(CNN)A French swimmer has stepped ashore in Hawaii more than six months after entering the water in Japan in an attempt to swim across the Pacific Ocean.
Benoît “Ben” Lecomte, 51, set off June 5 from his starting point of Chōshi, Japan. His aim was to reach San Francisco, 5,500 miles away, via the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in a bid to raise awareness of plastic pollution.
Lecomte, the associate director of sustainability services at a consulting firm, said he hoped his endeavor would double as a scientific study on climate change, health and pollution.
