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Opera CEO Prepares to Swim across the Atlantic
rRogta writes "Previously reported on slashdot here, Opera CEO boldly promises to swim across the Atlantic should the new Opera browser be downloaded a million times in the first four days after it's release. Well, they reached their goal and in this press release it says he's now preparing for the long swim."
I figure he's going to swim from the Norwegian Embassy in Iceland, go to his mum's house, then swim to the US Embassy. Like this: http://people.opera.com/nicolasm/opera_ch05.svgz
Somehow I don't think he will be able to complete it:
g .h tm
http://www.didyouknow.cd/aroundtheworld/swimmin
Possibly the greatest triumph of endurance is Benoit Lecomte swimming across the Atlantic ocean.
Lecomte, born 1967, immigrated from France to Austin, Texas, at age 23. When his father died of colon cancer in 1992, it spurred him to do something extraordinary to raise awareness of and money for cancer research. With the help of Edward Coyle, director of UT Austin's Human Performance Lab, and dieticians, Lecomte trained to build his endurance, swimming and cycling 3 to 5 hours a day, six days a week for two years. On 16 July 1998 he set out from Cape Cod with 8 wet suits, a snorkel and some flippers into turning weather.
Navigated through the 40th and 50th latitude by two French sailors on a 12m (40 foot) sailboat and protected by an electronic force field, Lecomte swam 6 to 8 hours a day at two-hour intervals. He mainly used the crawl stroke, switching occasionally to a mono fin and using an undulating dolphin kick to carry him over the 5 600km (3 736 nautical miles) of relentless waves. 72 days later, on 28 September, he swam ashore exhausted but heroic at Quiberon, France.
I'm not sure it is possible to pull this off. Isn't the north Atlantic cold at this time of year?
From this surface temperature map it would appear that if he swam at a latitude of 30 degrees North, the temperature is around 70 Fahrenheit or 21 Centigrade all the way to Spain. From Spain to South America it's even warmer (85 Fahrenheit/28 Centigrade). Up beside Norway, it's only 55 Fahreheit (12 Centigrade), so he would probably need a survival suit.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Read the press release!
Jeez. It's a joke.
He's not really going to do it; he's figuring out a way to honorably get out of it.
Actually that would be way too warm to swim in. I swam in high school and while you hate to get in a cold pool, within about 5 minutes being in a warm pool is much worse. Probably the best temperature he could hope for would be around 60 Farenheit
Don't you hate pants?
In the north atlantic, life jackets just make your corpse float.
2^5
Actually, "wet suit". A life jacket floats your face up and drags your legs, which means a lot of resistance to swimming. You'll get exhausted before swimming a mile in a life jacket.
Yes, IIADS (I Am A Distance Swimmer).
For short time periods 60 degree water is fine, but when swimming trans-atlantic, you want something a bit warmer.
Temperature Fahrenheit | Exhaustion/Unconscious | Expected Survival
32.5 | <15 min. | 10 to 45 min.
32.5 - 40 | 15 - 30 min. | 39 to 90 min.
40 - 50 | 30 - 60 min. | 1 to 3 Hours
50 - 60 | 1 - 2 Hours | 1 to 6 Hours
60 -70 | 2 - 7 Hours | 2 to 40 Hours
70 -80 | 3 - 12 Hours | 3 to Indefinitely
Over 80 | Indefinitely | Indefinitely
From: http://www.walrus.com/~belov/hypothermia.html