"It's an incredible story," endurance swimmer Diana Nyad said. The first reports of his adventure last week received worldwide attention. The 38-year-old Konrad's escape was a testament to willpower and world-class athleticism. "I shouldn't be here," he said later, his voice cracking. "Happy to be here," he began with a wry smile. His wife sat at his side rubbing his leg in support, and tears welled in their eyes as he spoke Monday. Rob Konrad sipped from a bottle of water, his efforts to rehydrate ongoing four days after the episode. The former NFL fullback entered the room with a wobble in his walk, and needed assistance climbing a podium so he could face a media throng and discuss his death-defying 16-hour swim to shore. He had gone the other way.PLANTATION, Fla. His boat was found near Grand Bahama Island on Deadman's Reef, the irony of the name not lost on Konrad. Paramedics were summoned, and soon he was en route to the hospital. I crawled up on the beach and warmed myself up enough to be able to walk." He could hear waves hitting the shore, and finally he reached land. "I was probably pretty delirious at the time, but I could see the lights getting closer and closer," he said. "He had two angels on his back," his wife said. That was a difficult time."īut the ex-Dolphin kept swimming, thinking of his daughters, ages 8 and 10. "They had their lights on me and kept going," Konrad said. Then a Coast Guard helicopter searching for him flew overhead. A recreational fishing boat approached to within 50 yards, but Konrad couldn't flag it down. "Five or six hours in I realized, 'Maybe I can do this,'" he said. As he tired, he gained emotional strength. He could also see lights along the coast and pick out landmarks. "There was a lot of stuff glowing at night, probably some jellyfish," he said. Konrad said he got bit "by a whole bunch of stuff." A shark circled before moving along. "I'm sure his background as an athlete - toughness, having resolve, knowing things are going to be painful - were the saving grace for him." We're talking about a survival story," Nyad said. "We're not really talking about a swimming story. He said he's not much of a swimmer, but Nyad figures his football experience made a big difference. He took off his shirt and began alternating between a breaststroke and backstroke. So Konrad decided he'd better keep moving. The ocean temperature was in the low 70s - far from frigid, but a lot colder than his body temperature. Konrad quickly decided to swim toward shore, although he figured the trip would take more than 10 hours, and feared succumbing to hypothermia or cramps after two or three hours. "I realized I was in some real trouble," he said. His boat was on autopilot and headed east. He had caught a large fish and was tending to the Rob when a large wave hit, flipping Konrad into the ocean. Her husband said he was taking his boat for servicing last Wednesday and decided to do a little fishing along the way. "It was a miracle he made it home," Tammy Konrad said. They were hard to believe, he and his wife agreed. Konrad, still weak after several days in the hospital for treatment of hypothermia and dehydration, held a news conference to fill in the details. Coast Guard last week provided a brief summary of the events. He swam to Palm Beach, covering a distance of 27 miles before ringing the doorbell of an oceanfront home for help at 4:30 a.m. So he knew what it meant when he fell off his 31-foot Grady-White while fishing alone nine miles from land. Konrad, who played for the Miami Dolphins from 1999 to 2004, had been around boats since his childhood on Boston's North Shore. "Taking his life in his hands and deciding he was going to save himself, I admire him." The former NFL fullback entered the room with a wobble in his walk, and needed assistance climbing a podium so he could face a media throng and discuss his death-defying 16-hour swim to shore.
0 kommentar(er)
