Three swimmers have the explicit goal to complete the unprecedented Ocean's Seven - 7 individual crossings of the Irish Channel, Cook Strait, Molokai Channel, English Channel, Catalina Channel, Tsugaru Channel, and Strait of Gibraltar:Australian James Pittar, American Mallory Mead and American Jamie Patrick.
The trio are making their own individual plans to become the first person to complete this incredibly tough series of marathon swims, probably completed sometime between 2011 - 2014.
James (shown above), a recent inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, is the furthest along with the three. To date, James has successfully completed crossings of the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Cook Strait, the Strait of Gibraltar as well as swims around Manhattan Island and numerous other marathon swims around the world. He is slated to attempt a swim across the Tsugaru Channel in Japan this summer to add a fifth notch to his Ocean's Seven, leaving him with only the Molokai and Irish Channels to cross.
Mallory, who has completed the English Channel, is on track to attempt the Catalina Channel and the Molokai Channel this summer as well as the 27K Marathon of Toroneos Gulf in Greece in July.But Mallory will be patient on her quest. She will complete her Ocean's Seven with plans to complete a Strait of Gibraltar double crossing in 2011, Cook Strait in 2012, Tsugaru Channel in 2013 and the, hardest one of all, the Irish Channel in 2014.
Jamie, will start off his Ocean's Seven with an unprecedented 66-mile, triple-crossing solo swim across Lake Tahoe this summer.Then in a mind-boggling ambitious plan announced on his website, Jamie will proceed with plans to complete all seven of the Ocean's Seven channels within one calendar year in 2011.
Of all the great contemporary marathon swimmers around the world, we believe Forest Nelson has the potential to also complete an Ocean's Seven since he has already done the English Channel (10:33 in 2005), the Catalina Channel (10:35 in 2004 and 9:21 in 2009), the Molokai Channel (15:59 in 2006) and the Cook Strait (2008 in 11:56).
If we think about all the great marathon swimmers in history, Kevin Murphy, Alison Streeter, Michael Read and Greta Andersen, Lewis Pugh and Lynne Cox certainly had the physical and mental ability to complete an Ocean's Seven.
If James, Mallory or Jamie completes their own Ocean's Seven, then their names will be etched in the annals of open water history like previous generations of great marathon swimmers heroes and heroines.
Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones
