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Ex-serviceman prepares to take on world-first swim across the Atlantic

A British father is about to attempt the first ever swim across the Atlantic Ocean.

Ben Hooper - a former serviceman from Cheltenham - wants to raise £1 million for charity during the record breaking attempt.

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Atlantic swim: the challenge in numbers

Ben has been training for this for years. Credit: Ben Hooper

A British father is about to attempt to swim across the Atlantic Ocean.

Ben Hooper has taken on quite an amazing challenge - in fact, no one has ever done it before!

Looking at some of these numbers, it might not be so surprising....

The distance

2,000
miles Ben will try to swim
12
hours per day Ben will spend swimming
4.5
estimated amount of months Ben will be out in the ocean

The danger

Ben is going to have to face some pretty daunting physical challenges over the next 140 days, from storms to sharks...

Credit: Ben Hooper
40mph
speed at which flying fish could hit Ben in the face
30ft
height waves could reach in a storm
26 ° C
lowest sea temperature Ben is likely to come across

The daily grind

And just how do you keep going during such a mammoth mission? Ben will need to eat and sleep regularly to keep himself healthy.

12,000
calories per day Ben is likely to burn
20mins
interval between Ben's "feeds" - food and drink thrown to him in the water

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