Australian swimmer Chloë McCardel has announced that she plans to try to swim from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida in June.

I think this swim is possible and I suspect she is capable physically and mentally to do it. Comparing this swim to the first Mt Everest climb by Sir Edmond Hillary would not be hyperbole.

However, unlike Mt. Everest I don't think this swim will ever be easily reproducible without a technology assist.

I suspect anybody who successfully crosses this channel will have to have some serious good luck; (or more accurately), miraculous timing to make this happen. It's a two-to-four-day swim and a lot of variables are involved.

Mt. Everest is a technology assisted climb: From Oxygen bottles, to rubberized fabrics that keep you warm and let your skin breathe. Guides have essentially made a trail that if you are strong, capable, and have good body control a guide; (or sherpa), can walk you all the way to the top. Still, the weather is extraordinarily hazardous. It's cold beyond belief, the footing is slippery, and even with Oxygen people get loopy and out of sorts but more"climbers" make it to the summit than don't.

The challenges that Chloë McCardel will face will far exceed those of Mt. Everest and she will have no technology asist. She will have weather, swells, tides, shipping lanes and dangerously warm water to swim in. There could be sharks, jellyfish, wound infections, and more. When compared to Mt. Everest, that infamous mountain has no predators and climbers are able to get some sleep breaks in between pushes towards the summit. Chloë will have to remain awake for a very long time.

Here is a link to her very inspirational blog:  [Link]