Woman Who ‘Swam Atlantic’ Didn’t Really
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(Feb. 12) – Jennifer Figge, of Aspen, Colo., made worldwide headlines last weekend amid claims she was the first woman to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. As it turns out, she actually spent most of the journey on a boat.
On Saturday, The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and other major news services reported erroneously that Figge, 56, had swum from the west coast of Africa to the Caribbean over a period of 25 days.
Suspicious bloggers and Web sites did the math and disputed the feat, saying such an accomplishment is simply not feasible. As noted by The Guardian, Figge would have had to swim 80 miles a day at least to cover the distance in that length of time.
It turns out Figge swam only a fraction of the 2,100-mile journey. The rest of the time, she rested on her crew’s westward-sailing catamaran.
Her spokesman, David Higdon, told The AP on Tuesday that her total swimming distance has not been calculated yet, but that due to ocean hazards including inclement weather, he estimates she swam about 250 miles.
admin @ February 13, 2009