JORDAN RIVER - French extreme sportsman and pioneer of white-water rafting Andre Payraud on Wednesday threw himself into the rapids of the Jordan River in an attempt to promote peace in the Middle East.
"I hope to give a boost to peace in the region through this sporting challenge," said the 57-year-old adventurer, who has fearlessly plunged into the glacial waters of Mont Blanc, the Himalayas and the Andean Cordillera, earning himself the name "swimmer of the impossible".
Kitted out in a wetsuit, flippers, googles and a snorkel, Payraud hurled himself headlong into the foaming water at the Jordan River rafting base some 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of the Sea of Galilee where the river starts, before following its winding course down to the Dead Sea.
To keep himself above the tumbling waters and avoid the jagged rocks, Payraud lies almost flat on his "water-sledge", a foam-filled craft painted the colours of the rainbow -- "the colours of peace".
Just behind him are his two guardian angels, one of whom is his 25-year-old son Benjamin, who also shares his father's passion for wild waters.
Bringing up the rear is Payraud's film crew, headed up by director Bruno Peyronnet, who is capturing all his adventures on camera for a documentary.
Stocky, pugnacious and, as he himself admits, obstinate, Payraud carries out meticulous preparation ahead of each of his adventures, doing his best to pinpoint deadly undertows, fatal for even the strongest swimmer.
After making his way down the turbulent Jordan, Payraud will emerge into the calmer Sea of Galilee, which he will cross Friday, before heading to the southern-most point of the lake to the "island of peace".
Israel seized the island in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, but returned the largely agricultural land to Jordanian control under the Israeli-Jordanian 1994 peace treaty, reserving free access rights.
The longest in the Holy Land, the 300-kilometre Jordan River is a fountain of life in the region, with its three tributaries originating in Mount Hermon bordering Lebanon and Syria -- both theoretically still at war with Israel.
Water has been a source of war in the arid region for decades, but it was its property as a "source of life" that inspired Payraud to carry his out his watery message of peace.
05/25/2005 14:30 GMT