A 72-year-old French man has crossed the Atlantic in a giant orange barrel

But for Jean-Jacques Savin, a 72-year-old former military parachutist and pilot who just completed the voyage from the Canary Islands (off the coast of Morocco) to an island in the Caribbean, the question is an easy one to answer: to prove that man could survive the trip.Savin was inspired by fellow countryman Alain Bombard, who in 1952 showed it was possible to travel across the Atlantic living only off plankton, saltwater, and raw fish in a lifeboat for the sake of the challenge. Savin read Bombard’s book about his trip, Naufragé volontaire (Voluntary Castaway), and then decided to make his own voyage, departing the day after Christmas 2018 and arriving on the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius last week.His barrel was made of resin-coated plywood, built by two French barrel makers. He also rarely encountered other humans.While Savin had hoped to end up on an island with French history to make things easier in terms of paperwork, the ocean doesn’t care about your plans.

Source: www.popularmechanics.com