Matthieu Witvoet (31, @matthieuwitvoet) and Chloé Léger (29, @chloeleger) will take off from Mindelo, Cape Verde off the coast of Africa on a 1,900 km relay swim to Pointe-à-Pitre on the island of Grande-Terre, in Guadeloupe, a French-governed archipelago in the Caribbean Sea across the Atlantic Ocean, starting at the end of October / beginning of November.
The husband-and-wife duo are attempting to set the world’s longest relay swim and the world’s longest female drift swim. They plan to wear a wetsuit and sometimes use a snorkel, gloves and booties while swimming between 8 and 12 hours per day (or 4 to 6 hours each). They will not swim night or under extreme weather conditions, or with any major injuries, technical problems and other problems that will impact the safety of the crew. Sea anchors will be used to slow the boat as much as possible.
They will also use Arena Powerfins (about 50% of the time) and Powerbreather Scuba while aiming to swim 50% of the total actual distance between Mindelo and Pointe-à-Pitre (while the remainder of the distance will be traversed while drifting on the escort.
They will be guided by escort pilots Symilien Lavigne and Chloé le Calvez and escort kayakers Lauren Meunier and Antoine Favier, and followed daily by 75,000 French schoolchildren on their 3,500+ km transoceanic crossing, called The Atlantic Swim. Their aim of the three-month long crossing is to publicize environmental issues and to raise awareness among the general public with a special focus on schoolchildren.
Their Support Team
Their dryland support team includes Stéphane Lecat, a dual ISHOF-IMSHOF Honor Swimmer and head of the French national open water swimming team, Adrien Guibelin, a kinesitherapist of the French National Ski Team and coach, Yann Peltier, a doctor of the cycling team Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Benoit Nave, an ultra distance athlete nutritionist, and Nadia Sammut, a Michelin star chef.
Their Escort Boat
Their escort boat will use of a desalinator to conserve freshwater in addition to use of on-board water recycling and imposing daily quotas on the swimmers and crew. They will also use a solar oven and solar engine.
Eco-adventure History
Witvoet road of eco-adventures began in 2017 with a 18,000 km global bike ride where he mapped out over 300 plastic waste solutions from bioplastics in Indonesia to recycling in favelas in Brazil. He later joined the Circul’R teams to create a community of exchange between 50 large groups in partnership with the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
Circul’R is a global network of circular economy startups. Its vision is to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy by connecting pioneering startups, NGO, and multinationals worldwide. The Circul’R Club is a quarterly meeting that regroups 40 multinationals, 40 circular economy startups, and the French Ministry of Environment. His role is to organize the event, identify, and coach the most inspiring speakers and facilitate the collaboration between participants. He has worked with L’Oréal, Décathlon, Patagonia, Sanofi, and Engie.
Matthieu and Chloé also did an assisted crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar and Croissy sur Seine where they focused on the removal of cigarette butts across France. In June 2021, he and his partners organized an extensive collection of cigarette butts with 855,000 butts collected in 3 hours by over 1,000 people throughout Paris. Then he swam 380 km down the Seine in a relay to symbolize the journey of a cigarette butt from Paris to the sea.
Eco-adventure Mission
Matthieu wisely pointed out, “Sport has the power to make people experience emotions and when you feel this emotion, you become more receptive to the message. For me, it’s essential to inspire and challenge without making people feel guilty. Then you can say to yourself, ‘If he does it, why can’t I?’ In this way, sports and sports events can mobilize people and contribute to these changes in behavior.”
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