Ex-Dolphin surfaces with amazing tale of triumph
ExNFL player Rob Konrad talked Monday about his harrowing ocean ordeal, saying he survived a 9mile, 16hour swim to shore after falling out of his boat last week.
“I shouldn’t be here,” Konrad told a group of assembled media in South Florida. And he’s probably right, after a “Life of Pi” adventure that has drawn awe from many and downright doubt from some.
The 38yearold former Dolphins fullback — a secondround pick in 1999 who played six years in the league — said he got stranded 9 miles offshore when he fell off his boat while fishing Wednesday in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the Miami Herald, Konrad sailed from Hillsboro Inlet in Deerfield Beach at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. He reportedly was alone on his 36foot boat and fell overboard at 1 p.m. after hooking a fish and stumbling. The newspaper reported he finally reached shore at 4:40 a.m. Thursday.
Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Gabe Somma told CNN that Palm Beach authorities contacted the Coast Guard to report Konrad missing.
Konrad claims he was circled by a shark and repeatedly bitten by jellyfish while in the water. He said he was aware of a rescue helicopter circling above him, but when the helicopter never saw him, he knew he was truly on his own.
He said he got within 50 yards of a fishing boat after 10 hours in the water. Despite having its lights on, the boat never saw him.
“When the boat didn’t see me, I had to get my mind right,’’ Konrad said, according to the NFL Network. “I have two beautiful daughters. I was hitting that shore.”
Konrad did make it to shore for his daughters, aged 10 and 8, and he held an emotional press conference with his wife, Tammy, on Monday in Plantation, Fla. He was diagnosed with hypothermia, severe dehydration and rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle fibers.
His boat was found off of Dead Man’s Reef in Grand Bahama Island.
Some found it a little too amazing.
“When I heard about this, I was like, ‘Wow!’ ” Sid Cassidy, a nationally renowned distance swimmer who has swam the 22mile course around Atlantic City five times, told CNN. “If you’re a good swimmer and you’re faced with an emergency, you could be capable of doing what he did. I’m saying it’s possible. But it sure would be tough.’’
“From the salt alone, you’d have a tongue the size of a baseball,” Bruce Wigo, the president and CEO of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, told CNN. “I’m excited to know the details and to hear from him about how he pulled this off. It’s amazing what someone can do when their life is at stake.’’