Friday, September 25, 1998 Published at 15:05 GMT 16:05 UK
Swimmer conquers Atlantic
Lecomte set off from Cape Cod towards France on July 16
Frenchman Ben Lecomte, 31, now of Austin, Texas, USA, swum a colossal 3,716 miles when he makes landfall at Quiberon, in north west France between 1300 and 1500 GMT.
Attempt coordinator Colleen Turner, who is travelling in the support boat alongside Mr Lecomte, said: "He was explaining that all he has been doing is swimming, just swimming."
Force eight storms
Mr Lecomte, a marketing representative for American Airlines, has achieved his remarkable feat by swimming for six hours a day within a 25ft electro-magnetic field called a 'protective ocean device' which protects him from sharks.
He trained for six years before undertaking the swim in memory of his father who died of colon cancer in 1991, and to raise money for the Scottish-based charity, the Association for International Cancer Research.
Mr Lecomte, who has to eat for four hours every day to replace more than 9,000 calories burned while swimming, has battled through force eight storms, 45-60 knot winds and 10-20ft waves, in addition to tackling sea turtles, dolphins, jellyfish and incredibly cold water on the way to a place in the record books.
Ms Turner said: "This is not about amazing physical feats or records for Ben.
"What he's done is set the bar. There was another attempt several years ago by another Frenchman called Guy Delage - it must be something in the water here - who swam 300 miles less and he used a kickboard.
"Ben's gone above that by also using his arms. It's up to somebody else to set the bar again."
Other transatlantic records