From the inspiring to the tragic, ‘This Week in Adventure’ presents a wrap-up of top news in the world of exploration and adventure.
300-Mile Pacific Garbage Patch Swim Concludes
Ben Lecomte, a long-distance open-water swimmer, arrived in San Francisco on Saturday after swimming 300 nautical miles through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Sponsored by natural apparel company icebreaker, Lecomte arrived in San Francisco after 79 days at sea exploring the highest concentration of ocean plastic in the world.
Lecomte and the crew of his chase vessel, Vortex, found a “smog” of microplastic and microfiber pollution. With an average of over one plastic fragment every other second, they witnessed first-hand how one of the most remote places on the planet is contaminated by plastic pollution, and the impact it has on marine life. The crew will share this data with scientists around the world to help educate and inform future research.
16-Year-Old Climate Activist Sails Atlantic to UN Climate Summit
Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden, arrived in Manhattan on Wednesday after sailing 15 days across the Atlantic Ocean to the U.N. Climate Summit. Thunberg made the journey by sailboat to avoid contributing to the carbon emissions created by a trans-Atlantic flight.
The teenage activist, nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, is known for promoting school strikes by climate-aware students. She joined protesters in New York after her arrival. Learn more here.
Borge Ousland & Mike Horn Headed for North Pole
Two legends of polar exploration, Borge Ousland and Mike Horn, departed Nome, Alaska, bound for the North Pole on Sunday, according to an Instagram post by Horn. They plan to sail as far into the Arctic Ocean as the ice allows. They will then leave Horn’s boat, Pangaea, and continue on skis across the frozen ocean to the Geographic North Pole.
Ousland estimated it will be a 500km journey to the Pole if they manage to reach their anticipated drop-off point of 86 degrees north. Read more about the upcoming epic at ExplorersWeb.
72-Year-Old Running From England to Nepal
Rosie Swale-Pope, a 72-year-old army veteran, is currently in Hungary after departing her home in England pulling a small carbon fiber cart she calls Ice Chick. Her destination? Nepal.
While her run sounds audacious, Swale-Pope is no stranger to long, tough trails. She has sailed around the world twice, ridden solo across Chile on horseback, and run 32,000 km through Europe, Russia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada, the U.S., Greenland, and Iceland. So her latest adventure, which originally started as a journey to Berlin to meet her book publishers, falls squarely in her wheelhouse.
We’ll keep an eye on her run as she makes her way across Europe. Learn more about her backstory here.
Child Angler Lands 150-Pound Tarpon to Set Record
We’re not quite sure about the official nature of this “area record,” but this is a heck of a fish tale. Cole Narkiewicz, 11, set the new north Florida record by landing a tarpon after a battle that exceeded 3.5 hours. The previous record for the longest tarpon fight time was just over 2 hours.
Narkiewicz was fishing with his family off the coast of Amelia Island with Captain T.D. Lacoss from the Amelia Angler. Captain Lacoss said the lunker exceeded 150 pounds and dragged the 35-foot boat from Florida to Georgia and then back to Florida during the fight. Watch some highlights below.
