“I realize it’s completely mad,” said 45 year old Richard Pain, Australian film maker, environmentalist, and soon to be pacific ocean swimmer. In this article, Pain explains his reasoning for undertaking such a crazy challenge. Although no one has ever been able to swim the full 9000 km from Japan to the United States, Pain says that this does not faze him. “But I’m aware there is a lot of green fatigue in the broader population. This is a way to try and raise awareness by doing something more compelling. It’s like trying to do an environmental version of Super Size Me.”
Pain is planning on making the journey inside a 6 m long bottle made of thousands of used water bottles. Not only is this going to serve to protect him from sharks, but will also serve as a “reminder of the plastic waste that is threatening the Pacific Ocean.” Because the added weight of the bottle will add greatly the the dificulty of an already almost unimaginable task, the bottle will be towed by a boat.
Pain hopes to make a documentary of the experience. “I want to create that iconic media image that everybody picks up and says, ‘Oh my God, there’s a man in the middle of the ocean in a gigantic water bottle,’ ” he said. He hopes to grab and center people’s attention on the serious matter the garbage patch represents. He also hopes to raise $1 million for research of the North Pacific Gyre, which is where the garbage patch is gathering.
Pain must continue to train for about 18 more months before attempting the swim, which will take around 45 weeks in total. In order for it to even be possible, Pain will have to ride the Kurashio Current. “The ideal would be for me to walk in the water in Japan, the land of plastic, start swimming and emerge months later on Santa Monica Beach with Richard Branson handing me a cheque and looking at his watch and saying, ‘You made it with five minutes to spare.’”
Do you think this will draw attention to the pollution and toxic garbage collecting in the Pacific?
Do you think he has a chance of making it the 9000 km in 45 weeks?
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