https://youtu.be/KR1rSzjmlAU

It was a long time coming, but Mark Sowerby (MSF bio here) finally achieved the Oceans Seven today with a 10 hour 6 minute crossing of the Tsugaru Channel between Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan.

From his farm in the Gold Coast of Australia, the 52-year-old Sowerby has traveled the world over the last decade to become the 29th person in history to completed the Oceans Seven.

• English Channel, August 2015 in 14 hours 24 minutes
• Molokai Channel, April 2022 in 14 hours 23 minutes
• Catalina Channel, October 2022 in 10 hours 43 minutes
• Strait of Gibraltar, April 2023 in 3 hours 24 minutes
• North Channel, September 2023 in 12 hours 12 minutes
• Cook Strait, February 2024 in 8 hours 3 minutes
• Tsugaru Channel, June 2024 in 10 hours 6 minutes

After his 9-year journey to complete the Oceans Seven was over, Sowerby returned home and used his well-developed waterman’s expertise and sense of calm to save him from a freak injury in the ocean.

Listen above to this interview with Oceans Seven creator Steven Munatones.

Oceans Seven Swimmers in History:

1. Stephen Redmond (Ireland)
2. Anna Carin Nordin (Sweden)
3. Michelle Macy (USA)
4. Darren Miller (USA)
5. Adam Walker (UK)
6. Kimberley Chambers (New Zealand)
7. Antonio Argüelles (Mexico)
8. Ion Lazarenco Tiron (Moldavia and Ireland)
9. Rohan Dattatrey More (India)
10. Abhejali Bernardová (Czech Republic)
11. Cameron Bellamy (South Africa)
12. Lynton Mortensen (Australia)
13. Thomas Pembroke (Australia)
14. Nora Toledano Cadena (Mexico)
15. Mariel Hawley Dávila (Mexico)
16. André Wiersig (Germany)
17. Elizabeth Fry (USA)
18. Attila Mányoki (Hungary)
19. Jonathan Ratcliffe (UK)
20. Jorge Crivilles Villanueva (Spain)
21. Adrian Sarchet (Guernsey)
22. Prabhat Koli (India)
23. Dina Levačić (Croatia)
24. Herman van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
25. Andy Donaldson (Scotland)
26. Stephen Junk (Australia)
27. Kieron Palframan (South Africa)
28. Bárbara Hernández Huerta (Chile)
29. Mark Sowerby (Australia)
30. Paul Georgescu (Romania)
31. Zach Margolis (USA)
32. Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria)
33. Nathalia Pohl (Germany)
34. Caitlin O’Reilly (New Zealand at the age of 20 years 7 months 15 days)
35. Ryan Utsumi (USA)
36. Marcia Cleveland (USA)
37. Eduardo Collazos Valle-Guayo (Peru)

© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“

A World Open Water Swimming Federation project.