What is the longest distances swam?

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

The longest distance ever swam by a human was 5,600 km (3,736 nautical miles) and was achieved by Benoit Lecomte. The journey took him 72 days to complete.

While Lecomte's achievement is very commendable, it was NOT continuous (i.e. he spent about 2/3rd of each day in the accompanying boat, sleeping and resting), and I think hardly qualifies for what we think of as long-distance swimming (i.e. being constantly in the water, even when resting). Also, due to currents, etc., the actual distance that Lecomte swam was likely only about 1/3rd that total distance.

However, he is currently attempting to swim the Pacific Ocean (Tokyo to San Francisco, miles) . It is expected to take about 6 months. While he will rest and sleep on board ship, GPS locations will be used to pinpoint where the swimming left off, so he will swim the entire distance.

Most open water swimmers use the standard that English Channel swimmers have long set as allowable assistance: "...require you to start and end on land, allow the use of a swim cap, goggles, and a bathing suit (but no wetsuit, flippers, or shark cage), and permit a boat crew to feed and hydrate you. But you can't rest by hanging off the side of a craft or sleeping on it, a luxury that some distance swimmers allow themselves." In addition, distances can be magnified if you are swimming with a substantial current, so it depends on where the swam took place as to the "validity" of it.

The longest known duration for an open-water swim is Canadian Vicki Keith's two-way crossing of Lake Ontario in 1987, a distance of 64.6 miles that took her 56 hours and 10 minutes.

The current longest distance using the above rules and with no notable current is by Penny Palfrey from Little Cayman to Grand Cayman island in 2011, a distance of 70 miles.

Diana Nyad in 1972 swam from the Bahamas to Florida unassisted, a distance of 102 miles. However, she was aided by a modest current.