Sarah Hebert sets sail to cross the Atlantic Ocean

February 20, 2012 | Windsurfing
Sarah Hebert: the Atlantic Ocean windsurfing master

Sarah Hebert will try to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a windsurf board. The professional windsurfer prepares to challenge more than 3500 kilometers (2170 miles) of choppy waters, strong winds, sharks, and 30-foot waves.

Hebert is currently in Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, on the West Coast of Africa and is set to sail away on February 21.

She will be crossing the Atlantic Ocean with classic windsurfing equipment and will sleep on an escort boat. The goal is Saint-François, in Guadeloupe.

Each stop will have registered the GPS coordinates so that she leaves for another sailing day from the same point where she rested for a few hours.

The support team is composed of three professional sailors, a cameraman, and a photographer.

Sarah Hebert wants to cross the Atlantic Ocean to establish a challenging time and provide detailed information about the behavior of her body during the windsurf cross to a cardiology study.

The French sailor will try to windsurf eight hours per day for 25 days.

In 2006, she discovered a suffered a heart rhythm disorder and decided to have a defibrillator implanted to be able to compete at the highest level.

Three months after the operation, Hebert took the Formula Windsurfing World Championship.

The intrepid windsurfer has also conquered four French national titles, one European championship, and a runner-up trophy in a world competition.

If she successfully reaches Guadeloupe, she will be the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a windsurf board.

The first Atlantic crossing in a windsurf board was celebrated by 13 European and North American windsurfers in 1998 in the famous TransAtlantic Windsurf Race.