In 2010, Chris Bertish paddled into 25-foot waves en route to a win at the Mavericks Surf Contest. The said contest is an annual competition at one of the world's most famous (and nastiest) big-wave breaks. The South African Chris Bertish began his attempt to be the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a stand-up paddleboard on Tuesday morning.

Know The Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometers (41,100,000 sq mi), slightly more than half that of the Pacific Ocean. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earth's surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area. It separates the "Old World" from the "New World".

The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. As one component of the interconnected global ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean, to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean in the south.

Chris Bertish Begins Paddle Boarding Voyage Across Atlantic Ocean

His route is planned, first to gliding out of the Agadir Marina of Morocco, on the northwest coast of Africa, shortly before sunrise. According to The Bulletin, the first five days, as he becomes accustomed to the paddleboard and fights to avoid being blown back to land, will be the hardest, he said — 90 percent of the challenge, in fact, by his estimate.

I’ve been hearing that I’m nuts all my life, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’ve been proving people wrong all of my life. But I’ve always wanted to push the boundaries because that’s where the magic happens.

Bertish can expect to battle rough seas, sun exposure and tricky tides and currents, as well as unforeseen obstacles. He had been waiting weeks in Morocco for the perfect window of weather conditions to begin, and on Tuesday, he concluded that it had arrived. His expected route will take him to the Canary Islands, across the Atlantic Ocean to Anegada of the British Virgin Islands, and then finally to a finish in Florida.