Now this is a badass

I would have drowned. Probably around the 1/2 mile mark

Swimming is fricking exhausting, I can't fathom swimming 9 miles. Guess he didn't have an anchor

its a tough swim to be sure. I bet the main issue was hypothermia though.

You will float in salt water. You can also make a PFD from your pants.

Still a gutsy swim.

this isn't that impressive honestly, sure i swam in college and all... but at 13 i was doing >9 miles a day in the summer and x-mas unquestioned. an alleged 9 miles in 10-12 hours works out to over 2 minutes for a single 50m lap in an olympic sized pool. to put that in better perspective i'm adding Eric the Eel at the 2000 olympics watch his last lap... that controlled drowning is twice the "speed" the football player was moving in the water. so basically he was floating.

if you want to claim this was hard because of the water temp... 76-78 is the average water temperature in west palm beach currently. a little cool but not that bad, especially for somebody i'd assume at least has a body fat % triple mine. if needed i can throw up some open water master's swimming results for 10 miles where a 60+ year old lady is doing it well under 5 hours... you know for perspective and shite.

the biggest accomplishment in this feat was not being eaten.