Benoît “Ben” Lecomte walked onto a Hawaiian beach six months after he first entered the water off the coast of Japan while attempting to swim across the Pacific Ocean.
Lecomte set off on June 5 from his starting point of Chōshi, Japan, CNN reported, with a goal of traversing 5,500 miles of ocean to get to San Francisco. He planned on stopping at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to raise awareness of ocean plastic pollution but bad weather sidetracked his trip. Lecomte was forced to make a pit stop Monday in Hawaii, instead, but San Francisco remains his ultimate goal.
This morning I will be touching land for the first time after 115 days at sea. #jointheswim pic.twitter.com/MkAxYAp3q2
— Ben Lecomte (@BenLecomteSwim) December 10, 2018
“My legs are a little shaky,” Lecomte told a CNN affiliate news station. “I’m not used to having something stable, but it feels good. I grabbed some sand with my hand to feel the earth.”
Lecomte emerged after 115 days in the ocean.
During his trial, Lecomte aimed to swim for eight hours a day where he’d cover 30 miles per. He was followed by a yacht named Discoverer, which was armed with researchers, a support staff and a place for him to rest and recover each night.
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