Ryan Leung from Hong Kong is a lifer – he has been swimming all his life and continues to enjoy it.
The 35-year-old explains, “Since a young age, my deep love for the water has driven me to pursue swimming during my college years (at Wah Yan College in Hong Kong and University of California, Irvine in California). Now, after more than a decade abroad, I have returned to Hong Kong and discovered a newfound passion for open water swimming in 2021.”
The Big Blue has attracted him in ways that he did not expect in his youth.
“Embracing the vastness of the open water, I have challenged myself to new heights. One of my most exhilarating experiences was being part of the first‐ever relay team from Hong Kong to swim across Scotland’s legendary Loch Ness. Swimming in 13°C water
definitely tested my endurance, determination, and love for the sport.”
That cold-water journey spurred him to begin the Oceans Seven.
But instead of starting with swims closer to his Hong Kong base or warmer water crossings, Leung started with the notoriously cold, notoriously fickle, notoriously venomous (with its Lions Mane jellyfish) North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland.
His goal? “My aim is to inspire [people] to push your limits and embrace new opportunities. I hope my story and experiences
motivate you to discover the incredible possibilities that lie within you.”
What he accomplished is – pretty much – the hardest obstacle to overcome in the sport of open water swimming: living in a warm-water part of the world and completing a (very) cold-water channel crossing. He crossed the North Channel in 14 hours 5 minutes and endured water temperatures as low as 11°C, as the first swimmer in Hong Kong to do so.
With the North Channel under his swim cap, now he is planning to complete the Cook Strait: between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, the Molokai Channel between Molokai and Oahu, the English Channel between England and France, the Catalina Channel between Santa Catalina Island and Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Tsugaru Channel between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, and the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco, all during 2025 between March and August.
He raised money and awareness with his North Channel crossing for the Child Development Initiative Alliance, see here.
© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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