Martin Refuses Hospitalization

He was already completely spent from swimming all day, but relentless in his goal, he continued to swim against the tide, obsessed with making it to the town. The team spent over an hour trying to convince him to call it a day and conserve his energy for tomorrow, and it wasn’t until he stopped swimming, looked at the shoreline, and actually saw himself floating upstream toward Peru did he throw up his hands in frustration and quit for the day. Martin didn’t expect to experience ocean tides until he exited the Straights of Breves. The team has acquired tidal charts and is currently trying to convince Martin only to swim during the six hour window in which the tide is going out.

Martin was in even worse shape today than he was yesterday, physically exhausted, and mentally frustrated from the tides. He’s not hydrating himself properly, unable to sleep, and acting irrationally. We were so concerned about him after dinner that Borut and I tried to check him into a hospital, even getting as far as the lobby of the emergency room, but Martin refused to be treated, and is still planning on swimming tomorrow.

>>Matthew Mohlke