First Woman to Swim Across The Atlantic

First Woman to Swim Across The Atlantic

OK, now this pretty much takes the cake.

On approximately Decmber 20, 56 year old Aspen resident Jennifer Figge (and mother of LeMans series race car driver Alex Figge) will attempt a trans-Atlantic ocean swim from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa to Barbados -- 2,100 miles!

The plan?  Swim 6-8 hours per day for 60 straight days.  During the other hours she will rest, eat and drift aboard her escort boat.  Her customized catamaran has a makeshift shark cage made of Kevlar attached to the back carrying her, her captain Bill Ray, a doctor, and at least one crew member and diver on a trek that will cost at least $250,000. The sailboat will be using its motor much of the way to slow down for Figge, consuming more than 700 gallons of fuel. Figge hopes to get sponsors to defray some of the cost, and Ray also has footed part of the bill.

Who is this person?

First, she's a mom.  Her son Alex Figge is LeMans series race car driver Alex Figge -- another endurance athlete in his own right.

Second, she is not new to pushing the limits.  As a runner, Jennifer has run 400 miles across France.  350 miles across Romania.  450 miles across India.  576 miles across South America.  300 miles across Thailand.  300 miles across Iceland, and 180 miles across Mexico, the final 60 miles in a leg cast!

As a swimmer, she has swum the Straights of Gibraltar, from Tahiti to Moorea, from Turkey to Greece, across the Cozumel Channel and through the heads of Sydney Harbor.  Last year she conquered 8 foot swells to swim from Cay Sal Bank in the Bahamas to marathon in the Florida Keys.

What she now attempts has only been accomplished by 2 people, both men.  Allegedly.  Both attempts are somewhat suspect.  The first guy used a kickboard and was unsupervised.  The second guys (Frenchman Benoit Lecomte) swam 3,716 miles from Cape Cod to Brittany over 73 days, but he stopped along the way at the Azores Islands.

"I wouldn't be doing this if I functioned on common logic," Figge said. "Those who don't know the impossible are the ones who make things possible."

Click HERE for both a video and print interview with Figge in the Miami Herald.

Click HERE to follow her trek via GPS for real-time navigation.

And if you are on Facebook, click HERE to join her fan club.