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| Heading off from Choshi, Japan |
Last Tuesday a French swimmer began an attempt to swim across the Pacific
Ocean, a journey that will take him through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in
a bid to raise awareness of plastic pollution.
Benoit "Ben"
Lecomte, 51, set off from his starting point of Chōshi, Japan, aiming to reach
San Francisco, 9,000 km away.
To accomplish his goal
of becoming the first person to swim the Pacific, Lecomte will need to swim for
eight hours a day for six months, with an average of 48 km a day.
Lecomte, the associate
director of sustainability services at a consulting firm, is hoping the
endeavor will double as a scientific study on climate change, health, and
pollution.
Researchers from 12
scientific institutions, including NASA and Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, will be conducting studies and gathering samples throughout his
swim. The researchers will focus on eight areas of interest, which include
radiation from the Fukushima disaster and the swim's effects on Lecomte's heart
and psychological state.
They will also conduct
research on plastic pollution as Lecomte passes through the Great Pacific
Garbage Patch, an área three times the size of France where plastic and debris
have accumulated.
Researchers and
support crew members will accompany Lecomte in a yacht called Discoverer, while
doctors will monitor Lecomte's condition remotely on land.
After each day's
eight-hour swim, Lecomte will rest and recover on the yacht, before being
dropped off at the same spot the next day.
Lecomte has been
physically training for this journey for four years, and has spent even more
time putting together the scientific and practical preparations.
Swimming aside, he
also has to prepare himself psychologically.
"The mental part
is much more important than the physical. You have to make sure you always
think about something positive," Lecomte said.
From Chōshi, he will
swim north up the coast of Japan, helped by the Kuroshio current before he
joins the North Pacific current going east.
This isn't his first
cross-ocean journey, though it's his most ambitious. In 1998, Lecomte was first
person to swim across Atlantic Ocean (6,500 kms) without a kickboard.
"It didn't take
that long for me to change my mind. Three, four months afterwards I was already
thinking about my next adventure and doing something kind of the same," he
said last week.
After having a shark
follow him for five days during his Atlantic crossing, Lecomte is prepared this
time, with a shark repellant bracelet.
If you want to follow
Lecomte's progress and his location's weather conditions click HERE.
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| The support sailboat, Discoverer, will accompany Lecomte on his journey |
You can also watch the video by clicking on the Play Button
Article from CNN and BBC (edited)
