Ben Lecomte’s epic swim from Japan to California, buoyed by San Pedro’s AltaSea, ends shy of the finish line
In the end, due to harsh weather that severely damaged the mission’s escort boat and equipment, Ben Lecomte’s Longest Swim across the Pacific Ocean ended shy of its goal this week.
“This is not what I had visualized, my dream and goal were different,” the 51-year-old Paris-born swimmer wrote in his daily online log after arriving in Hawaii. “Not everything turned the way I wanted but we all made it safely back on land and we kept focusing on our overall mission: collecting data and samples to contribute to the collective knowledge about plastic pollution … “
After seven years of preparation and with early support from San Pedro’s AltaSea, Lecomte began what was to be a 5,500-mile swim on June 4 from the shores of Choshi, Japan. The aim was to arrive in San Francisco after six to eight months.
Instead, the crew landed at Queen’s Beach in Honolulu on Wednesday, Dec. 12, about 2,300 miles short of San Francisco.
Lecomte, who swam across the Atlantic Ocean in 1998 to raise funds for cancer research, this time was swimming to raise awareness and funding to improve the ocean’s environment.
Locally, the project raised funds for ocean education for AltaSea, the marine research campus being built at the Port of Los Angeles.
The crew could not be reached for comment but AltaSea CEO Tim McOsker said Lecomte’s work will continue.
“The AltaSea family is proud of Ben Lecomte and The Swim,” McOsker said in a written statement. “It’s unfortunate that weather and circumstances prevented the Swim’s completion, but we know that the work to bring attention to ocean plastics and advance real solutions to the health of the sea continues stronger because of people like Ben. His example of strength and courage advances the cause to heal the oceans.”
Tagged “The Swim,” the effort was to be featured in a documentary to be shown in 2019 on the Discovery Channel.
But many followed along by tuning in to the mission’s online videos and log posts at www.benlecomte.com/.
Traveling with Lecomte was the 62-foot sailboat Seeker. AltaSea hosted Leconte’s crew and support ship for several months during the 2017-18 winter months. The Seeker also was retrofitted for the journey along San Pedro’s coastline.
The schedule called for Lecomte to swim eight hours each day and come on board at night to sleep. A GPS tracker marked where he stopped so the swim could resume in the same spot the next day.
The nine-member support crew included scientists, researchers and a medic. The crew collected samples with a focus on how plastics pollution is affecting the world’s oceans.
But rough winds and driving rains took their toll in late November. Leconte’s post on Nov. 25 was titled “Day 156: Everything went wrong.”
On Nov. 26, after the crew met and conceded the equipment damage sustained by the sailing vessel was too much to overcome, he wrote: “Today, The Swim as a world record attempt has stopped but The Swim as a platform keeps on living because it has always been the most important goal of the expedition.”
Stopping the effort short of the finish line was a disappointment.
“I did not have any control over the weather that damaged our boat beyond repair and forced us to stop the swim,” he wrote this week in his online log. “What I can control is how I am going to use this expedition as a stepping stone to further our mission … “
He pledged on Dec. 12 to continue the mission to research ocean pollution.
“Nothing has stopped for me and my purpose, it is just the beginning,” he posted. “It has been an amazing experience …”