British swimmer sets out on 1st Atlantic crossing
Print Edition
A 38-YEAR-OLD British man set out yesterday on a 3,200-kilometer swim from Senegal to Brazil, seeking to become the first person to make it across the Atlantic Ocean.
Ben Hooper, a former military policeman who has been training for the challenge since 2013, expects to take between four and five months to swim to Natal in Brazil.
Wearing swimming shorts, he waved to well-wishers, saying “See you in Brazil” before wading into the water at Dakar’s Monaco beach and starting a steady front crawl in the direction of Goree island.
A group of Senegalese onlookers said a prayer for him.
Hooper, who is 1.8 meters tall, may have to swim through heavy seas, as well as shark breeding grounds close to Brazil.
“Together we’re going to show that nothing is impossible,” he said. “I’m a little bit nervous, I’m a human being. I have a few fears hanging around, like I don’t want to let my team down or my daughter, let alone my charities and my followers.”
Hooper has had a lifelong passion for swimming since nearly drowning at the age of five. He said he first conceived of the Atlantic challenge while battling depression in later life.
In particularly risky zones, he will wear a camouflage wetsuit and use cans of rotting shark cartilage that are supposed to act as a natural repellent.
He aims to swim up to 12 hours a day in two sessions and then rest on board one of the two support vessels sailing alongside him with nine crew.
French-born Benoit Lecomte claims to have swum the Atlantic in 1998 but it was not recognized by the Guinness World Records.
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