Those past two days, we had the same weather conditions as the day before with strengthening eastern winds… and no swim.
The main sail was lowered and Maria and Gonzo worked on repairing the reefs on deck. Every so often a big wave crushed against the hull, water got propelled straight in the air and came back down on them.
Even though they used the proper sewing needles for the job, they kept on breaking because of the multiple tough layers of the fabric they had to go through.
They repaired reef three and were down to one last needle before they could finished reef two. It was decided to stop the repair and keep the last needle for emergency use.
At the end of the day, the main sail was hoisted back and reef three was put to the test.
It was holding but pulling unevenly on the stitches, the tension wasn’t properly distributed…
This morning on deck I put on my swim gear for the last time. I can see the shore, the buildings and Queens Beach where I will make landfall. The last piece of equipment are my fins, I wrote on them a message in memory of my close friend Gino. I slowly slide in the … Continued
Before I worked on this project I was no stranger to filming ocean expeditions. I have been a part of teams that explored newly discovered coral reefs at the mouth of the Amazon, conducted the first manned submersible dives in Antarctica, and hunted the depths of the Humboldt current looking for cannibal squids. Despite all … Continued
As we got closer to Hawaii, a plane form the US Coast Guard flew toward us, circled the boat twice, then went back to where it came from and disappeared at the horizon. They probably had been following us for a while and conducted a customary fly by surveillance. We waited for a call on … Continued
Another 487 nautical mile to land. Although quite far when you think about it, land feels very close these days, with an increasing amount of albatrosses, petrels and whales around us. And, now that we escaped the ferocious gales in the North, you might even spot a pair of tropical birds on these more Southern … Continued
Each day of The Swim the crew cast a net off the side of the boat, not in the hopes of catching fish but to collect microplastics. When plastic enters our oceans, it doesn’t break down but rather breaks up into smaller fragments from the combination of exposure to the sun and waves. They’re a … Continued
Education, spreading awareness and collecting scientific data, sounds like 3 things completely related. And they are. But, as I experienced during The Swim when you want to reach the three of them at the same time, there are some difficulties or at least some differences to keep in mind. Focused on plastic pollution in the … Continued
My attitude towards plastic has drastically shifted during my time on The Swim. I joined the expedition not knowing much about ocean plastic aside from rumors that there’s a great Pacific garbage patch somewhere. Every Captain and mate laughed and told me that they had never seen a “plastic patch” crossing the Pacific or other … Continued
For the past few days, our focus has been on collecting samples and data, doing observation and progressing toward Hawaii. We still encountered squalls and had to change sails back and forth. Those squalls brought with them winds and rain with such intensity that it felt like the rain was horizontal and painful when it … Continued
Today is one of my saddest days ever. Gino, one of my closest friends died. I met him through this project 7 years ago when he asked me if he could meet me on a beach in Alabama to take some footage of my training. Like many others, Gino volunteered his time and expertise, he … Continued
Day 174-175 In the first two days, we experienced big swells coming from a huge low pressure system north of us that had travelled hundreds of miles to get to our location. But that didn’t affect us much. However, we frequently had to make sail changes because of squalls. They were coming and passing bringing … Continued
It has been 100 days since we left Yokohama the last time, this means that we have been at sea and not been on land for that long. It is a little odd to me because it doesn’t seem that long. I have lost all references of time, every day looks the same. There is … Continued
On day 169, we passed the dateline it was on November 19, and the following day it was still November 19th, we lived the same day twice. I spend my days at the helm, from sunrise to sunset. All day long I can only skim the surface of the ocean since I don’t swim and … Continued
Get in touch with the team! We'd love to hear from you; Whether you have a question, want to schedule an interview, or become involved in the project.
We are proud to have the support of our strategic partner
Hello Ben and Team. It’s good to be able to follow you again here. It sounds like it’s really starting to get challenging now! So many folks around the world are still cheering you onwards on your Mission and keeping you in their thoughts constantly and sending positive energy and goodwill your way every day. Hopefully you will have some calmer and kinder weather and ocean conditions to make easier headway without having to keep up a battle against the odds.