56-year-old becomes first woman to swim Atlantic (*WOW*)

[underpants]

Source: AP

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jennifer Figge pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand, exhilarated and exhausted as she touched land this week for the first time in almost a month.

Reaching a beach in Trinidad, she became the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean — a dream she'd had since the early 1960s, when a stormy trans-Atlantic flight got her thinking she could don a life vest and swim the rest of the way if needed.

The 56-year-old left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa's western coast on Jan. 12, battling waves of up to 30 feet (9 meters) and strong winds.

David Higdon, a friend of Figge who kept in touch with her via satellite phone, said she had originally planned to swim to the Bahamas, but inclement weather forced her to veer 1,000 miles (1,610 kms) off course to Trinidad, where she arrived on Feb. 5.

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.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hpmuG7NykAmHlJ-V4_0W6pbtQrNgD967CGLG0

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In this undated photo released by David Higdon, friend of swimmer Jennifer Figge, she's shown posing for a picture after her arrival to Chacachacare Island, in Trinidad, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009. Figge, of Aspen, Colorado, is the first woman to swim across the Atlantic Ocean, after leaving the Cape Verde Islands off Africa on Jan. 12, swimming roughly 2,100 miles (3,380 kilometers) to arrive in Trinidad. She plans to swim from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands in the last leg of her journey.
(AP Photo)

[geckosfeet]

1. ! The strength of the human spirit never ceases to astound,,,

[underpants]

2. Some Pics that I could find

This one shows the netting system she swam in (keeps out jelly fish and unwanted tag alongs )
http://www.everymantri.com/.a/6a00d83451b18a69e2010535dddf1e970c-320wi

[roguevalley]

31. awesome. I wonder if she still has her hearing?

[shadowknows69]

3. Holy frakkin shit!!! I didn't even know someone was attempting this.

Anyone still wonder if females are the stronger sex?

[underpants]

4. No sharks (from the article)

The dog swirled in her thoughts, as did family and friends, as Figge stroked through the chilly Atlantic waters escorted by a sailboat. She saw a pod of pilot whales, several turtles, dozens of dolphins, plenty of Portuguese man-of-war — but no sharks.

"I was never scared," Figge said. "Looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way. I can always swim in a pool."

Her journey comes a decade after French swimmer Benoit Lecomte made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim, covering nearly 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) from Massachusetts to France in 73 days. No woman on record has made the crossing.

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.

[tblue37]

20. I understand her thinking about the dog so much. When I leave to

go to campus to teach, or to my tutoring appointments, I can hardly wait to get back home to my cats. The company of my pets is one of my life's greatest joys. In fact, I hardly ever travel at all any more, because I hate to be gone that long from my cats.

[alfredo]

5. Had a friend sail solo across the Atlantic in an eight ft boat. It took him

140 days. He's planning something even more ambitious, but I don't know what. His feat was remarkable, but not even near what she did.

[progdonkey]

6. "Anyone still wonder if females are the stronger sex?"

Her journey comes a decade after French swimmer Benoit Lecomte made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim, covering nearly 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) from Massachusetts to France in 73 days. No woman on record has made the crossing.

Figge, of Aspen, Colorado, is the first woman to swim across the Atlantic Ocean, after leaving the Cape Verde Islands off Africa on Jan. 12, swimming roughly 2,100 miles (3,380 kilometers) to arrive in Trinidad.

So, that would be a "no."

But good job bringing some uninformed anti-male sexism into the celebration of this woman's achievement. :eyes:

[LostinVA]

7. The only "anti-male sexism" is in your own mind

:eyes: yourself.

[shadowknows69]

10. Really, holy crap, I'm a man complimenting the gender of woman and I get chewed

[progdonkey]

11. Sorry, I just assumed you were a woman for some reason...

Given the topic, ("First woman does XYZ!") a comment saying, "Women are stronger than men!!" struck me as, yes, "typical anti-male sexism," (which IS seen a lot around here).

But only if it were made by a woman.

Which it wasn't. So, sorry. :dunce:

[NashVegas]

19. Pro-Female Doesn't Have To = Anti-Male

Sorry you feel that way.

[WriteDown]

35. Apparently they are better at lying.....

:evilgrin: story has been debunked.

[DavidDvorkin]

8. She was the first woman, not the first person

At least one man has done it -- a Frenchman, a few years ago.

[LostinVA]

9. Agreed -- although, he is much younger than she is

[DavidDvorkin]

13. True. Sex aside

I was annoyed at the time that the American media paid no attention the Frenchman's accomplishment, and I wondered if they would have done the same if he'd been an American.

[wtmusic]

12. She looks a little waterlogged nt

[Skittles]

23. she looks like a corpse

[jberryhill]

29. That is likely a sun and water block applied to her face /nt

[avaistheone1]

14. Leave it a boomer!

Sully was a boomer who saved that plane and people on the Hudson.

Hail to the boomers!!

[WriteDown]

34. Leave it to a boomer to lie....

:evilgrin:

[Mari333]

15. man! and I thought it was a challenge to clean my basement

she puts me to shame...:)

[applegrove]

16. Wow. I'd be a complete wimp with 30 feet waves.

[quakerboy]

17. Hmm.

The distance is equivalent to 33796.25 laps in an Olympic pool. Which means she did the equivalent of about 1352 laps per day. In ocean, rather than a pool. Thats a lot of swimming

At the same time, I was a little disappointed after reading the article. She didn't exactly just swim across the Atlantic. She swam across little sections of the Atlantic. Something that I could not do, but much less cool in my mind than just swimming across the ocean.

[underpants]

18. not to argue about someone SWIMMING ACROSS THE OCEAN but...

I don't see where she "swam across little sections of the Atlantic" she swam the entire distance but stopped at night and then restarted the next day from the same spot.

Lecomte did it the same way. There really isn't any other way to do it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoit_Lecomte

I do agree that that is a hell of a lot of swimming each day. I do 1,000 meters when I swim (most every day now while rehabing my ankle) and that is 20 laps in a 25 meter pool. The Masters folks do 60 laps in their workouts for 3,000 meters which is astounding to me. An incredibly dedicated lot them.

[quakerboy]

26. I get that

I really do. And thats an all fired lot of swimming she did. And that the guy did. I couldn't even begin to touch that. I made it across the Snake river once. And a small lake or two.

I was just a little disappointed moving from the title to the article, because my first assumption was "wow, someone hopped in the water and made it that far with just the ability of the human body, thats incredible!!". My assumption was my undoing.

[snooper2]

33. Ready to argue that point again?

:rofl:

:hi:

[surrealAmerican]

21. That's amazing.

Is she the first person to swim it east to west? I notice the other swimmer they mentioned went the other way.

[tblue37]

22. What I love is the idea that prompted her to do this in the first place.

She was flying over the ocean when it occurred to her that if the plane went down, she would put on a life vest and swim the rest of thew ay.

It reminded me of something former Kansas Representative Jim Ryun, also a former Olympian runner, said once. He said he never worried tha his car might breeak down down, becuaus he always had his runnign shoes with him, so he could just run the rest of the way to wherever he needed to go.

Ryan is an extreme RW creep, but I always rather liked that comment.

[hadrons]

24. very cool ... bravo

[JerseygirlCT]

25. Wow is right! nt

[Blue_Tires]

27. k+r

[illuminaughty]

28. Underpants, thanks. I would never have caught this on our

lame MSM. Incredible accomplishment. It really threw me off for a moment. One of my students that's been around for close to 25 years is named Jennifer Figge. Not a common name, as far as I know. She'll get a kick out of it.

[tilsammans]

30. Kickin' it for boomers everywhere!

Talkin' 'bout our J-J-Jennifer! :applause:

[ozu]

32. doubts raised

about the legitimacy of her claim.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/feb/09/swimming

"Gaijinl says she would have had to covered 77.78 miles a day at 9.72mph."With best possible current conditions, that's still a 4.25mph sustained speed. As a good comparison, the fastest any woman has ever swum the English Channel has been 7.5 hours, at a rate of 2.8mph. A sustained rate of even 2.8mph over 27 eight-hour days would also be impossible."

[enigmatic]

36. It's a Hoax

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/The-great-Atlantic-Ocean-swimming-hoax?urn=oly,140525

[ozu]

38. not a shock

It was impossible to do given the timeframe specified.

I guess she just wanted to be famous.

[Lance_Boyle]

39. Silly woman - she should've birthed a litter of nine.

That's what it takes to be famous these days.

Way to fact-check there, AP. :eyes:

[Ferret Annica]

37. It's a hoax

She may of swam 250 miles, but the majority of the time she was on the boat, not swimming.

[olddad56]

40. sort of reminds me of Roise Ruiz winning teh NY Marathon...

until they found out she took a taxi.