As a boy, Ben Hooper idolized British adventurers who achieved the impossible. Now, he plans to become one of them by swimming the Atlantic.

Hooper, 38, has prepared for three years for his mission, which will require him to swim up to 10 hours a day for nearly five months.

He will leave from Senegal on Tuesday followed by a support boat with 11 crew members, including a medic, and stocked with military food packs and energy drinks. He plans to touch land on Brazil's east coast.