6-883: The Oceans Seven is a marathon swimming challenge consisting of seven open water channel swims. It was devised in 2008 as the swimming equivalent of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge. It comprises the North Channel , the Cook Strait , the Molokaʻi Channel , the English Channel , the Catalina Channel , the Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar . As of September 2024
12-631: A foundation. Since environmental and cultural factors can vary dramatically, comparisons of finish times are often debatable. The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming comprises three marathon swims: (1) 21 mi (34 kilometers) across the English Channel , (2) 20.1 mi (32.3 kilometers) between Catalina Island and the mainland in Southern California, USA, and (3) 28.5 mi (45.9 kilometers) around Manhattan Island in New York City, USA. The first known completion of triple
18-459: The challenge: Marathon swimming Marathon swimming is a class of open water swimming defined by long distances, with 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) being the unofficially held minimum distance. Routes are typically geographically based or buoy based. Geographical routes include crossings of channels and lakes, circumnavigations of islands, and stretches of coast lines or rivers. Buoy-routes are mainly found in competition events. Perhaps
24-824: The most famous route in marathon swimming crosses the English Channel , first accomplished in 1875 by Captain Matthew Webb in 21:45. The first woman to complete the crossing was Gertrude Ederle 14:39 in 1926 as a 19 year old, thereby setting a new fastest known time by 1:54 by employing the crawl stroke technique. Finish times for routes are highly dependent on environmental conditions and cultural context. Environmental factors include water temperature, tides, surface currents, and wind-chop. Cultural factors include swim direction, allowed equipment and swimmer assistance. These may be established by route convention (e.g. English Channel), by event organizers, or by personal goals, with Marathon Swimmers Federation rules often used as
30-415: The record for the fastest completion of all seven swims is held by Bulgarian Petar Stoychev who achieved it in 173 days, completing on 14 August 2024. As of October 2024 the record for the youngest ever person to complete all 7 swims is held by New Zealander Caitlin O'Reilly who was 20 years, 7 months, and 15 days old upon completion. The LongSwims Database maintains a list of swimmers who have completed
36-560: Was in 1987 by Alison Streeter MBE of English Channel fame. The Ocean's seven comprises seven channel swims: (1) North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, (2) Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand, (3) Molokai Channel between Oahu and Molokai Islands in Hawaii, (4) English Channel between England and France, (5) Catalina Channel between Santa Catalina Island and Southern California, (6) Tsugaru Strait between
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