Brit Intends To Swim Across The Atlantic In 100 Days

British television personality and adventurer Ben Fogel has announced his plans to swim across the Atlantic Ocean and he intends to do it in record time. Fogel, who has also visited the South Pole and spent a year as a castaway on a Scottish island as part of a reality television show, says that he hopes to make the 3000 mile (4828km) journey in just 100 days.

The epic swim isn't scheduled to begin until next year, and Bogel has only now started to train in open water. But sometime in 2013 he intends to set out from the U.S. and continue swimming until he reaches cornwall in the U.K. In order to cover that distance in his target time, he'll need to average about 30 miles (48km) per day. He estimates he may need to spend as much as 12 hours per day in the water.

To date, only one other person is credited with swimming across the Atlantic. That was Benoit Lecomte who accomplished that feat back in 1998. There are some questions about the legitimacy of Lecomte's claims however as he his efforts were not strictly tracked by GPS. He did finish the swim in 73 days and went 3716 miles (5980km) in the process. He is also planning on swimming across the Pacific as well.

Also ramping up his efforts to swim the Atlantic is Dan Martin, who will attempt it as part of his Global Triathlon. He is expecting his crossing of the ocean to take upwards of six months and he'll be starting in the Hudson River and ending somewhere along the coast of France. He is currently in the States and preparing to begin his massive undertaking, which will also see him cycling and running around the world. Logistics have delayed the start, but he hopes to be underway very shortly.

Sometimes rowing an ocean isn't enough I guess, and you just have to jump in an start swimming. More power to these guys. I can't even imagine the effort required to swim these distances day in and day out.

Thanks To Julian Monroe Fisher for the tips on Ben's swim!