“What in the world?!? Why is the swim over,” asked the Red Bull Media House film crew. “He was still going strong, they wondered as they questioned the pilot’s decision.

But within minutes, the stiff breeze has blown into a gale. Rhythmic waves transformed into irregularly swells smashing over the gunwales.

Grabbing anything they could hold onto while sitting down in the escort boat, they were plunging hard into the troughs of an angry sea. Their questioning of the escort pilot quickly turned to respect as they now understood why Stephen Redmond was pulled out of the Tsguaru Channel by the wise Japanese mariner.

In the driving rain and dark of night, Redmond’s dream of the Oceans Seven was over. 3 times he tried, 3 times he failed. The skies were crying for him, pouring down sheets of rain as the Irish icon sat fully exposed to the elements oblivious to anything and everything. Thoroughly dejected, his body was limp, but his mind was racing to consider what was next.

The Red Bull film crew caught it all: shooting Redmond’s depths of despair and his frustration of failure.

Ultimately, Redmond would succeed against all odds, presenting Executive Producer Wolfgang Merkel, Production Manager Daniel Strobl, and Director Rouven Blankenfeld with the perfect plot line for a dramatic documentary. The Oceans Seven Project, a film by Red Bull Media House to be released in 2013, is among the nominees for the 2012 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year .

The new award is meant to identify products and services that (1) best support and assist open water swimmers achieve their goals, (2) are innovative, unique and beneficial to open water swimmers, race directors, coaches or administrators, and (3) have made the most positive impact on the world of open water swimming during the calendar year.

The nominations are meant to recognize some of the best and innovative commercial and free offerings that open water swimmers can enjoy.

Extreme swimmers, disabled swimmers, ice swimmers, marathon swimmers, professional swimmers, administrators, coaches, pilots, and swimmers from all walks of life have used, purchased and benefited from an increasingly number of products and services introduced over the few years.

The nomination of the Oceans Sevens Project reads,

“Red Bull Media House captured the essence of the open water swimming world when its documentary film crew traveled to Japan to film the Oceans Seven Project, the unprecedented completion of the world’s most difficult open water swimming challenge by Stephen Redmond. Their dramatic film, centered around Redmond’s attempts on the Tsugaru Channel, required 5 men hanging on for their lives in rough seas to film the Irish icon as he was tossed, bruised and battered in the turbulent seas in the North Pacific. Through its ability to document and glorify the exploits of athletes in extreme sports, Red Bull has lent its formidable global presence to the open water world where high risk is an inherent element of the sport. For its investment in the sport, for their risk-taking decisions to follow Redmond without any guarantees, for its breath-taking footage in a real-word drama that ended in success, the Red Bull Media House Oceans Seven Project is a worthy nominee for the 2012 WOWSA Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year.”

The 2012 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year nominees are (listed in alphabetical order):

1. Big River Man by Martin Strel
2. Channel Swimmers’ Chat Group by Nick Adams
3. Cork Distance Week by Ned Denison
4. FINIS SwiMP3 X18 by John Mix
5. Foggle by Karen Smidt-Allard
6. In My Element by Theodore Yach
7. iSwimToo by Stephen Coulter
8. Marathon Swimmers Forum by Evan Morrison & Donal Buckley
9. Midmar Mile Facebook Integration by Wayne Riddin
10. Night Train Swimmers by Vito Bialla
11. Ocean Care Solutions by Ron Adley
12. Open Water Swimming Insurance by Travis England
13. Oceans Seven Project by Red Bull Media House
14. RC Helicam by Andrew Martens
15. SWIM Channel by Patrick Wrinkler 16. SwimIT by Rick Senn
17. SwimPhone by Club Assistant
18. SwimTrek by Simon Murie
19. TakeItLive by Chris Lundie
20. Toa o le Tai Program by Bruckner Chase
21. The Henley Swim by Tom Kean

Online voting will take place here at WOWSA until December 31st.

The Oceans Seven Project is a documentary filmed on location of Stephen Redmond’s attempt at the Oceans Seven, produced by Red Bull Media House.

Red Bull Media House is a multi-platform media company with a focus on sports, culture, and lifestyle that offers a wide range of premium media products and compelling content across television, mobile, digital, audio, and print. It produces cinematic feature films and premium TV documentaries in the genres of wildlife, nature, science, and history, as well as innovative factual entertainment series.

Launched in 2007 in Salzburg, Austria, Red Bull Media House has a global network of correspondents in more than 160 countries with its first dedicated media subsidiary in Los Angeles, California established in 2011.

At Red Bull Media House, it is on a mission to fascinate – and figuratively utilizing Redmond as the brush with the Tsugaru Channel as the canvas, it created a masterpiece.

Photos by Mike Lewis after Redmond’s Catalina Channel crossing.

Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source