DAKAR, Senegal -- Former British police officer Ben Hooper hopes to make history by swimming every mile of the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to South America. After more than three years of preparation, he set off on Sunday.The 38-year-old walked down a beach in Dakar and into the Atlantic Ocean, launching a swim for 1,635 nautical miles, or nearly 2,000 land miles (3,200 kilometers), from Senegal to Brazil.This is for my daughter, said Hooper, who filled a water bottle with sand to keep for the 8-year-old who he said inspired the swim. Its been a long time coming.Flanked by two boats and a crew of less than a dozen, Hooper aims to be the first person to swim every mile of the Atlantic Ocean from continent to continent, stepping on land again in March.He says he trained three years as he gathered a crew for the Big Blue, the main boat on which he will eat and sleep when he is not swimming for about eight hours each day through waters infested with sharks and jellyfish.Water has loomed large in his life.I nearly drowned when I was 5 in a swimming pool in Belgium, Hooper told The Associated Press. Ever since ... Ive had this affinity with water. It was the calmest Ive ever felt.Hooper said he had a bout of depression about 3 1/2 years ago and decided to turn his life around for his daughter. So he looked to water.Nobody had swum a full ocean. More people have landed on the moon than have tried this, so at that point I thought maybe this is my calling, said Hooper. If I can inspire myself, other people and raise money for charity, why not do it?Inspired by British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Hooper said he hopes to motivate others, especially children, to swim.Funding for the expedition has taken time, and the launch was set back several times as various crew members dropped out and the boats faced mechanical issues.This will be a major achievement overall, said Nigel Taylor-Schofield, the captain of Big Blue. If anybody can accomplish this, it would be Ben. He is very determined.The crew, including a paramedic, will track the miles, and Hooper has said if he gets to Brazil with the help of currents, he will swim until he fulfills the full Atlantic mileage.The challenges, be it marine life, dehydration, and more, will be vast, but Hooper says his biggest fear is letting the team and his daughter down. Hell listen to a playlist on customized earphones that he said will include eurotrash music, Eminem and The Scripts Hall of Fame. Hooper will also wear various gear that helps camouflage him from sharks, and a tracking device so supporters can follow his nearly five-month swim online.Around 10:30 a.m. on the beach outside the Monaco Plage hotel in Dakar, Hooper and the crew were ready.See you in Brazil, he said, before eventually swimming off into the sunlit waters toward his goal.---http://www.swimthebigblue.com/--Follow Carley Petesch on Twitter at www.twitter.com/carleypetesch Jordan 12 Bordeaux Sail . 8 Iowa State on Saturday, sending the Cyclones to their third consecutive loss. The Longhorns (14-4, 3-2) got their biggest win of the season with their third in the row in the Big 12. Jordan 11 Heiress Black Velvet . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. http://www.jordan11concord2018.com/ . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings. Jordan 5 Retro Premium Bordeaux . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Air Jordan 32 Rosso Corsa For Sale . On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. NEW ORLEANS -- Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry confirmed Monday that?Jrue Holidays return to the team is imminent.Holiday missed the preseason and each game so far this regular season to tend to his wife, former USWNT soccer player Lauren Holiday, as she recovers from the birth of the couples first child and surgery to remove a benign tumor from the right side of her brain.Not anything definite, but its probably going to be at some stage within the week, for sure, Gentry said. Maybe within a couple days.The Pelicans are 2-9 this season, worst in the Western Conference, but the team has said throughout Holidays absence that there has been no pressure on him to rush back.All of the guys realize what hes been through and how tough its been for him, Gentry said ahead of Mondays matchup with the Boston Celtics. Not just the fact that hes going through the thing with his wife, but to have a newborn kid also is extremely tough. Thats why we wanted him to do it on his terms, when he felt comfortable enough to come back, so he could just play basketball and kind of not worry so much about everything else thats going on. He wasnt going to be able to do that until he was comfortable with his wife and comfortable with his kid.The Holidays have spent the opening of the season in Raleigh, North Carolina, area near the Duke Universsity medical specialists who handled the surgery for Lauren, a two-time gold medalist and 2015 World Cup winner.ddddddddddddA league source said?Holiday?is in great shape, but the Pelicans are expected to limit his minutes as he works his way back into game condition. The Vertical reported last week that Holiday was expected to return within the week.Holiday, 26, was limited to a combined 74 games in his first two seasons in New Orleans because of right leg injuries, but he broke through in 2015-16, averaging 16.8 points and six assists with a career-high 19.7 player efficiency rating in 65 games. His season was cut short after he fractured the orbital wall of his right eye during a game, but he did not miss a game because of his right leg, besides planned absences in the first half of the season.My family comes before basketball, Holiday told the Times-Picayune in early September. Im obviously blessed to play this game and be in the position I am in, but my wife is the most important thing in the world to me. She comes before anything else.New Orleans plays Wednesday in Orlando, followed by home matchups against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday and Charlotte Hornets on Saturday. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '