Woman plans to swim across the Atlantic.....Is she serious?

Woman, 56, expects journey to take 2 months
By Antonio Gonzalez The Associated Press
November 15, 2008
OFF THE COAST OF MIAMI - The Catamaran isn't even out of Biscayne Bay yet, and already 56-year-old mother-turned-adventurer Jennifer Figge is giddy with excitement. She's squeezing into her wetsuit for a final test before her latest endeavor — one that even her own crew calls crazy.The plan goes something like this.She will swim 2,100 miles, from the Cape Verde Islands off Africa to Barbados. She'll do it in a shark cage attached to a sailboat, swimming for six to eight hours a day without rest. The journey will take about two months, and would make her the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean."I'm saving lots of money," she jokes. "I only have to buy a one-way ticket."Figge and her family have always lived a bit large. Her mother was a longtime professional opera singer. Her husband was a successful banker who is now retired. And Figge's son, Alex, is a race-car driver in the Lemans Series.It was through him that she found endurance sports. He asked her to stop smoking for his seventh birthday, and when she did, she had to replace her cigarette addiction with another habit.The answer? The Davenport, Iowa, native completed the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa in 1990 with her husband.She was hooked.In all, Figge has now conquered more than 3,000 miles running and swam across almost 25 channels — from 8 miles to a few hundred miles in length — battling the elements all over the planet.She fought through 8-foot-swells and was stung by a man-of-war on her left leg during a 52-mile, three-day swim from Cay Sal Bank north of Cuba to Marathon Key last year.She dodged rock-throwing Gypsies and outran hungry dogs during a 350-mile run across Romania.She swam through waters contaminated with sheep manure when she crossed the Straits of Tiran off Egypt, and wind gusts near 80 mph lifted her off her feet in the Black Sand Desert during a 300-mile run across Iceland."I haven't really had many challenges in life, so I have to challenge myself," Figge said. "Pushing myself to the limit is the only way I know how."Figge would not be the first to swim across the Atlantic, but she would apparently be the first woman.Frenchman Benoit Lecomte is thought to have been the first to record a trans-Atlantic swim. He swam 3,716 miles from Cape Cod, Mass., to the Brittany region of France in 1998. The journey took him 73 days, stopping along the way at the Azores Islands. Captain Bill Ray, who has accompanied Figge on some of her swims, was first approached about the trans-Atlantic journey last year. Figge gave him a blank check, and next to the "For" section at the bottom, she wrote: Deposit to Swim Atlantic."I thought she was joking," Ray said.The customized Catamaran — fittingly named Carried Away — has a makeshift shark cage made of Kevlar attached to the back.The Catamaran will carry Figge, 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.Dr. Jerry Homish, a family friend who has sailed with her on other swims and will make this trip, estimates Figge will burn more than 8,000 calories a day. Her diet, which is still being worked out by a nutritionist, will load up on carbohydrates in the morning and protein at night, including Figge's favorite: cold pasta and potatoes.The crew will toss her water and electrolytes as needed during swims, and she'll finish off her day the same way she starts: with a caffeine-loaded soda.Figge, who trains above 8,000 feet at her home in Aspen, Colo., will swim in a wetsuit that deflects the harmful rays of the sun."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."

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