Courtesy of WOWSA, Pacific Ocean.
Seeker.com and the Discovery Channel are following The Swim, a transoceanic swim by Ben Lecomte. The American media outlets will provide updates, videos, social posts, and information throughout the 6-8 month assisted stage swim.
Seeker is a popular science-oriented social media platform thats explains the world through the lens of science. Aimed at addressing myriad topics while make science relatable and inspiring to young audiences.
The Discovery Channel, well-known for Shark Week, is distributed to over 100 million United States homes and seen in 224 countries across genres including science and technology, exploration, adventure, history and in-depth, behind-the-scenes glimpses at the people, places and organizations.
Lecomte was filmed yesterday starting on Ashikajima Beach in Choshi on the eastern coast of Japan where he cuaght the Kuroshio Current. Seeker is producing its coverage of Lecomte with Nomadica Films.
Nomadica Films is run by Jared McGilliard, David Clawson and John Collin Jr. who produced highly rated and critically acclaimed hits on Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Nomadica specializes in projects that take place at the ends of the earth, in some of the planet’s most remote and dangerous environments – which would include The Swim.
“The mission of my swim is to bring to light the current state of our oceans,” said Lecomte. “The research we collect during The Swim will ultimately help us better protect our oceans and I’m excited to partner with Seeker and Discovery to bring this expedition and our findings to the world.”
“We couldn’t be more excited to travel alongside Ben and bring The Swim to life for viewers worldwide,” said Seeker’s Chief Content Officer, Caroline Smith. “Not only are we documenting history, but we will be creating never-before-seen content in real-time from deep in the Pacific. Additionally, Seeker will shed light on key marine conservation issues, with the goal of driving viewers to take action to reverse the negative impact that humans have had on our oceans.”
Lecomte and his crew will have to navigate difficult and potentially disastrous weather conditions as the Western Pacific nears its typhoon season. Seeker and Nomadica Films plan to film Lecomte and his crew and bring these images to the world.
Seeker reports, “The Swim will be the first citizen science expedition of its kind. In collaboration with 27 science institutions including NASA and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Ben and his crew will collect more than 1000 samples along the way in an effort to learn more about plastic pollution, mammal migrations, extreme endurance and long term spaceflight. Ben and his crew will highlight the actions of their NGO partners, including Ocean Voyages Institute and Algalita Marine Research Foundation, and raise awareness of plastic pollution and climate change. They will also interact with 2500 students on a citizen science program with the Ocean Institute.”
“This is the perfect marriage of brands bringing a brand-new, stellar multi-platform content experience to our viewers worldwide,” said Scott Lewers, Executive Vice President of Multi-Platform Programming Strategy, Discovery & Factual.
Lecomte’s swim can be followed on the Seeker [see here] and on his website.
His live tracker can be seen here and a Facebook link is here.
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