Chloe McCardel Determined To Make The Havana Florida Swim

Australian endurance athlete Chloe McCardel is determined to complete the Havana Florida swim without the protection of a shark cage.

The 28-year-old told CBS News, “As confident as I can be. I think it’s all going to work out well. It’ll be tough, though. It’s not going to be an easy ride, but we’ll get through it as a team.”

McCardel is hoping to take about 60 hours, give or take, to complete the 100 or so mile swim between Cuba and the Florida Keys.

The athlete will be up against dangerous many factors including jellyfish and sharks.

“It is the hardest swim in the world today,” McCardel said earlier at a news conference in the Cuban capital. “No one has been able to achieve this. It’s possibly harder than winning the World Cup or getting a gold medal.”

CBS News reported:

“The challenge also outstrips by far, at least in terms of distance, anything she’s done before. McCardel, who has twice made a double crossing of the English Channel, said the most time she’s spent in the water continuously is 25 hours.”

The Huffington Post stated that McCardel will be swimming under English Channel marathon rules, “which meant she could not touch her support boat or hold on to anything. Nor was she allowed to wear a full-body wetsuit, which would have helped protect against exposure and jellyfish stings.”

The report continued on to say:

“The team picked June for the attempt in a bit of a tradeoff: While seas are warmer later in the summer, this month typically sees lower concentrations of box jellyfish, whose dangerous stings have scuttled past attempts.”

The last attempt to make this swim was done by Diana Nyad last year, though she wasn’t able to complete the challenge because of too many jellyfish stings, says msnNOW.

Chloe McCardel is determined to make the Havana Florida swim this week, but we’ll see if she’ll be able to conquer all the obstacles that come her way!

Image via wtov9.com