I didn't follow the event as it happened and had not heard much about it. I flipped the channel over and watched a few minutes of it after you posted. They were 100 yards from shore according to what I saw. Jump off boat, swim to shore. Any further and I'd go with jump off boat, use clothes as flotation device as taught to me in boot camp (Navy), float to shore.

Like I said, I only watched a few minutes of it. What were the extenuating circumstances that made it much harder than that? Mind you the water would have been cold, but it's only 100 yards or so.