Figge’s mother plans 2,100 mile swim. HOAX
The AP originally reported that Figge swam from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa to Trinidad (2,100 miles) in 25 days while escorted by a boat. She was said to have rested every night and hopped back in the water in the morning.
Figge woke most days around 7 a.m., eating pasta and baked potatoes while she and the crew assessed the weather. Her longest stint in the water was about eight hours, and her shortest was 21 minutes.
There were problems with the story from the start. A few of the less-important ones included the fact that Cape Verde is at least 2,400 miles, not 2,100, from Trinidad. And the African islands are about 500 miles off the western coast of the continent, meaning Figge had a huge head start on her trip across the Atlantic. (It'd be like somebody saying they ran across America after starting in Cincinnati.)
Those are trivial though. The real issue stemmed from the fact that swimming 2,100 miles in 25 days is impossible. (Some newspapers picked up on this.) It's infinitely more impossible when somebody only spends 21 minutes swimming during one of those 25 days. Michael Phelps swimming his fastest would take about 20 days to cover that distance. And that's his fastest pace, sustained for three weeks, without ever stopping. Impossible.
Yet, somehow, the AP ran the story even though a few seconds of thought and a pocket calculator was enough to disprove it. They ran a correction yesterday that read, in part:
Figge swam only a fraction of the 2,100-mile journey. The rest of the time, she rested on her crew's westward-sailing catamaran. Her spokesman [said] that her total swimming distance has not been calculated yet, but that due to ocean hazards including inclement weather, he estimates she swam about 250 miles.
Swimming 250 miles is nothing to scoff at; but it's not 2,100. To go back to the running-across-America analogy, this would be like driving cross country with a friend, and getting out of the car every ten miles to run one mile for the entire trip. That'd be an impressive feat, but nobody would ever confuse it with running across the United States.
In an interview yesterday with the AP, Figge avoids discussing the validity of her swim and instead says she "never intended to swim the Atlantic." That may be so, but she didn't do much to prevent most American news outlets from reporting that she did. Yahoo Sports
10/15/08 Your 56-year-old mother tells you she plans to swim 2,100 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, from the Cape Verde Islands off the African coast to Barbados. She will swim behind a sailboat, in a giant cage to ward off sharks. She figures she'll be in the water six to eight hours a day, which means it will take her just over two months to fulfill her mission.
She'll dive in Dec. 1 and reach her destination sometime in early February 2009.
Your reaction?
If you're race-car driver Alex Figge, you smile, shrug your shoulders, and say: “Way to go, Mom. Be careful out there. We'll miss you at Christmas.''
Jennifer Figge has been doing multistage endurance events since her only son was in elementary school in Davenport, Iowa, so he was ''not shocked at all'' when she told him of her latest intention. ''I know it sounds weird, but everyone in our family expects stuff like this from my mom,'' said Alex, 27, who races in the LeMans series. “I'd be surprised if she wasn't doing something extreme.''
Her first challenge was a 300-mile, 12-day run across Iowa in 1989. Alex's third-grade teacher put up a map in the classroom that read: ''Where is Mrs. Figge today?'' The children moved pushpins across the map to chart her course.
It would take many, many pushpins to chronicle Figge's adventures since. She has run 400 miles across France, 350 miles across Romania, 450 miles across India, 576 miles across South America, 300 miles across Thailand (north to south), 300 miles across Iceland, and 180 miles across Mexico (the final 60 miles in a leg cast). She swam across the Straits of Gibraltar, from Tahiti to Moorea, from Turkey to Greece, across the Cozumel Channel, and through the heads of Sydney Harbor. Last year, she battled eight-foot-swells as she swam 52 miles from Cay Sal Bank in the Bahamas to Marathon in the Keys.
In all, she has traversed more than 3,300 miles on land, and done roughly 25 channel crossings by sea. But nothing she has done compares to her latest endeavor, a stunt that, as far as anyone knows, has been conquered by only two people, and never by a woman.
Guy Delage, a Frenchman, claims to have swam the same route from Cape Verde to Barbados with the help of a kickboard in 1994, but the swim was unsupervised and its authenticity has been questioned. In 1998, Frenchman Benoit Lecomte, who lived in Austin at the time, swam 3,716 miles from Cape Cod to Brittany to raise money for cancer research in the name of his father, who died of colon cancer. It took him 73 days, and he stopped along the way at the Azores Islands.
When Figge, who lives in Aspen, first approached Miami-based captain Bill Ray about helping her cross the Atlantic, he thought she was kidding. He soon realized she was dead serious.
What would compel a human being to attempt such a feat? Why would someone choose to swim through rough water, among sharks and jellyfish? What's the fun in breathing diesel fumes, and battling nausea and dehydration day after day?
''It does save on airfare,'' Figge said, laughing, after a training swim in Coconut Grove last week. “I only have to buy a one-way ticket to Cape Verde Island. The cost of fuel today is getting very expensive.''
And then she got serious. Well, as serious as this gregarious woman gets, anyway.
''If someone gave me 60 days to accomplish something, and I had the help and means to do it, this is what I would choose to do,'' she said. “In my life, I haven't really had many challenges, so I challenge myself. I like being out there. I feel a sense of calm in the ocean, like the sound you hear in a conch shell. I feed off the inspiration of people who have had real challenges. My father died of throat cancer. My uncle was an amputee. I had a cousin critically burned in a plane crash. Those people keep me going.''
She hopes to use the swim to raise awareness for a charity, and expects to finalize a partnership soon.
Figge said she feels fortunate to have the help and means to pursue adventure. Her husband, Tom, is a retired fourth-generation Iowa banker whose family name graces the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, and whose wooden duck decoy collection was valued at $5 to $10 million by Forbes magazine.
This trans-Atlantic swim will cost in the neighborhood of $500,000. Jennifer Figge said she is willing to foot the bill, if need be, but she is in discussions with sponsors who would help defray the cost.
Ray, the captain, has also been a huge help and he has donated much of his time because he finds the journey so interesting.
His 50-foot catamaran, aptly named ''Carried Away,'' is being customized for its maiden trans-Atlantic journey. The sailboat will be motoring much of the way, to keep at her slow pace, so 700 extra gallons of fuel will be on board. Ray also helped construct the 20-by-13-foot shark cage that Figge will swim in, and has been testing it for the past few weeks. He and his Miami-based crew will ship the boat to Spain on a freighter in early November, and sail it 1,500 miles to Cape Verde, where he will meet up with Figge.
''I always dreamed of spending 50-some days in a french-fry basket,'' Figge said, referring to the shark cage. “It's my playpen. We start out with small ones, and they get bigger!''
Figge said she inherited her spunk from her mother, Margaret Roberts, a former opera singer who went by Margarita Roberti and sang for 17 years in Italy and South America. While her mother was away, Figge and her dad played sports. She always loved swimming, though she never tried out for the varsity team.
But as she got older, she began to crave physical and psychological tests. One led to the next. Her son admits he sometimes worries about her.
'Alex will say, `I don't know why you worry about me driving a race car, you swim with sharks,' '' she said. 'And I say, `Yes, but I only go two miles per hour.' ''
Swimming for so many hours will burn more than 8,000 calories per day, so Figge plans to load up on potatoes, pasta, and other carbs. At night, she'll eat protein to recover. Dr. Jerry Homish, an emergency room physician who specializes in sports medicine, will be on board in case any medical issues arise.
Figge insists she is not nervous. On the contrary. She can't wait to get started.
''Mentally, I'm about 8,'' she said, giggling. “I feel younger now than ever. Some people are afraid to be out in the water where they can't see land, but that excites me. I love it out there, and when I finally reach shore, it's like when you're 3 years old and your mom and dad are waiting at the other side of the pool, cheering you on. It's the same feeling.'' Miami Herald