Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Michael Ventre wants to become the first person in history to complete a transoceanic swim from New York to London. If all goes to plan, he will step off the shore of New York in April 2017 en route to raise a target of £5 million for Oxfam.

“My crowdfunding campaign for the New York to London swim has been extended to the 4th of January so hopefully that will help in getting to the much needed £20,000 target in order for pledges to be received. [People] pledged nearly £8,000 in 6 weeks.

Its 3,800 long miles [6,115 km] swimming alongside a support boat for up to 8 hours a day,” said the London resident originally from Botswana. “The swim could take around 7 months to complete. I’ll have to deal with sharks, killer whales, jellyfish and extreme weather. My mental toughness is also going to be tested like never before. But I’m determined to do this for a much greater cause.

I have an amazing back office team behind me working frantically trying to put everything in place.”

But the cost of swimming solo across the Atlantic Ocean is large. If we hit the £20,000 mark, then we will be in a much more secure position to take the project forward and to also try to obtain corporate partners for the venture.”

For more information, visit www.newyorktolondonswim.com.

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