All aboard for the feat
On 16 December 2023, Fabien LEROUX will put on his swimfins and take to the water to swim across the Atlantic. Yes, the Atlantic.
In 1995, while doing his military service, he watched live on television the arrival of adventurer Guy DELAGE, who had just crossed the Atlantic clinging to a float with swimfins after 55 days. This immense feat impressed him and remains engraved in his memory.
Fabien is a top-level swimmer who regularly makes long crossings and competes in very long-distance events.
5 years ago, he suffered a stroke while driving.
As he lay in hospital, Fabien's thoughts went wild: how could he, who practised sport at a high level and had always had an impeccable lifestyle, find himself so debilitated and immobilised for months on end ?
He refuses to put up with it, he has to get back on track and Guy DELAGE's achievement is coming back to haunt him.
Now it's up to him to set himself a goal and do everything he can to achieve it. It was to be a purely solo, unassisted swim across the Atlantic.
After 4 days, he left hospital.
He wasn't interested in the feat for the feat's sake. He wanted to use his crossing to highlight the degradation of the oceans and, more specifically, the ravages of plastic. As he often points out, at the current rate of dumping, in thirty years' time there will be more pieces of plastic in the oceans than fish.
He founded the OCEAN HEART association to set up the project and raise funds.
50% of these funds will be donated to the TE MANA O TE MAONA association in Polynesia, which fights to save sea turtles.
The other half will go to the Ligue contre le Cancer. It was Fabien's father who gave him a taste for sport and challenging himself. This crossing is also a tribute to him. He died of cancer two months after Fabien's stroke.
PUSH YOUR LIMITS
Our slogan takes on its full meaning with this crossing. Pushing back doesn't mean crossing your limits, it means doing what it takes to make the seemingly impossible possible.
Calling on the best specialists to design and build a unique raft measuring 4.30 m by 2.50 m, which will serve as his home base and drift with the currents, guided only by his rudders coupled to the GPS. Designed by François Lucas and built by ATFACO.
Find partners for equipment, nutrition, navigation... and prepare physically and mentally.
Fabien plans to swim 12 hours a day, alternating between bifins and monofin strokes, with 4-hour sessions and 2-hour breaks. The training will be in the same vein: 1 hour of running in the morning and 2 hours of swimming in the evening. All this is punctuated by a crossing of the English Channel and other very long-distance competitions.
For such a feat, the equipment has to be up to the task. We made his monofin and bifins, which are extra soft, in hardness 0, as well as his snorkel. Monofin and bifins are fitted with made-to-measure footpockets.
Beyond the feat, sharing is important. To spread his message about protecting the oceans, Fabien is already visiting schools to talk about his crossing.
His visits will be amplified and supported by the making of a film and the publication of a book.
If you want to follow the adventure :
