Benoît Lecomte

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Benoît Lecomte (born June 3, 1967) is a French-American long-distance swimmer. In 1998 he swam in stages across part of the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for cancer research in honor of his father. The journey started in Hyannis, Massachusetts and aimed for Quiberon, Brittany, with a one-week stop in the Azores. It lasted 73 days and covered about 3,716 miles (5,980 km). He swam about eight hours a day in two to four hour sessions, with a 40-foot support sailboat following him to provide rest, food, and a place to sleep. Because he rested on the boat and because currents helped, there is no official distance for a full Atlantic crossing, and Guinness World Records did not recognize it as a completed crossing. Some reports suggested he would have needed to swim the entire distance at about 8 mph to finish in one go, which is far faster than other long-distance swimmers.

In 2018, Lecomte attempted another ocean crossing, this time across the Pacific. He began on June 5, 2018, in Chōshi, Japan, aiming to reach California (San Francisco) and covering about 5,500 miles (8,900 km). The journey was expected to take about six months and aimed to raise awareness about ocean sustainability and plastic pollution. He spoke about being a father and wanting to protect the future for his children, hoping education would include lessons about sustainability. The swim was conducted as a staged journey with GPS tracking, and he planned to swim about 40 miles (64 km) per day, eight hours a day with the help of currents. After about 1,700 miles, the main sail on the support boat was repeatedly torn by heavy winds. The crew repaired the boat, but the conditions forced Lecomte to cancel the swim to keep the team safe. He had hoped to set a new world record for open-water swimming, aided by resting on the boat between swimming sessions.