- Title: FRANCE/AT SEA: FRENCHMAN BENOIT LECOMTE FIRST PERSON TO SWIM THE ATLANTIC OCEAN
- Date: 25th September 1998
- Summary: AT SEA OFF FRENCH COAST (SEPTEMBER 25, 1998) (RTV) 1. SLV BENOIT LECOMTE SWIMMING BESIDE BOAT 0.08 QUIBERON, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 25, 1998) (RTV) 2. SLV MEDIA AND GIRLFRIEND TRINH DANG WAITING ON BEACH 0.11 3. SLV LECOMTE SWIMMING LAST FEW METRES / MV GIRLFRIEND WATCHES THROUGH BINNOCULARS / SLV LECOMTE SWIMMING / SLV PAN WELCOME MESSAGE WRIT
- Embargoed: 10th October 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: QUIBERON, FRANCE/ AT SEA
- City:
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA6N23GWM7ZBA3NQNKO16W84M7
- Story Text: A Frenchman has become the first person to swim the Atlantic Ocean.The first thing Benoit Lecomte did when he waded ashore after 72 days at sea was propose to his girlfriend.
Many people have tried but nobody until now has succeeded.Benoit Lecomte on Friday (September 25) became the first person ever to swim the Atlantic Ocean, reaching the Brittany coast after a 72-day crossing.
His girlfriend Trinh Dang was waiting on the beach at Quiberon to welcome him home.
She ran into the sea as Lecomte swam the last few metres of his record-breaking marathon.
Thirty-one-year old Lecomte had set off on the trip of more than 3,700 miles from Hyannis, Massachusetts, in the United States on July 16, swimming six to eight hours a day and resting on a 12-metre yacht.
When he finally made it ashore he vowed "Never again".
Then he removed his flippers and showed Dang the message painted on their bottoms: "Trinh, will you marry me?" Lecomte, whose feat has raised some $175,000 for cancer research, said he took on the swim not only for the challenge but also in memory of his father, who died of colon cancer seven years ago.
Lecome said the swim had left him exhausted, lonely and nauseous from swallowing salt water.
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