THE ATLANTIC SWIM
Ben Lecomte began his Atlantic swim on July 16, 1998 from Cape Cod, USA. He reached his destination, the French Shore of Quiberon, 73 days later on September 25.
His 3,700-mile journey made Lecomte the first man to swim across the Atlantic Ocean without the assistance of a kickboard.
Along the way Lecomte faced rugged ocean and encountered harsh weather and sea creatures such as sharks and jellyfish. He used a POD (Protective Oceanic Device), a machine that emits an electromagnetic field, to keep sharks away.
To accomplish this feat, Lecomte swam eight hours per day beside a forty-foot sailboat, on which he rested when not swimming.
People were able to follow Lecomte’s adventure via radio updates from the boat during his stops. His tale was also picked up by several media outlets including Reuters, BBC, ABC, The United Kingdom’s Sky One, and other news sources around the world.
Lecomte was also a guest on television shows like Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Following is a partial media result of the Swim Atlantic 1998 event, realized with a single press release:
Ben’s story broke July 1, 1998 in the Austin Statesman (his hometown at the time) and Cape Cod Times. Over the next two weeks, camera crews from: Sky One in the UK, BBC in London, ABC National, World Television News, Reuters Television and all the local Boston affiliated networks (WBZ, WCVB, WHDH, WFXT, WLVI, NECN/UPN) each did advance packages, then returned on July 16 to cover Ben’s departure. Additionally, newspapers and magazines from around the globe interviewed Ben at the Hyannis Yacht Club or via telephone.
Radio covered Ben’s swim from day one and continued to post updates three to four times a week. Stations from Japan, Scotland and Vancouver to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles all did features stories with Ben (both prior to his departure and using the ship-to-shore satellite system).
Publications or services regularly printing stories include: The London Times, Irish Times, II Messagero, Associated Press, Agence France Presse, BBC, Reuters, AP, UPI, and German Press Agency, to name a few. Citigate Scotland, a press cutting service, was hired to search all articles written about the event in the British print. The firm found more than 80 different articles published in the UK alone.
Ben’s story was covered by globally-renowned media outlets including Reuters Television; BBC Radio, Television and 24-hour News; NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw; ABC Nightly News with Peter Jennings; Sky One Television, UK; French Television, channels 1,2, and 3; Prosenbien TV, Germany; The London Times; The Daily Telegraph; Le Monde; People Magazine; Extra! Television; Hard Copy ; Good Morning America (live from Paris), ABC News.com World, CNN Television and CNN.com, USA Today, New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Investors Business Daily as well documentary and educational stories on The Learning Channel (Discovery Channel), and The Oprah Winfrey Show (guest and documentary piece).
In addition, each month over one million unique visits from more than 90 different countries visited the web site.
