7 minute(s) de lecture
Are you familiar with the swimming equivalent of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge? Chilean Ice Mermaid and dryrobe® Ambassador Bárbara Hernández Huerta is an expert in it.
In June 2024, Bárbara completed the Oceans Seven marathon swimming challenge. Brutal and extreme, you can guess from the name what this challenge entails - seven open water channel swims across the most difficult channels and straits on the planet. It was first devised in 2008, and 16 years later, Bárbara is the first South American and 28th person in the history of the challenge to achieve all seven swims.
It’s been almost a decade-long dream in the making for Bárbara, swimming a total of 230km over the course of the challenge without a wetsuit and with no assistance other than hydration. But it’s been far from an easy journey. Often, the swims are in rough conditions, with swimmers battling strong currents, relentless waves, and cold temperatures - something that the Winter Swimming World Champion luckily thrives in. During the challenge, she also became the first person to swim more than 2.5km in Antarctic waters.
The ocean is tumultuous and dangerous, and it doesn’t always deliver the right conditions in the short windows of opportunity when needed. To complete her final swim of the series, the Tsugaru Strait between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, it took two attempts due to unsafe weather conditions. However, with much perseverance and the determination to make her dream a reality, Bárbara achieved what she sought to do. Check out Bárbara’s timeline of Oceans Seven swims below:
- Strait of Gibraltar (August 10, 2018) 14.4km (7.8 nmi)
- Catalina Channel (June 5, 2019) 2.3km (17.4 nmi)
- English Channel (August 2, 2019) 33km (18 nmi)
- Molokai Channel (May 23, 2021) 42km (23 nmi)
- North Channel (July 22, 2022) 34.5km (18.6 nmi)
- Cook Strait (March 1, 2023) 22.5km (12.1 nmi)
- Tsugaru Strait (June 14, 2024) 19.5km (10.5 nmi)
It’s been an exciting journey keeping up with each swim throughout the challenge, and we were thrilled to catch up with our incredible ambassador on how she has achieved her lifelong dream.
Congratulations, Bárbara. You did it! Completing The Oceans Seven has been a dream of yours for 10 years. How did this dream begin, and what motivated you to keep pursuing it?
Completing the Seven Oceans began with the desire to swim those iconic open water crossings that are very well known worldwide but that no Chilean woman had accomplished. It was a literal dream from my first open water experience of being able to swim at the end of the world to have the opportunity to enter those waters in connection with the ocean.
You’re the first South American person to complete The Oceans Seven. How does it feel to have achieved this for Chile and South America?
It is a great honour. I still cannot believe that for so many years, together with my team and sponsors like dryrobe®, we have pursued this goal. It goes beyond recognition or being the first. I hoped to be the first, but not the only Chilean and South American who can build their dreams in these waters. Caring for our ocean, teamwork, and perseverance are what really matter.
You’ve achieved so many incredible things along the journey, including the Guinness World Record in Antarctica for the longest polar swim ever in Antarctica or the Arctic. What have your favourite moments been?
I'm truly grateful for the privilege of doing what I love to do. I believe that Antarctica is amazing, and also our swim there was and unique and impossible swim, achieved only thanks to multiple wills. In other ways, the Oceans Seven challenge also left me with great learning and the absolute certainty that I do not conquer oceans: I adapt to the conditions that the sea wants to share with me, and with that, I fight for one opportunity.
I swam with different kinds of jellyfish, day and night, with dolphins and fish, with hypothermia too, in places with calm waters and also with waves and strong currents. It showed me that a clear purpose sustains you in adversity and creates opportunities. Extreme sport teaches you to embrace life in unique ways.
Back in 2022, you said that the North Channel Swim was the toughest swim you completed on the challenge up to that point. Is that still the case, or did another swim steal the title of the hardest swim?
I think it's because of hypothermia that is still in the ranking, but Japan, with two attempts, was also the most difficult emotionally to manage. Travelling and not being able to get into the water the first time left a deep mark on us and forced me to make profound changes.
What have you learned about yourself over the last decade?
I learned to build a path that would have my whole heart, I learned that strength is not only physical and that being vulnerable also gives us courage, I learned that the team is everything and that having the ability to surrender and being able to make difficult decisions brings you closer to your dreams. I learned that we do not always end up with the same people with whom we started to build the dream, and that is okay. I learned to treat myself with love and compassion and to give a place to dreams, pain, or sadness. I learned that the sea is my home and place in the world.
What support/ team do you need to complete such a huge challenge over such a long period of time?
Almost all of my technical team accompanied me during that decade. My family and boyfriend were key in the hard times, too, but I also believe that changes are part of the process, and I thank each person who was part of this, regardless of the time they accompanied us. Also, the support of sponsors and people helped us to finance these complex swims.
During the swimming challenges, you’re truly in the midst of nature and the mercy of the sea. What kind of wildlife have you experienced?
I love swimming in the sea precisely because of its fauna. Swimming with turtles, dolphins, fish, penguins, and even leopard seals is one of the most beautiful things in the world.
What advice would you share with someone who is dreaming big and building their goals and desires?
I would tell them to learn to make time an ally and to lose their fear of the word failure, to build and project, to give a name to their dream out loud, and they will be surprised. There is nothing more beautiful than building and living the life we choose to live, not because it is easy but because we decide to bet our hearts on a purpose. And if that means taking care of nature and connecting with others, that is beautiful.
What’s next for you?
We are working on double swims of more than 20 continuous hours and plan to swim the Catalina Channel and the English Channel twice.
In parallel, we are working on our return to Antarctica and on a third Guinness Record and our own foundation. The important thing is that everything is aligned with the care of the ocean and values such as perseverance and commitment to the environment.
Oh! And I also got married in September!
Follow Bárbara
Instagram: @barbarehlla_h
Facebook: Bárbara Hernández H.
x: @barbarellah
#dryrobeterritory
Published on November 15, 2024