Outdoors360 first posted the story of Rob Konrad falling overboard almost a year ago, and here’s what we knew at the time: The U.S. Coast Guard said Konrad was fishing alone when he fell over board. His boat was on autopilot and drifted away, and he swam nine miles in the “frigid waters” of the Atlantic Ocean for roughly ten to twelve hours through the night, according to Petty Officer Mark Barney, a public affairs specialist for the US Coast Guard. He was found on land at Palm Beach, Florida, at 4:40 a.m. with symptoms of hypothermia.
Then the details and video emerged.
Former Miami Dolphins fullback, Rob Konrad, was finally able to tell his story after being hospitalized from Thursday through Sunday with hypothermia and dehydration. He recalled his unbelievable story of survival after falling off his 36-foot boat on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. He said he was circled by a shark, bitten by several jellyfish, and used his daughters as inspiration. “I have two beautiful daughters. I was hitting the shore,” Konrad said.
The biggest question surrounding this story, was how did it happen, and Konrad fought back tears telling his story. His plan was to take his 36-foot fishing boat from Lighthouse Point to Riviera Beach for service, and he decided to troll along the way and put his boat on autopilot. When a big fish hit the line, he went back to move the rod at the same time a wave hit and knocked him overboard. He was unable to give an SOS call because it happened so quickly.
“At that point in time, after panicking, I realized I was in real trouble,’’ he said. “I was miles out, the boat was on autopilot heading east to the Bahamas, I didn’t have time to get out an SOS call. I knew I was in trouble.”
“At one point, as I swam into the night, there was a fishing boat, a recreational fishing boat, about 50 yards away. I tried to flag down the boat. It didn’t work out,” he told reporters, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “A little bit later on, I saw the Coast Guard. They were out, searching the water. At that point in time, came right over the top of me. They had lights on me, kept going. That was a difficult time.”
“After some time I just said, ‘Look, I’m not dying tonight, I’m going to make it to shore,’ ” he said. The news conference lasted roughly 20 minutes, and a clip can be viewed below.
