Man To Swim Across Pacific For A Cause

08:56

May 20, 2015

French swimmer Benoit "Ben" Lecomte (right) is greeted on September 25, 1998, on the beach of Port-Maria in Quiberon by his girlfriend Tinny (center) and his mother Liliane (left), after swimming across the Atlantic, from the United States to France. (Marcel Mochet/AFP/Getty Images)

Starting this summer, 47-year-old Frenchman Ben Lecomte will try to become the first person to swim across the Pacific Ocean. In 1998, he became the first person to swim across the Atlantic Ocean.

Lecomte estimates his Pacific swim will take five months, 8 hours a day, from Tokyo to San Francisco. He joins Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson to discuss his plans, including swimming through the area known as the Great Pacific garbage patch to focus attention on sustainability.

Learn more about Ben Lecomte's trip

Guest

Benoît Lecomte, long-distance swimmer. He tweets @TheLongestSwim.

This segment aired on May 20, 2015.