May 13, 1997

Daylong swim takes Australian from Cuba to Florida

KEY WEST, Fla, May 12 (Reuter) - Australian marathon swimmer Susie Maroney, 22, on Monday became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida, walking ashore exhausted but smiling after 24 1/2 hours in the water.

``We had strong currents and I felt really good,'' Maroney told reporters at Key West's Fort Zachary Taylor Beach moments after reaching the shore.

Maroney dived off Havana's Malecon sea wall on Sunday at 11:46 a.m. EDT (1546 GMT). She completed her 108-mile (174-km) swim in just over 24 hours, standing up near what is considered the southernmost point in the continental United States at 12:17 p.m. EDT (1617 GMT).

A small crowd waiting onshore applauded loudly as the swimmer left her shark cage and covered the last 100 yards (33 metres) of open water before leaving the choppy sea under an overcast sky.

Maroney said she had been fuelled by ``happy thoughts'' during the trip, whose most difficult time had been the lonely night.

Sitting on a park bench next to her doctor, Michael Stein, who dived into the water and swam ashore with her, a relaxed Maroney called making it to shore ``the best feeling in the whole world.''

She said she was having difficulty talking because the long exposure to salt water had swollen her tongue. She also said she had been stung by jellyfish and had seen at least two sharks.

About six hours after landing, Maroney fainted during an interview with a U.S. television network in the park, but she was back on her feet after a few minutes.

``I just fainted. It was exhaustion. I feel fine now,'' she told Reuters later from the Key West hotel where she was resting.

Sources vary widely on how many times people have attempted to swim across the shark-infested Straits of Florida, which separate Cuba from the U.S. mainland. The crossing had been considered one of swimming's last great challenges.

But Connie Pignatiello, a U.S. coordinator of Maroney's swim, said the trip completed on Monday was the 21st attempt.

Maroney herself tried and failed last June. A storm, heavy seas and adverse currents forced her to abandon the attempt only 12 miles (19 km) short of the Florida Keys after battling for 38 1/2 hours. She vomited and hallucinated before being plucked from the water.

Her team had expected this year's trip could take as long as 45 hours, based on the near miss. But this time the weather and navigation were better.

``Everything just coincided,'' said Maroney's mother, Pauline, who encouraged her daughter from a platform on one of the accompanying boats. ``The Gulf Stream is like a river. If you try to get through too early or too late, you just get swept away.''

Maroney said she had been tempted to stop on Monday morning as she neared Sand Key, a tiny uninhabited island about six miles (10 km) east-southeast of Key West, but felt her real goal had been to make it to Key West.

She said she was in about as much pain as last year but obviously this attempt had gone much more smoothly. ``We didn't have a storm like we did last year,'' she said.

Two television crews, from Australia and the United States, were aboard the boats, recording Maroney's crossing. Her brother, Michael, was also on a boat.

Maroney said her next challenge might be to swim from Mexico to Cuba.

After speaking to reporters for about half an hour, Maroney left for a nearby hospital, where she was to be examined by doctors before resting at a hotel.

The American marathon swimmer Diana Nyad twice tried and failed to swim the Florida Straits in the 1970s.

In July 1978, 65-year-old Walter Poenisch attempted the crossing as a ``swim for peace.'' He eventually came ashore in the Florida Keys, but his claim is doubted by swimming authorities because he allowed no independent observers on board

19:56 05-12-97