Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

While hundreds of swimmers are on the Oceans Seven list for doing the English Channel, Catalina Channel, North Channel, Molokai Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, Cook Strait and Tsugaru Channel, there are others who prefer the camaraderie of teammates when tackling the Oceans Seven.

Bill Ireland [shown above], one of the world’s most prolific open water swimmers, is one of those individuals. Ireland participants in hundreds of events from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, from Australia to Bermuda, from Lake Tahoe to Fiji.

He has knocked off 2 of the Oceans Seven channels with relays: the Catalina Channel with Brad Magit, Dan Leonard, Tracy Edwards, Bruce Thomas and Steve Lowe, and the Molokai Channel with Amy Dantzler, Karen Schmidt, Brent Blackman, Bruce Thomas, and Dianne Gleason.

But when it comes to a relay-oriented team in the Oceans Seven realm, no one is more focused than the American three-man relay team of Chris Kraus, Brian Ross, and Rick Gaenzle. Then have successfully crossed the Tsugaru Channel, the Molokai Channel, the English Channel, the North Channel, and the Strait of Gibraltar.

Lower photo is courtesy of escort kayakers Jeff Kozlovich (lower right) and Steve Haumschild on Sandy Beach, together with Chris Kraus, Brian Ross, and Rick Gaenzle on Oahu after their Molokai Channel relay.

Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association