By now, you’re certainly aware of Ben Gravy’s latest exploit. The 7 Seas in 7 Days project saw Gravy surf the Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, and Southern oceans, all in the span of seven whirlwind days.
The history behind the phrase “Seven Seas” is an interesting one. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) The bodies of water included in it has changed over time, but Greek literature — from where the phrase entered the Western lexicon — had them as the Aegean, Adriatic, Mediterranean, Black, Red, and Caspian seas, along with the Persian Gulf. In medieval literature, they were the the North Sea, Baltic, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black, Red, and Arabian seas. Then, as trade routes blossomed in the Atlantic, the Seven Seas became the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico.
“Not many people use this phrase today,” researchers at NOAA wrote, “but you could say that the modern Seven Seas include the Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans. However, our ocean is more commonly geographically divided into the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern (Antarctic).”
The idea to attempt the surf trip of a lifetime came to Gravy pretty randomly. “My brain just comes up with these challenges for myself,” Gravy said to Fansided.com. “I thought that this was pretty extravagant, pretty large scale, and pretty impossible. So I think it just kind of started coming together. I’m not exactly sure what sparked the initial idea, but it kind of grew off the 50 states thing. It took like months, literally months once Red Bull was like, ‘Yes, we’re doing this,’ it took me months of picking it up, putting it back down, to actually figure it out. And eventually, I came up with something and it was on the verge of possible.”
Now that he’s back at home and recovered from what must have been one hell of a jet lag hangover, Gravy has had time to put together the eagerly awaited edit. And although the trip has been relatively well covered already, seeing it from Gravy’s perspective adds a whole new level to just how much of a feat it was.
