Man begins swim across Pacific to expose ocean pollution

A man is swimming across the ocean so people will pay attention to how humans have polluted it. Tuesday marked the start of a record-breaking expedition for one determined swimmer through the Pacific Ocean from Chiba Prefecture, Japan, to San Francisco, Calif.

Ben Lecomte, 50, a professional long-distance swimmer and the first man to swim across the Atlantic Ocean in 1998, embarked on the six-to-eight-month swim from Choshi, a small port city east of Tokyo, along with a crew who will document his every move. Swimming about eight hours per day and burning around 8,000 calories, he will sleep somewhere around 10 hours a night. With typhoon season just around the corner, success in this risky 5,400-mile (10,000-kilometer) endeavor would make Lecomte the first man to swim across the Pacific Ocean. But the record-setting isn’t his foremost motivation.

“I have been swimming for a long time and have witnessed the deterioration of the ocean, so I am just trying to make a little difference by bringing attention to the issue,” he told Japan Today.

What does “deterioration of the ocean” look like? Right now, between Hawaii and California, there’s something called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” — a collection of plastic, floating trash sized around 600,000 square miles, or twice the size of Texas, as reported by USA Today in March. Lecomte, a native of France, will swim through approximately 1,000 miles of it.

A self-proclaimed adventurer, Lecomte said he hopes the attention the journey gets will spark a reverse in people’s plastic consumption, and to make the biggest splash, he’s teaming up with some top media and science organizations along the way. His swim is set to do some heavy lifting in terms of research and public awareness. Viewers can follow updates on the expedition through the science-based news site Seeker.com in an online video series called “The Swim.”

Lecomte and Seeker are collaborating with 27 science institutions, including NASA while collecting more than 1,000 samples to uncover more about plastic pollution, radioactive materials in the waters and to raise awareness of challenges facing our oceans from climate change. A sailing yacht with not only documenters on board, but also a crew of scientists, medics and sailors, will follow Lecomte.

While in the water, Lecomte wears your typical snorkel, goggles, wetsuit and fins but he also dons a magnetic bracelet to keep sharks away “without causing harm to them,” he noted. Another safety precaution is wearing a tracking device monitor on his body so that medics check his vitals daily. Plus, a band that collects data about levels of radioactive cesium in the water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011.

Japan Today had a chance to ask Lecomte a few questions before he embarked on the journey of a lifetime.

What is the biggest reason you want to embark on a venture like this?

To use my passion for open water swimming to bring attention to the deterioration of our oceans.

From your previous experience, what is the easiest part about swimming across an ocean?

I don't think there is any easy part.

What do you foresee as the biggest challenge on this journey?

I do not think there is one challenge that is bigger than the others, there are many challenges and on any given day one can be more important than another. The water temperature is going to be challenging and being isolated in a rough environment, too.

Will you swim seven days a week or take a break?

Depending on my condition, I might have to take a day break here and there to recoup and sometimes the sea and weather conditions will prevent me from swimming.

How many miles (or kilometers) do you plan to swim a day?

That all depends on the strength of the current. My pace is 2-to-2.5 knots, and the current can double my speed.

What are the dangers and risks associated with this type of expedition?

Losing too much weight, getting separated from the boat, being crushed against the boat by a big wave...

Do you get bored?

Swimming eight hours a day is not easy to do because all you have are your thoughts and sometimes it becomes very boring.

After your journey, what kind of change or social awareness do you want it to bring?

I hope that more people will make changes in their choices and their behavior to reduce the use of single-use plastic. That would be a great start.

Why did you decide on Choshi, Chiba Prefecture, as the leaving point?

It is the closest location to the Kuroshio, the warm current that will help me.

How to tune in

People can tune in internationally to watch Lecomte’s journey across a few platforms with The Swim (go to seeker.com/theswim to follow the video updates), plus live coverage from the boat and weekly updates on Lecomte's progress via short one-to-two-minute videos aired throughout the day on the Discovery Channel.  Social media users can follow the journey via Seeker’s Instagram and Lecomte’s personal Instagram for weekly Instagram stories.

The video footage will eventually be a feature-length documentary by Nomadica Films coming in 2019. That project will be lead by a team that’s worked with National Geographic and Animal Planet in the past.

© Japan Today