By Lesley Walsh
AN intrepid Bangor woman has conquered a body of water that last year knocked her off course to fulfilling a life’s ambition of completing the gruelling Oceans Seven challenge.
But this year, Gráinne Moss, has beaten the tide, the restrictions and arduous obstacles of Japan’s Tsugaru Straight in a Herculean second attempt, placing her in an exclusive club of global ultra marathon swimmers.
As the first Irish woman to tick the world’s seven ocean bodies off her to- do list, Gráinne, who lives in New Zealand, is among fewer than 50 people who can list themselves among the brave souls to have achieved the feat.
The Oceans Seven swims include the 34 kilometre North Channel between Co. Down and Scotland; the Cook Strait between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, which is 22.5 kilometres long; the Moloka’i Channel between Moloka’i and O’ahu, Hawaii, which at 42 kilometres is the longest stretch; the English Channel, which is 33
kilometres; the Catalina Channel, between Santa Catalina Island and Los Angeles, at 32.3 kilometres; the Tsugaru Strait, between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido at 19.5 kilometres and the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco, which, at 14.4 kilometres long, is the shortest distance.
At 56 years of age, Gráinne completed her challenge last Friday, June 18, almost 39 years after her first channel swim, the English Channel, in 1987 when she was just 17 years old.
The challenge has helped Gráinne raise £50,000 New Zealand dollars – just over £21,500 for the charity, Kenzie’s Gift, that provides mental health support for those grieving the loss of loved ones.
In her first attempt at the Japanese strait in 2025, Gráinne swam 55km for almost 13 hours before the Tsugaru current pushed the finish beyond reach and she had to shelve the challenge all together.
This year, she went back and finished it — fuelled along the way by her mum Philippa’s potato and leek soup.
The span of 14,200 days between her first and seventh Oceans Seven swims is the longest in the challenge’s history.
“I went back because I wasn’t prepared to let last year have the final word. Completing Oceans Seven is
difficult to take in, especially when I think about that first English Channel swim at 17,” said Gráinne.
“This was about more than reaching the other side. Every donation helps Kenzie’s Gift support children whose parent or sibling has died or is seriously ill. I’m enormously grateful to my family, crew, pilots, coaches and everyone who backed me,” she said.
Kenzie’s Gift founder and chief executive Nic Russell, who also hails from Northern Ireland, paid tribute to the tenacious swimmer.
“Gráinne is one in a million — tough, funny, generous and gloriously stubborn. I am totally in awe of her.
“She could have made this just about the swimming, but instead, she has put herself through some of the hardest water on the planet to help young people she may never meet.
“That generosity is every bit as remarkable as the swimming. As two County Down women who now call New Zealand home, I couldn’t be prouder.”
By day, Gráinne leads New Zealand’s Ministry for Regulation as Chief Executive. Her swimming and fundraising are undertaken in her personal capacity.
And though the swimming challenge is complete, people can still donate by visiting https://gráinne.kenziesgift.com
