[unoti]

A really interesting story!

> It took about an hour of swimming.

> Not that the swim was “extreme,” but a lot of “extreme” things people do are actually planned and structured, which de-extremizes them. If you sky dive, for example, you’re doing exactly what someone planned for you. I don’t know of anyone who just decided to swim across the Hudson. Yet it’s easy. Anyone can do it anytime...

Requiring an hour of continuous swimming easily excludes most people, and makes it very dangerous. Swimming a mile is a big deal that requires a good deal of training. Something like 6 weeks of working on it continuously 3 days a week, with proper coaching. It's actually great workout goal. But just jumping in the water and doing it... it's pretty flabbergasting unless you had some idea of your long-distance swimming capabilities beforehand.

Considering the links at the end of the article, I'm guessing these are things you've considered quite in-depth-- even if it wasn't until you survived. Really fascinating stuff! Thanks for sharing.