Jennifer Figge became the first woman to swim across the Atlantic, finishing this month. From Aspen, Colorado the mother of one swam in a shark cage which she described as “my playpen. It’s like a big french fry basket.”
Photos and text from the Associated Press: Reaching a beach in Trinidad, she became the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean.
The 56-year-old left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa’s western coast on Jan. 12, battling waves of up to 30 feet (9 meters) and strong winds
Figge woke most days around 7 a.m., eating pasta and baked potatoes while she and the crew assessed the weather. Her longest stint in the water was about eight hours, and her shortest was 21 minutes. Crew members would throw bottles of energy drinks as she swam; if the seas were too rough, divers would deliver them in person. At night she ate meat, fish and peanut butter, replenishing the estimated 8,000 calories she burned a day.
Sounds impressive? Well it is, but not the most prolific example of distance swimming. The AP also reports that French swimmer Benoit Lecomte made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim about 10 years ago, covering nearly 4,000 miles from Massachusetts to France in 73 days. No woman on record has made the crossing.
Do these people not know instead of taking two months to swim across, you can catch a flight in 7 hours?