Seven Swims in the Ancient Seven Seas

Seven Swims in the Ancient Seven Seas
April 2022 - August 2023

David Rich, Life Member, Dolphin Club (33 years)

In 2019, the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) nominated David Rich for the “Offering of the Year Award” to honor his marathon swimming concept: The Ancient Seven Seas. Various cultures at different times have referred to bodies of water along trade routes as The Seven Seas.  The notion entered Western consciousness from Greek literature mostly centered around Mediterranean waters.  David’s choice of seas and track record of marathon swims in these waters includes:

●     10 km in the Arabian Sea: Ras Al Hamra, Oman, April 8, 2022 in 3 hours, 17 minutes

●     10 km in the Red Sea, Hurghada, Egypt, April 16, 2022 in 2022 in 2 hours, 56 minutes

●     10 km in the Mediterranean Sea - Majorca, Spain, June 2, 2022 in 3 hours, 2 minutes

●     11 km in the Adriatic Sea, Split, Croatia, 26 May 2023 in 2 hours, 43 minutes

●     10 km in the Black Sea, Kilyos, Turkey, 1 June 2023 in 2 hours, 42 minutes

●     10 km in the Aegean Sea, Rhodes, Greece, 11 July 2023 in 3 hours, 29 minutes

●     14 km in the North Sea, Deal, England, 26 August 2023 in 2 hours, 47 minutes

David provides the following description of his exploits:

Over the past 30 years, I’ve been interested in doing open water swims as much for the adventure and historical context of the swim locations as for the challenge of an endurance swim. I’ve been drawn to pioneering or exploring new swim challenges around the world before they are widely known. For example, I swam across the Dardanelles Strait in Turkey that separates Europe from Asia in 1993 before cross-continental swims became international events. The same for the Strait of Gibraltar which connects Europe (Spain) and Africa (Morocco) which I swam in 2005.

It was at the Dolphin Club over 25 years ago that the idea of the Seven Seas swim came to me. People sailed the Seven Seas, why not swim them?  It would be a series of adventures to many parts of the world to experience new cultures, people, and seas. I did research on the seven seas and found a rich history, but had to file it away. Living in San Francisco at the time made the distance and cost to reach these destinations, which are located in Europe and the Middle East, unrealistic at the time.

The inspiration for this project came from Lewis Pugh, the British environmental campaigner and ultra-marathon swimmer. In August 2014, he created and completed the WOWSA-recognized project “Seven Swims In The Seven Seas For 1 Reason” to bring awareness to the need for ocean conservation and marine-protected areas around the world.

I met Lewis in 2019 and after a discussion about his Seven Seas swim, I proposed it as a new marathon swim challenge which the World Open Water Swimming Association recognized in 2019. I thought a swim challenge of more obtainable distances (10km marathons) as an alternative to the ultra-marathon distances (30-40km+) of the existing Oceans Seven campaign would appeal to a broader range of people.

With a move to London in 2020, I was within geographic reach of the seven seas and the opportunity to achieve my swimming goal. After the world came out of Covid, I realized it was now or never, so I jumped on the challenge starting in April 2022.

I faced three major hurdles throughout this 16-month journey.

While these swims were marathon swim distances of 10km and required training, logistics was the biggest obstacle I had to overcome! Traveling to 7 countries in the Middle East, Europe, and the UK over 5 separate trips in 16 months required a lot of planning across flights, hotels, and swim locations.  I also needed to accommodate my work schedule as a marketing executive for a global technology company.

Second, this challenge took me to seas where there were no governing swimming organizations.  A good example is the Channel Swimming Association which provides a wide range of information and support for those who want to cross the English Channel. While Lewis shared some helpful insights, I was largely on my own to select a location in the sea for each swim; find a boat, captain, and crew; and to chart a course based on currents and tides in each country. This was trial and error, and I optimized my planning and approach as this journey went along. I reached out to swimmers for advice through online swimming forums and networks, which yielded some helpful support, but information was still limited since these were new solo swims.

The last challenge was communications. English was not the first language for most of these boat captains or crew, and they had never piloted a long-distance swimmer before. It took a little time to explain that I didn’t want to rent their boat to fish, scuba dive or snorkel, but simply swim for over 3 hours alongside it. When they got the concept of the Seven Seas swims, the captains and crew were excited to support my goal. At times, it felt like a comedy as we attempted to speak in broken sentences and hand gestures while pointing at images of coastal maps on my phone to determine where to swim and the direction of the current. We didn’t always get this right. What follows are my notes on some of these adventures.

Oman - the Arabian Sea - the first of the seven swims

A British swimmer living in Oman, [dr1] who responded to my request for information through an online swim forum, suggested we start 2 miles offshore from Al Fahal island, swim toward land and then south along the coast. My Omani captain and Pakistani crew member understood those directions after pointing to the island on a map on my phone and then waving my arms south. Beyond that, they had little ability to aid me as a distance swimmer. I was glad the captain waited until after I finished the swim to tell me that Al Fahal island where I started the 10k is also called Shark Island, for a reason

My wife, who was my support on each swim, enjoyed discussing with the crew their daily lives as fishermen and boat pilots in Oman. In fact, this was the best part of these swims for Noelle as she struck up conversations with each crew to learn about local customs and life in each country. After the swim, the proud Omani captain motored us past his little coastal village to show us his rustic house by the shore where he and his wife and 8 kids lived.

Egypt - the Red Sea

This swim was like a comedy on the Red Sea. Originally, I signed up for a 10km race in the Red Sea to give me a break from the logistics and planning. The night before the race, I learned it consisted of swimming laps in a small cove near the hotel. I thought there’s no way I’ve come all this way to Egypt to not swim out over the famous coral reefs and sea life in the Red Sea. So, I scrambled with the help of the hotel manager to find a marina that could rent me a boat with a captain. The next morning, we went to the marina at 8AM ready to go, only to learn that things move at a different pace in Hurghada, Egypt. The first boat they offered me the night before, had engine trouble and would not be available. The second boat they offered could accommodate 40 people and was far too big. The third boat was a small rib-style boat that was just right, and finally a few hours later, we were off.

The blue waters felt magical, and were incredibly clear with colorful coral reefs, and underwater caves and vistas. There was a variety of marine life and at one point a pod of dolphins escorted me for about 10 minutes. The water was quite warm at 78F.

Two hours into the swim, the engine of the third boat stopped working. A fourth boat was called to come out and fix the engine. At that point, the captain told me just to keep swimming and that they would catch up to me when the engine was fixed. With no estimate of when that would be, and no swim float for safety on the vast Red Sea, I chose the rational solution and tread water nearby.

 The best moment was floating next to the boat and fully appreciating that I was swimming in the Red Sea, the cradle of ancient civilization and religion. All the while, three men frantically worked to fix the engine. It also dawned on me that Ramadan, Easter, and Passover were being celebrated on that same day, just as they had for thousands of years in that part of the world.

Black Sea - Turkey
I put this swim off for a year due to the war in Ukraine.  Though I was going to swim my 10k course about 200 miles south of the fighting, the conflict loomed in my mind. I dedicated that swim to the people of Ukraine.

This swim was an example of meeting local people and swimmers along the way who shared the same passion for endurance swims in the sea.  It was difficult to find a boat, captain, and location within an hour of Istanbul where we were staying. I was able to get an online introduction from a swimmer on the island of Mauritius who knew a swimmer in Istanbul who might be able to help me.

Sure enough, the Turkish swimmer, Kamil, was not only an accomplished long-distance swimmer (first Turk to complete the Triple Crown), but a swim organizer. He coordinated the boat, captain, and swim course off the north coast of Turkey, and then hosted me and my wife for a wonderful Turkish breakfast overlooking the Black Sea after the swim. These connections along the journey resulted in new friends and fun memories that made this whole endeavor special.

Aegean Sea - Rhodes, Greece

This was by far the most torturous of the swims, not only due to the windy conditions and strong currents, but also because the raging winds of 25-30 knots pushed my swim out 3 days in a row. With one day left on Rhodes, I changed my plane home to London to get one more attempt to swim.

The day of the swim started with mild winds at 7-9 knots an hour, and some rolling swells, but the forecast called for the winds to die down as the morning went along, so I jumped in and took off. As I passed the ancient Greek acropolis from 280 B.C. high on the cliff outside the town of Lindos, I was once again reminded of the historic context that makes the Ancient Seven Seas so unique.

Over the first 2 hours it became clear that things had become worse instead of better. Violent conditions had moved in and we found ourselves in 6-7 foot swells with large white caps breaking, and howling wind. It was the first time in a solo swim that I was more concerned about the crew in the boat than myself. I could see the small boat bouncing off the waves and knew it was tough for them to safely stay near me without getting swamped by waves. It was at that point, as well, that my son, Dillon, called out that I had been swimming in place for the last 20 minutes. The current had apparently changed course and was now heading straight into the wind creating major turbulence. The skipper’s boss was on the radio and wanted us to abort the swim and come back as he thought the conditions were too dangerous. Noelle intervened, knowing that this was my last shot to complete the swim, and convinced the skipper to stay out there with me.

After a few minutes of yelling across the waves and wind, we agreed to turn and head directly to the coast where there was a series of small islands that might provide some break from the wind. We banged our way through the waves and eventually got to a semi-sheltered section of the coast. By this time, the rough conditions had taken a toll on me, but I got through the final hour and a half to complete the Aegean swim in 3 hours and 29 minutes.

It was 1PM and we had a flight home to London scheduled to leave in a few hours. We quickly motored back to shore, said our goodbyes, and jumped in the car for the hour drive back to the hotel. We collected our luggage, raced the rental back to the airport and jumped on a plane to London. When we arrived home around 11PM, rather than celebrate the completion of the Ancient Seven Seas, we went straight to bed!”

The WOWSA Offering of the Year nomination reads, “The Oceans Seven is a difficult challenge that has attracted some of the world's foremost channel swimmers - only 18 have completed it to date. A new swim challenge, the Ancient Seven Seas offers a similar global concept with the goal of inspiring and expanding participation through more accessible marathon swims. At a minimum of 10 kilometers in each of the Ancient Seven Seas (Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and North Sea), this unassisted solo challenge takes swimmers through the cradle of civilization with different cultures, religions, and views. Swimmers can select and create their own preferred courses in the Seven Seas and do not necessarily need to be shore-to-shore or point-to-point. For building bridges with other cultures while interacting around a common love of the oceans and swimming; for creating a serious yet accessible marathon adventure, in terms of time and training, that enables more swimmers to participate; and for advancing the long history and concept of the Seven Seas, The Ancient Seven Seas challenge proposed by David Rich is a worthy nominee for the 2019 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.”

Pending ratification by the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA), David Rich will become the first American, and second swimmer after Lewis Pugh, to have completed the Ancient Seven Seas.