4qU5Q4SQ
I wonder if that suit has the warm water tubes build in. ;-)
Now all she needs a very big shark shield to fit her ego. :-D

"Approved by the sport of ocean swimming"

"The jellyfish are becomming an issue world wide, and for ocean swimmers, we are beginning to have to resort to tactics like this"

This is so absurd. It would be funny if it wasn't so . . . . arrogant. If you want to use a jelly suit knock yourself out. Frankly I don't care, but don't feel the need to speak on behalf of ocean swimming athletes. Worse is that to the general public Diana is the name and face of the sport. I find her claim that she is speaking on behalf of all of us to be offensive.

Hey Diana, I hear the shark population may be increasing. Time to get the shark cages back out again. Or should I say it's time for the participants in the sport of ocean swimming to get their shark cages out.

IronMike

@bobswims, is this a call for an international federation for ocean swimmers?

WaterGirl

I've always kind of liked Diane Nyad because she tries hard, she wears her heart on her sleeve, and her athletic accomplishments are impressive. In general, I try to give her the benefit of the doubt.

But the crazy stuff she's said lately makes me sick to my stomach. It's like she's in her basement filming a documentary on how to invent the wheel from scratch.

It doesn't bother me that her followers don't know anything about marathon swimming. It does bother me that she seems not to. For example, people have already tackled the problem of avoiding hypothermia in 85-degree water.

bobswims

IronMike wrote:

@bobswims, is this a call for an international federation for ocean swimmers?

No. I am thinking more along the lines of a United Federation of Ocean Swimmers. (No Klingons need apply.)

IronMike

@WaterGirl, I've been avoiding reading most of the Nyad stuff, but it's hard to avoid. It is annoying that many of my (non-swimming) friends know all they know about marathon swimming through reading about Nyad.