Rob Konrad -- wow!

He's a local kid, went to St. John's Prep in Danvers. Good guy, so happy to hear he was able to survive.

I saw that yesterday on PFT. Thank God he was able to swim that distance. Konrad was a Syracuse FB who wore #44. Only Supermen got that number. Too bad they retired it.

I don't imagine very many people are prepared to swim nine miles. That must have taken incredible willpower.

Tunescribe said:

I don't imagine very many people are prepared to swim nine miles. That must have taken incredible willpower.

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To put it in perspective, in an Iron Man triathlon, you bike 112 miles [not 212 as I originally wrote], run a marathon and swim 2.4 miles. He basically swam 4x the iron man distance. It is freaking crazy!

The will to live is an amazing thing, and it is always impressive how brightly it can burn in some people.

He basically swam a mile per hour for 9 straight hours with waves and the current in the ocean. If this is true it's an amazing human feat. But something about it is fishy.

First of all, 9 miles out in FL, you don't see land. I've been out there on fishing trips and because FL is flat, you lose sight of land pretty quick. He would have to have a compass with him or just guess to go in the right direction in the outset of his swim.

Secondly, swimming 9 miles in 9 hours in the pool would be incredible for a trained swimmer, doing so in the ocean, which is far more difficult, for a non-trained swimmer sounds too good to be true.

Again, if this is all legit, then it is an amazing human feat.

Tunescribe said:

I don't imagine very many people are prepared to swim nine miles. That must have taken incredible willpower.

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If you're in good shape (as an ex-NFL FB would probably be) and the alternative is death, you'd be surprised what the human body is capable of.

condon84 said:

He basically swam a mile per hour for 9 straight hours with waves and the current in the ocean. If this is true it's an amazing human feat. But something about it is fishy.

First of all, 9 miles out in FL, you don't see land. I've been out there on fishing trips and because FL is flat, you lose sight of land pretty quick. He would have to have a compass with him or just guess to go in the right direction in the outset of his swim.

Secondly, swimming 9 miles in 9 hours in the pool would be incredible for a trained swimmer, doing so in the ocean, which is far more difficult, for a non-trained swimmer sounds too good to be true.

Again, if this is all legit, then it is an incredible human feat.

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You lose sight of land in Florida after about 1 1/2 to 2 miles.

condon84 said:

He basically swam a mile per hour for 9 straight hours with waves and the current in the ocean. If this is true it's an amazing human feat. But something about it is fishy.

First of all, 9 miles out in FL, you don't see land. I've been out there on fishing trips and because FL is flat, you lose sight of land pretty quick. He would have to have a compass with him or just guess to go in the right direction in the outset of his swim.

Secondly, swimming 9 miles in 9 hours in the pool would be incredible for a trained swimmer, doing so in the ocean, which is far more difficult, for a non-trained swimmer sounds too good to be true.

Again, if this is all legit, then it is an amazing human feat.

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He could have used the sun or stars as a reference. If it is the evening, there might be city glow you can see from very far away.

It is *very* hard to swim straight in open water. I do triathlons and they put buoys in the water, and it is amazing how quickly I veer off course and have to use the buoys to realign myself to the course. Usually within a minute of swimming, I am already off course. And this is in freshwater lakes with very little currents. In an ocean, forget it. You would have to have a reference point or you will end up swimming toward the direction the currents take you even if you feel like you are going straight (I guess the direction would be the vector sum of your forward movement and the current movement).

Or maybe he got lucky and the currents happened to take him toward land.

This is crazy: there was a boat out there chugging along on autopilot.

Dibs.

WPBF reported that Rob Konrad ...was attempting to land a catch when he fell out of his 36-foot vessel. ...[T]he boat was set on autopilot and drifted away from Konrad as he tried to get back on board.

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In a triathlon, the ratios of what you do are:

0.15 swim
1.0 run
4.0 bike

That suggests that when triathlons were first invented somebody thought swimming was 6-7X as hard as running.

If we look at race times over shorter distances, swimming is 4-5X as slow as running. I haven't checked triathlon splits.

I'm thinking that being a "big" guy with a lot of upper body strength, he might have some advantage swimming, especially as compared with a runner/biker body tpe.

Perhaps we should think of this has having been like him walking 4X or so the distance he swam. And by the way, walking 4 miles an hour for an hour or two shouldn't be a big deal for him in a survival situation. Doing so for 9 hours straight without nourishment would indeed be a feat.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12140365/ex-miami-dolphins-fullback-rob-konrad-swims-9-miles-fall says the swim was 10-12 hours.

Oh, wait -- ocean swimming is surely harder than pool swimming, because of waves if nothing else.

neuronet said:

This is crazy: there was a boat out there chugging along on autopilot.

Dibs.

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We will see more of this as our robotic overlords assume increased control

1) Most realistically, he was treading water until a boat found him, and got lucky when a current carried him close enough to shore for someone to see him. It's a feat of mental strength more than anything else.

2) Treading water (staying afloat using minimal energy) for 10 hours is feasible if the person has a wet suit and swimming skills, but the biggest help would be a ton of body fat, as that gives you warmth, a store of energy to draw from, and buoyancy to float on the water with little effort. Finally, you would need small waves that bring you to shore, salt water to help you float even easier, clear weather where somebody can see you, but not scorching hot sunlight.

3) An overweight person bobbing in salt water for 10 hours seems much easier than a day of Iron Man. A trained tri-athlete ages a year in one day after completing a full Iron Man because the body is broken down so much. You've literally made yourself physically weaker at the end for the benefits of making yourself mentally stronger for completing it.

Played against him back in high school Superbowl at BU in 1994 .. St.Johns Prep vs Peabody .. We gave them boys a whooping .. 36-0 .. Only player that stuck around shook hands.. Great Story..

condon84 said:

He basically swam a mile per hour for 9 straight hours with waves and the current in the ocean. If this is true it's an amazing human feat. But something about it is fishy.

First of all, 9 miles out in FL, you don't see land. I've been out there on fishing trips and because FL is flat, you lose sight of land pretty quick. He would have to have a compass with him or just guess to go in the right direction in the outset of his swim.

Secondly, swimming 9 miles in 9 hours in the pool would be incredible for a trained swimmer, doing so in the ocean, which is far more difficult, for a non-trained swimmer sounds too good to be true.

Again, if this is all legit, then it is an amazing human feat.

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You'll be happy to know that Felger agrees with you and assures us that he's lying and something crooked was going on, probably PED related.

Good thing he's a dolphin

neuronet said:

To put it in perspective, in an Iron Man triathlon, you bike 212 miles, run a marathon and swim 2.4 miles. He basically swam 4x the iron man distance. It is freaking crazy!

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It's a 112 mile bike not 212 just for the record.

condon84 said:

Secondly, swimming 9 miles in 9 hours in the pool would be incredible for a trained swimmer, doing so in the ocean, which is far more difficult, for a non-trained swimmer sounds too good to be true.

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No it wouldn't. There's a race around Manhattan every year which is a 28 mile swim. The winner is usually around 7 hours which works out to 15 minutes per mile. Granted that's a top of the line swimmer. I've done half ironman races and some 5K swims. I can do half hour miles which is a comfortable pace because you have to save yourself for the bike and run.

In choppy conditions an open water swim can be more difficult but you are more buoyant in salt water than fresh water or pool water making it easier to stay afloat and propel yourself.

Don't get me wrong 9 miles is still a great accomplishment but this is an athlete good enough to make the NFL something I'm not so I'm just not as surprised as others.

everlong said:

It's a 112 mile bike not 212 just for the record.

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Oops good catch.