The Oceans Seven Achievement Of Liz Fry

Courtesy of Elizabeth Fry, North Channel.

Earlier this year, Elizabeth Fry crossed the 35 km North Channel to complete the Oceans Seven as the oldest individual in history.

Her Oceans Seven swims included the following:

Oceans Seven #1 on August 20th 2003: 33.5 km crossing of the English Channel from England to France in 9 hours 5 minutes at the age of 44 years 9 months 23 days

Oceans Seven #2 on August 2nd 2005: 32.3 km Catalina Channel from Catalina Island to the California mainland in 8 hours 56 minutes at the age of 46 years 9 months 5 days

Oceans Seven #3 on June 11th 2013: 14.4 km Strait of Gibraltar in 3 hours 35 minutes at the age of 54 years 7 months 14 days

Oceans Seven #4: On April 10th 2016: 45 km Molokai Channel from Molokai to Oahu in 16 hours 40 minutes at the age of 57 years 5 months 13 days in a tandem swim with Marcy MacDonald

Oceans Seven #5 on September 11th 2016: 19.5 km crossing of the Tsugaru Channel in Japan from Honshu to Hokkaido in Japan in 15 hours 48 minutes at the age of 57 years 10 months 14 days

Oceans Seven #6 on March 30th 2019: 23 km crossing of the Cook Strait from the North Island to the South Island in New Zealand in 9 hours 54 minutes at the age of 60 years 5 months 2 days in a tandem swim with Nora Toledano

Oceans Seven #7 on August 25th 2019: 35 km crossing of the North Channel from Northern Ireland to Scotland in 11 hours 13 minutes 11 seconds at the age of 60 years 9 months 28 days

She recalled her North Channel crossing, “I got stung by jellyfish. I hit a bloom of Lion’s Manes in the first hour in the dark – 7 minutes after starting. The stings and whips primarily hit my left side and face. It was very painful, but the salt and cold made the stings tolerable. Once the daylight hit, my crew were set up as spotters and directed me around as many jellyfish as possible, a few times the blooms were too large and I was forced to stop.

I slowly tried to weave around each one. In addition to Lion’s Manes, there were compass and barrels – enormous but harmless – that were mainly on the Scotland coast.

My normal stroke count is 62, but to stay warmer in the North Channel – in my mind – I was sprinting with a stroke count of 64.”



Three Oceans Seven swimmers together: Elizabeth Fry, Mányoki Attila and Nora Toledano.

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