“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”                             I Corinthians 13:7 NLT

 January 7, 2015 – Deerfield Beach, Florida: Rob Konrad left the marina at 6 a.m. in his 30-foot Grady White boat. It was a chilly South Florida day, but he was planning to go fishing. He headed the boat east into the Atlantic, set the autopilot at 5 miles per hour, and started trolling.

At 12:30 p.m., while he was fighting a fish, a big wave hit the boat, knocking Konrad overboard. He wasn’t wearing a life jacket, and he watched helplessly as the boat continued eastward. Having grown up around boats on the north shore of Boston, he was keenly aware that he had just been tossed into every boater’s nightmare.

Konrad knew from recently checking the boat’s GPS that he was about nine miles offshore. With the water temperature in the low 70s, he also knew that the typical survival time at that temperature was less than four hours. He had two options, wait to be rescued or start swimming. Thinking of his two daughters, ages 8 and 10, he stripped down to his underwear and started swimming west toward the shore. It was unlikely he was going to survive.

Konrad played high school football at the prestigious St. John’s Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts, and as a senior, he was selected to the Parade Magazine All-America Team. He had a great college football career as a fullback at Syracuse University. He was the last player at Syracuse to wear No. 44, which had previously been worn by college football legends Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, and Floyd Little.

He played fullback for the Miami Dolphins for six seasons before retiring in 2004. After obtaining his financial advisor certification, he started a company to assist NFL players in managing their investments. By 2015, Konrad was a very successful CEO of Alterna Financial.

Konrad prayed and came to grips with his dire situation in the chilly waters of the Atlantic. He had to save himself. Somehow, he would make it to shore; his girls would not grow up without a father. The 6’3”, 235-pound world-class athlete had never been a strong swimmer but playing football for the Dolphins had taught him toughness, dogged determination, and how to push past pain.

If he could make it,  he figured it would take him 10 hours to reach the shore. Konrad alternated between the breaststroke and backstroke. He used the sun to keep him swimming in a westerly direction. The four-mile-per-hour Gulf Stream current pushed him slowly north parallel to the shore. Just before dark, a recreational boat passed within 50 yards of him, but he couldn’t get their attention. He fought off discouragement. He had to save himself. Thinking of his daughters, he swam on. An occasional glimpse of light onshore served as his beacon of hope.

When Konrad failed to return by dinner his wife, Tammy, alerted the Coast Guard, and they began a search. At about midnight, a Coast Guard helicopter flew directly over him and had him in their lights but did not see him. The minutes that followed were tough. Exhausted, chafed, cold, and unsure how close he was to shore, he fought on.

At 4:30 a.m., after 16 death-defying hours in the water, Konrad knew he could not hold on much longer when he heard a noise. Confused and disoriented from cold and fatigue, he thought of sharks, but then realized it was waves breaking on the beach.

Shaking uncontrollably and unable to walk, Konrad drug himself up on the sand and collapsed into a ball to try to warm up. He eventually staggered to a Palm Beach oceanfront home where a security guard happened to be making his rounds. Konrad was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia and dehydration.

Coast Guard authorities estimated Rob Konrad swam an incredible 27 miles to Palm Beach. At a press conference two days later, the 38-year-old former Dolphin told the media, “It was a boater’s nightmare. I am happy to be here. I shouldn’t be here. I’ve got two beautiful daughters and whatever it took, I was going to hit shore.” His wife, Tammy, tearfully added, “It was a miracle Rob made it home. He never quits. He swam with two angels on his back.”