[Reaganesque]

Mr. Strel is also known to his friends as "Chum".

[libstripper]

I'm going to get flamed and say I think he has a good chance of making it. The distance he proposes to swim is one he's somewhat done in the past and he's done most of the world's other long rives. He probably knows his own level of fitness well enough to be able to do this, just like somebody who's ridden a bicycle 50 miles in a day and decides he can do 100. The real risk he runs is bumping into a snake that's also swimming, like a Fed de Lance, which has an absolutely hideous bite. He also seems to have a pretty good support team organized that ought to protect him from a lot.