Frenchwoman sets off to windsurf across Atlantic A Frenchwoman on Wednesday set off from Senegal to windsurf across the Atlantic Ocean, six years after she was fitted with a pacemaker to control a potentially-fatal heart condition. Sarah Hebert, a four-times French windsurfing champion and European champion, began her 4,000 kilometre (2,485-mile) journey from a beach north of the capital Dakar. She is expected to take 25 days to reach the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. The slightly-built 28-year-old from Carnac, in Brittany, northwest France, told reporters before setting off that the crossing was "above all a way for me to live my passion of sailing on the ocean." I love the ocean. I can't wait to get out there but I didn't want to do this alone," she said, adding that she was looking forward to having just the sound of the waves for company. Hebert, who says that she is using a "common-or-garden" windsurfing board, is being accompanied by a support boat with a four-man crew. She intends to windsurf for six to eight hours a day and sleep on board the craft every evening. The boat is also carrying four replacement boards, a dozen extra sails, a VHF radio, satellite telephone, a global positioning system as well as distress flares and beacons. She will restart her journey every day using the GPS to plot the exact point where she stopped the previous evening. The windsurfer has said she will listen to music during the crossing, as well as audio books by the author Jules Verne. Hebert's feat is another demonstration of her iron will and determination. In 2005, she was near the peak of her career when she was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia, a potentially life-threatening condition that saw her heart rate climb to up to 300 times a minute during hard exercise. To prevent a heart attack, doctors implanted a battery-operated defibrillator to regulate her heartbeat using electrical impulses. Hebert, who grew up in New Caledonia, described it as a "difficult time," not just physically and mentally but also after the French sailing authorities withdrew her licence to compete. The windsurfer said the decision was harder to take than the operation and came even though she was back on her board within two months of surgery and had won the European championship in 2006. She was contacted by Armenia to compete for them and in 2007 was runner-up in the world championships, while the following year qualified for the Olympics. Her transatlantic attempt is taking precedence over competing in this year's Games. But Hebert says she is not downcast at not being able to win a medal. "All I need is to be on the water, then to prove that with courage, nothing is impossible," she said.