Former Dolphins fullback Rob Konrad popped into the news last week when he swam nine miles to shore in Florida after falling off his boat, which continued on without him while on autopilot to the Bahamas.
Konrad held a press conference Monday, a day after being released from the hospital where he was being treated for dehydration, hypothermia and a breakdown of muscle tissue known as rhabdomyolysis. Konrad said the trouble started when a large wave hit the boat, washing him off the deck and starting a 16-hour journey.
“I shouldn’t be here. Sixteen hours in water, think I ended up traveling 27 miles,” Konrad said, via Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post. “After some time I just said look, I’m not dying tonight and I’m going to make it to shore.”
The whole story reads like a peacetime version of Unbroken, with Konrad recounting jellyfish bites and sharks circling underneath him and the requisite near misses with nearby crafts that never saw him. Eventually Konrad made it to the shore, which he called “bittersweet” because he couldn’t walk once he finally made it to land.
We’d imagine that shifted to just sweet pretty quickly as Konrad is now home with his wife and daughters after a harrowing journey.
