Average speed question

[snowleopard]

Click

This woman claims to have swum across the Atlantic, covering 2100 miles in 24 days swimming for 8 hours a day.

According to my arithmetic that means she swam at 11 knots.

 

[matelot]

Its the Beeb reporting. Full of arty farty types so you cant expect the numbers to be right. Its the political cast and social responsibility of the article that has to be correct.

 

[BlueSkyNick]

[ QUOTE ]
According to my arithmetic that means she swam at 11 knots.

[/ QUOTE ]Maybe she did if she thought the sharks were after her!

I says she meant to swim 2100 miles to the Bahamas but ended up in Trinidad instead - but that the actual distance is still to be calculated.

Even so, it's still bollux.

 

[snowleopard]

Here is another link. Whatever the details, given a start and end date there isn't time for it to have been a full swim of the ocean.

Most of it must have been done in the boat so it seems to be a case of 'Woman goes for a swim in the ocean'.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Jennifer Figge's journey comes 10 years after a French swimmer, Benoit Lecomte, made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim covering 6,400km (4,000 miles) in 73 days.

Who makes up this rubbish. If b Lecomte swam for 24 hours a day for each of the 73 days he/she would have averaged almost 2.5kts. Not humanly possible. At most I'd guess at 8 hours a day actual swimming which then takes average speed up to over 7kts. Not even the olympic 50 metre sprint champion could swim that fast!!

 

[matelot]

dont forget the currents. And who said only one 8 hour stint per day?

 

[longjohnsilver]

[ QUOTE ]
dont forget the currents. And who said only one 8 hour stint per day?

[/ QUOTE ]

No one said 8 hrs per day but as an ex swimmer I can't imagine any one swimming for much more each day for 73 consecutive days. And of course there will be currents. But they'd have to be extremely strong to have that much of an effect.

 

[snowleopard]

The current there flows at around 1/2 knot. In the article I posted it said she swam for 'up to 8 hours a day'.

 

[PeterGibbs]

Must have got some slipstream from the shark cage!

PWG

 

[nimbusgb]

a 1500m sprint swimmer can do about 3.8 kts.

I get around 2100 miles so 700 hours at say 3 kts

thats 87.5 8 hour shifts

8 on 4 off = 2 shifts per day = 47 days

she did it in 24 days

She must make old Phelps look like he is doing doggie paddle!

 

[marklongstaff]

She cannot be claiming any world record or anything is she!!

Numbers don't seem to work...

How does this sort of thing get reported?

mark

 

[flaming]

I seem to remember that when the previous guy did it that it was noticed he did just as many if not more miles drifting downwind at night as he did swimming during the day.

 

[mobeydick]

Presumably, the other 16 hours were spent on board the accompanying boat, a sailing cat. I assume the boat was not on a sea anchor at night? Probably sailing at 8-10 knots.....

MD

 

[aquaplane]

Would the numbers work if she was swiming lengths in the pool on the QE2, crossing the atlantic?