Woman, 64, sets record with Cuba-to-Florida swim

U.S. long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, 64, gestures to her mouth in response to a question, while lying on a stretcher, after completing her swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida, September 2, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

Jelly Fish, Sharks

Nyad's team said her fifth attempt at the Florida crossing benefited from several key factors, including calm seas, the surprising lack of jellyfish and favorable currents in the powerful Gulf Stream that flows eastwards through the Florida Straits.

"You can't do the swim unless you have three things - the determination, the weather and the cooperation of the Gulf Stream," said Ron Bartlett, her navigator.

Bartlett said the crew only encountered one minor squall during the crossing and only one deadly box jellyfish sighting.

The marathon swimmer had said this was her final attempt, this time equipped with a protective silicone mask as well as a body suit to better protect her from box jellyfish that forced her to end one of two attempted crossings last year.

A team of ocean kayakers and divers accompanied Nyad on her journey dragging an electronic device in the water that emitted a current to repel sharks.

Nyad has spent much of her life in the water. She described in a 2011 YouTube documentary how her father told her when she was a young girl she was destined to swim, noting that her last name is derived from the Greek word for water nymphs or female swimmers.

Born in New York, the multi-lingual Nyad was raised in south Florida by a French mother and Greek-Egyptian stepfather and swam six hours a day as a 12-year-old.

She retired after successfully completing a swim from Bimini in the Bahamas to Florida in 1979, ending a long-distance career that set several world records including one for circling Manhattan in less than eight hours in 1975.

She went on to a career in sports journalism and fitness and has expressed a lifelong fascination with Cuba.

The treacherous Florida Straits has been conquered only twice previously, both times with the aid of a protective cage. The last time was by Australian Susie Maroney, who used a protective cage at age 22 during a 1997 swim. The cage glided on ocean currents and enabled Maroney to make the journey in just 25 hours.  

Nyad's fifth attempt to make the crossing comes 35 years after she made her first go at it aged 28 in 1978, when she gave up after covering 76 miles in 42 hours, with the aid that time of a shark cage.

With Key West in her sights on Monday Nyad halted briefly about 2 miles (3.2 km) offshore to thank her support team.

"This is a lifelong dream of mine and I'm very, very glad to be with you," she said, according to her website. "So let's get going so we can have a whopping party."