Man's bid to swim across the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ends
- 5 years ago
AMERICA — A French-American swimming to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans, has abandoned plans to swim across the Pacific Ocean after the mainsail of his support ship was damaged.
The BBC reports that Ben Lecomte set off from Japan's east coast with plans to swim 9,100 kilometers across the Pacific Ocean from Choshi, Japan to San Francisco, California.
Lecomte, accompanied by crew operating the support ship, started on June 5 and swam for about eight hours a day, collecting bits and pieces of plastic they spotted on the way.
Lecomte had already completed 2,780 kilometers of the trip when the mainsail of his support ship was abruptly damaged by strongs winds, reports The Guardian.
Lecomte and the crew had just reached the Great Pacific Garbage Patch when the mainsail was destroyed.
Lecomte and his support team originally planned to swim across the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to collect water samples to test plastic pollution levels in the ocean.
On his website, Lecomte claims he was the first person to swim across the Atlantic Ocean in 1998.
The BBC reports that Ben Lecomte set off from Japan's east coast with plans to swim 9,100 kilometers across the Pacific Ocean from Choshi, Japan to San Francisco, California.
Lecomte, accompanied by crew operating the support ship, started on June 5 and swam for about eight hours a day, collecting bits and pieces of plastic they spotted on the way.
Lecomte had already completed 2,780 kilometers of the trip when the mainsail of his support ship was abruptly damaged by strongs winds, reports The Guardian.
Lecomte and the crew had just reached the Great Pacific Garbage Patch when the mainsail was destroyed.
Lecomte and his support team originally planned to swim across the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to collect water samples to test plastic pollution levels in the ocean.
On his website, Lecomte claims he was the first person to swim across the Atlantic Ocean in 1998.