Indeed,very few people can survive the endurable test that former National Football League (NFL) player, Rob Konrad went through after he fell off his boat into the Atlantic Ocean, a distance of nine miles from the South Florida coast.
According to CNN, Konrad had to spend 16 hours in the ocean to swim to shore. He endured and survived encounter with sharks that circled around him, got stung by a jellyfish and he continued to muster as much strength as possible despite living in the unknown as to whether he was going to survive the ordeal or not.
It seems like being a former Miami Dolphin’s player as an NFL star got him ready to survive this unexpected challenge that life will eventually bring his way. As an NFL player, he probably must have developed high endurance skills which gave him the initiative to take action and start swimming to shore rather than waiting in the hope that a boat or plane may spot him, and then rescue him. It’s often been said that each NFL player puts their body through about 35 car collisions with each game, which paid off for the athlete as he embarked on this long journey for survival.”
CNN also reported on Konrad: “A shark circled him at one point. It’s alarming how quickly word gets out in the shark universe that there’s a man overboard. They show up almost immediately when a swimmer is dangling, no rescue boat in sight. Konrad may not have known that, if you can summon the moxie, the right move is a swift, aggressive punch to the shark’s sensitive snout.”
However, Konrad was lucky enough that the shark which was probably not hungry, did not attack him. It’s been said by shark experts that humans are not the usual food for sharks, and since Rob was reportedly close enough to shore at the time of the encounter, there must have been a lot of reef fish at the shark’s disposal. If he had been about 50 or 60 miles off shore at the time, his story would probably have taken a different twist as out there, a shark may not have eaten in a week or two, and the sight of a man swimming in the ocean may seem veryenticing.
By the time Konrad got to shore, he was already suffering from hypothermia as the water temperatures he swam through were about 73 degrees Fahrenheit. Konrad’s survival story is truly an amazing one. He fought well, and fought had, and his courage will forever be honored.
But as CNN said, after all, he’s a dolphin! He used to play for the Miami Dolphins NFL team, and the skill-set exhibited by Dolphins in the ocean is similar to what the amazing athlete brought to fore.
