French couple training for record-breaking swim across the Atlantic
Matthieu Witvoet and Chloe Leger Witvoet aim to swim 2,360 miles from Cape Verde to Guadeloupe
A French couple is training in the Mediterranean to prepare for what they hope will be a record-breaking three-month relay swim across the Atlantic.
Matthieu Witvoet and Chloe Leger Witvoet plan to set off from the island of Cape Verde, off the African coast, on November 1, for a 2,360 mile (3,800 km) swim to the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.
The couple will take turns swimming for six hours each every day and attempt to set records for the longest female ocean crossing as well as for the longest swimming relay “with drifting”, which means the boat they will sleep on will drift at night, which will account for part of the distance covered.
“This is ultra-swimming, and that is what we like to do,” Leger said.
In 2019, the pair swam across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco; in 2021, they swam down the Seine River from Paris to Deauville; and in 2023, they swam from Marseille to Barcelona.
Crossing the Atlantic is a challenge of a different level, though. Water temperatures are expected to hover around 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit).