American woman swims Atlantic ocean. Africa to Trinidad.

teems1 · Postby **teems1** » February 8th, 2009, 12:34 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7877222.stm

A 56-year-old American athlete has become the first woman on record to swim the Atlantic.

Jennifer Figge took 24 days to swim from the Cape Verde islands off Africa to Trinidad. The exact distance she covered has yet to be calculated.

She swam inside a cage to protect her from sharks.

Figge, who had originally planned to make landfall in the Bahamas, now plans to finish by swimming from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands.

She first dreamed of swimming across the Atlantic Ocean as a little girl.

The swimmer finally moved nearer her goal when she left Cape Verde Islands on 12 January, facing waves of up to 9m (30 ft).

Each day she would spend up to eight hours in the water at a stretch before returning to her support boat.

Crew members would throw the athlete energy drinks as she swam along, if it was too stormy divers would deliver them in person.

She saw pilot whales, turtles, and dolphins, but no sharks.

"I was never scared," she told the Associated Press news agency.

"Looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way. I can always swim in a pool."

Jennifer Figge's journey comes 10 years after a French swimmer, Benoit Lecomte, made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim covering 6,400km (4,000 miles) in 73 days.

Figge had planned to swim 3,380km (2,100 miles), but she was blown off course and reached Trinidad rather than the Bahamas.

Apparently her destination was supposed to be Bahamas, but she ended up in Trinidad.

joker · Postby **joker** » February 8th, 2009, 12:36 pm

the "south wind" must have interfered with her course....

but a great feat none the less

haterforever · Postby **haterforever** » February 8th, 2009, 12:49 pm

hope she doh get rob

Postby **Greypatch** » February 8th, 2009, 12:50 pm

madness whe...ent berwoulf swam for 5 days straight

0awg · Postby **0awg** » February 8th, 2009, 1:21 pm

haterforever wrote:hope she doh get rob

I now commin to post this. I wonder where she land? mayaro?

Picasso · Postby **Picasso** » February 8th, 2009, 1:31 pm

berwoulf swam for 5 days straight

Anyone cans swim for 5 days straight in the digital world... I just posted this while taking my evening walk @ the bottom of the Baltic Sea. :lol:

eurogirl · Postby **eurogirl** » February 8th, 2009, 1:36 pm

but ent de cage go give yuh a lil "push" ?

TK! · Postby **TK!** » February 8th, 2009, 2:20 pm

i see this on NBC this morning... did any local news station carry it?

or are we caught up in de carnival?

noshownogo · Postby **noshownogo** » February 8th, 2009, 5:26 pm

Picasso wrote:
berwoulf swam for 5 days straight

Anyone cans swim for 5 days straight in the digital world... I just posted this while taking my evening walk @ the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

You mean Beowulf wasn't real :shock:

buzz · Postby **buzz** » February 8th, 2009, 6:25 pm

Postby **Greypatch** » February 8th, 2009, 7:14 pm

Beowulf ie real... :fadein:

wagonrunner · Postby **wagonrunner** » February 8th, 2009, 7:45 pm

great accomplishment.
even two constant hours at a relaxed pace has the muscles groaning.

wagonrunner · Postby **wagonrunner** » February 8th, 2009, 8:20 pm

pioneer wrote:so any allyuh ever swim from tyrico to maracas?

nah, furthest i ever made were across scotland bay, and the length of maracas.

WD40 · Postby **WD40** » February 9th, 2009, 1:39 am

Excerpt:

Her journey comes a decade after French swimmer Benoit Lecomte made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim, covering nearly 4,000 miles from Massachusetts to France in 73 days. No woman on record has made the crossing.

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.

Figge wore a red cap and wet suit, with her only good-luck charm underneath: an old, red shirt to guard against chafing, signed by friends, relatives and her father, who recently died.

The other cherished possession she kept onboard was a picture of Gertrude Ederle, an American who became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

"We have a few things in common," Figge said. "She wore a red hat and she was of German descent. We both talk to the sea, and neither one of us wanted to get out."

Figge arrived on Trinidad's Chacachacare Island, an abandoned leper colony, at 5:20 p.m. She plans to leave Trinidad on Monday night. During this brief respite, she has avoided the hotel pool and nearby ocean, opting instead for the treadmill.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,489704,00.html