Who goes the cracked step of swimming gen.

[lavazza]

Мальчишки пробрались тайком на корабль, один из них вплавь по Гудзону, а второй, Джек, на пароме.
Что имеет в виду Джек, когда говорит Who goes the cracked step of swimming?
Well, Jack said, that still left him the “sensible” one who had thought this through. Who goes the cracked step of swimming in the Hudson? Nuts! He’d taken a ferry and entered from the Hoboken
pier when the crew wasn’t looking, without getting wet or tired out.

[Wolverine]

Имеет в виду:
Какого хрена плыть по Гудзону, если можно спокойно переправиться на пароме?
Зачем нужно плыть по реке (при этом промокнуть и устать), если есть путь полегче?

[johnstephenson]

'to go the cracked step of (doing sth)' is strange English; I've never heard of it before.

It could be a US/New York colloquial expression for 'to do something as crazy as to swim'. Or it could possibly be a misprint. Personally I would assume it's the former.

[интроьверт]

ditto (never heard that one before) - but the meaning is quite obvious and is pretty much covered by the very first answer

PS. heard "crackhead" in a similar context though

[johnstephenson]

Yep, Wolverine got it. I think he's just saying that it's a crazy thing to do. Strange phrase, though.

[johnstephenson]

'Cracked' is one of many slang English terms meaning 'crazy/mad'. A 'crackhead' can either mean a) s.o. who's crazy, or b) s.o. who's addicted to crack cocaine.