Stanislav Kurilov

Slava Kurilov really loved the water. At the age of 10, he swam across the Irtysh river in Siberia (in Kazakhstan, where Slava grew up, it maxes out at half a mile wide). He tried to join the Baltic Fleet as a cabin boy, and eventually became an oceanographer.

Slava Kurilov really did not like living in the Soviet Union. (Who can blame him?) Escape was impossible: his sister lived in Canada, so he was refused all foreign visas. So Slava found a loophole: a cruise to nowhere.

The ship was to leave Vladivostok, travel 3000 miles to the equator, and then... come right back. Oh, the joy (vodka) everyone must have had on board! No stopping in ports for Soviet citizens! No escape!

One guess what Kurilov did.

In the middle of December, Kurilov dove from the cruise ship and then spent three days in the open seas, swimming to the Philippines. (That was the closest possible route!)

(Believe it or not, Kurilov is not alone among Soviet swimming escapees. On the short list is Liliana Gasinskaya, known as "the red bikini girl". Make sure to look her up after reading this profile.)

Kurilov joined his sister in Canada, then married an Israeli and joined the Oceanographic Institute in Haifa. Can't escape that love of water!