Diana Nyad with brothers John and Dave Jensen
A wonderful article by Jeff Lysiak from the Island Sun:
For more than 40 years, long-distance swimming legend, motivational speaker and best-selling author Diana Nyad has been an inspiration to people from all walks of life. Her incredible accomplishments – including her recordbreaking 110-mile swim between Havana, Cuba and Key West, Florida – have made headlines around the world.
Nyad recently returned to Captiva to witness the transfer of ownership of the Voyager I, the 34-foot motorized catamaran which accompanied her during the history-making swim, spanning August 31 through September 2, 2013.
“We became family,” Nyad said of the Voyager I’s owners and crew, many of whom attended the May 28 ceremony held at Jensen’s Twin Palm Cottages & Marina. “We didn’t just work together over a couple of days… it took weeks and months and years. And you can never take away what these people did and the sacrifices they made over and over again.”
Almost six years ago, Nyad, the Voyager I’s crew – including co-owner Dee Brady – as well as a team of doctors, shark and jellyfish experts completed the 110.86-mile journey from Cuba to Florida in 52 hours, 54 minutes and 18 seconds.
At age 64, Nyad became the first person to ever complete the course without the protection of a shark cage in the fifth attempt during her illustrious athletic career. Her first attempt came in 1978 with subsequent attempts occurring in 2011 (twice) and 2012.
Brady, who lives on Anna Maria Island, Florida, brought Voyager I to Captiva last week, where she and co-owners Kate and Jeff Davis were to transfer ownership of the vessel to John and Pauline Berry.
During each of Nyad’s last four attempts at completing the Cuba-to-Florida swim, Brady had stopped at Jensen’s Marina to stay overnight and refuel.
“I remember getting a call from John Bartlett, who told me that some woman wanted to hire the boat to accompany her from Cuba to the United States,” said Brady. “But when he told me the name Diana Nyad, I was like ‘Are you kidding me? That’s not just some woman!’”
According to the boat’s owners, the Voyager I is a catamaran that has a water-level access on her stern side for kayaks and other smaller vessels. “It’s perfect for swimmers… almost an ideal boat made just for her,” they said.
“That boat’s pure magic,” added Nyad.
Among the small crowd of admirers attending the ownership transfer ceremony was Merni Libonate, a Captiva resident who first met Nyad more than 44 years earlier.
“I remember back in 1975 when she swam around Manhattan,” Libonate recalled. “That was a really big thing back then because the women’s movement was going on. We went down to meet her at the end of her swim at Battery Park. It was enormous…so empowering!”
On October 6, 1975, Nyad became the first woman to swim around the island of Manhattan, completing the 28-mile course in seven hours, 57 minutes.
“The mayor of New York, Abe Beame, gave me the key to the city,” Nyad added.
Also on hand was Kelle Covington of Bonita Springs. Her son, Dr. Derek Covington, was one of the 35-member team that accompanied Nyad during her historic 2013 swim. She brought a photograph of Nyad and her son for the swimming icon to autograph.
While addressing the 25 or so onlookers gathered underneath the chickee hut at Jensen’s, Nyad discussed that her Cuba-to-Florida journey represented a lifelong dream fulfilled. As a youngster in the early 1960s, she remembered standing on the beach in Fort Lauderdale with her mother.
“I was fascinated with Cuba, and my mother pointed out towards the ocean and told me that Cuba was just beyond the horizon,” said Nyad. “I told her ‘I can’t see it,’ and she said, ‘You could almost swim there if you tried really hard.’”
In August 2011, Nyad swam for 29 hours in rough seas before the Cuba-to-Florida attempt was halted. Another try one month later ended after 41 hours due to strong currents and both jellyfish and Portuguese man-of-war stings. Storms and jellyfish stings thwarted her fourth attempt in August 2012.
But after her fifth attempt, which was hailed as one of the world’s great athletic achievements, Nyad shared three poignant messages with the crowd that greeted her on the Key West shoreline:
It looks like a solitary sport, but it’s a team.
You’re never too old to chase your dreams.
Never, ever give up!
