It was a long time coming, but Mark Sowerby 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
The day started unusually with nearly no winds and unexpected warm (22°C) water temperatures at the start in Kodomari on Aomori Prefecture. Sowerby was escorted by Captain Kawayama and was joined by his coach Tim Denyer, wife Heidi, filmmaker Jeff Tseng, observer Haruyuki Ishii, and Oceans Seven creator Steven Munatones.
The conditions were beautiful at the beginning. “There are fewer than 10 days a year where we see conditions like this,” said Captain Kawayama who is a veteran tuna fisherman on the Tsugaru Channel.
The channel was glassy smooth at times, but Sowerby was being pushed quite strongly by the Tsugaru Current. He was swimming ini one direction – away, in fact, from his intended target of Hokkaido, yet the eastwardly current was pushing him ultimately towards his goal. The positioning of Captain Kawayama was spot on. He expertly used the strength of Mother Nature to aid Sowerby.
As the day wore on, the sun remained bright, but the power of the currents continued and the winds picked up speed.
But, all in all, Sowerby was making excellent progress across the Tsugaru Channel.
Then, uncertainty hit.
Sowerby hit a rough patch of water where an underwater current and the direction of the prevailing winds ran into each other. Whitecaps filled the course ahead of Sowerby, but the rough water was northing that he could not handle and had managed throughout six of the Oceans Seven channels.
As he crossed a patch of approximately 100 meters, the water temperature took a sudden drop, from a constant of 20°C to 14.5°C. It was a shock to Sowerby’s system. It was nothing like his experiences across the North Channel and Cook Strait, but the 14.5‡C water was still quite tough to deal with.
For the first time, he asked for a warm drink and look like the Tsugaru Channel was gaining the upper hand. Sowerby had previously gone six-for-six in the Oceans Seven with a successful crossing of each channel. There was unfathomable that the 14.5°C water was going to knock him out, but the combination of a sudden drop of 5.5°C and white caps started to worry in.
After 8 hours 10 minutes fighting against the Tsugaru Current, Sowerby not only suddenly asked for warm water, but he also asked if he was making any progress. It was highly unexpected and uncharacteristic of the typically stoic marathon swimmer. Previously, all his feeds had been quick and efficient while Coach Denyer kept giving him succinct navigational updates. But there was suddenly a chink in his armor and his hands appeared to shiver a bit.
Cold was his Kryptonite.
But Sowerby continued to swim well enough. He was able to dig really deep and tackle the remaining 4 km with confidence despite the cold seeping into his bones. He knew he was getting close and his stroke count remained in a tight 56 – 59 spm range, a solid steady state.
Finally, he came towards the shoreline, touched the final onshore tetrapods, raised both hands, and his wife and coach joined him in celebration.
His Oceans Seven journey was complete. It was a little dicey at times, but mission accomplished.
For more details of Sowerby’s open water swimming career, visit his Marathon Swimmers Federation bio here.
Oceans Seven Swimmers in History:
- Stephen Redmond (Ireland)
- Anna Carin Nordin (Sweden)
- Michelle Macy (USA)
- Darren Miller (USA)
- Adam Walker (UK)
- Kimberley Chambers (New Zealand)
- Antonio Argüelles (Mexico)
- Ion Lazarenco Tiron (Moldavia and Ireland)
- Rohan Dattatrey More (India)
- Abhejali Bernardová (Czech Republic)
- Cameron Bellamy (South Africa)
- Lynton Mortensen (Australia)
- Thomas Pembroke (Australia)
- Nora Toledano Cadena (Mexico)
- Mariel Hawley Dávila (Mexico)
- André Wiersig (Germany)
- Elizabeth Fry (USA)
- Attila Mányoki (Hungary)
- Jonathan Ratcliffe (UK)
- Jorge Crivilles Villanueva (Spain)
- Adrian Sarchet (Guernsey)
- Prabhat Koli (India)
- Dina Levačić (Croatia)
- Herman van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
- Andy Donaldson (Scotland)
- Stephen Junk (Australia)
- Kieron Palframan (South Africa)
- Bárbara Hernández Huerta (Chile)
- Mark Sowerby (Australia)
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Fantastic mate