Combining culture with sport and science
story by Mike Morris
photographs by Dayanidhi Das
The world’s first expedition swim around Maui spanned 140 miles over 13 days as a call to action for ocean health and marine science.
Robby Seeger had been looking to reconnect with the ocean. The former professional windsurfer wanted to spend less time working his construction job and more time in the deep blue water surrounding his island home.
During the pandemic, he was having a glass of wine with a friend in Haiku when inspiration struck: “I’m going to swim around Maui.”
Seeger then paired up with an accomplished German swimmer who would do the journey with him, however, as time went on his vision grew. Eventually, Seeger stepped back as a participant and became the organizer of a much broader event aiming to combine sport, science and Hawaiian culture. “The ocean is my happy place,” the 54-year-old said. “I needed a breakout project. My strengths are connecting people and outside-of-the-box thinking. I wanted to create something new based from the heart.”
His project manifested as Epic Swim Maui: In July, the world’s best open-water swimmers swam 140 miles around Maui to bring awareness to ocean health and science (swimmers wore special sensors that tracked critical data for scientists) as well as Hawaiian culture (the event honored the legacy of famed waterman Duke Kahanamoku).
The entire swim, along with interviews from community leaders and cultural practitioners, was filmed for a multi-part documentary due next year.
Adventure of a lifetime
The world’s first expedition swim around the entire island of Maui featured 15 of the top open ocean swimmers from 12 countries and six continents.
The 20-day event kicked off July 7 with an opening ceremony in Hana followed by the closing ceremony in Wailea. There were a total of 13 days of swimming, plus seven rest days. Nighttime accommodations ranged from tent camping to modern condominiums.
Because of the length of the event, most swimmers couldn’t commit to the entire expedition, so they swam a portion of it.
Ryan Leong, a 53-year-old endurance athlete based on Oahu, was one of the three swimmers from Hawaii who swam around the entire island. The other swimmer to complete the whole trek was Andy Donaldson, an ultra-marathon swimmer from Scotland.
Leong said they typically swam 6 to 8 hours per day, taking short breaks to drink water and eat snacks such as energy gels and traditional poi.
“We had some really tough days,” Leong said, noting how the ocean waves bounced off the cliffs outside of Hana creating rough conditions and what he called a “washing machine kind of motion.”
“What drew me to this was purely the adventure of it,” he added.
Swimmers represented countries including India, Egypt, Chile and Ghana. Athletes ranged from 26 to 66 years of age.
Swimming is typically a solo sport, but during Epic Swim Maui they swam together as a group. “It was not a race,” Seeger emphasized.
The renowned swimmers included Sarah Thomas, who previously swam the English Channel four times non-stop.
Many of the swimmers posted about their experience swimming around Maui on their social media accounts.
“There were many adventures had, from swimming with all kinds of marine life including sharks, seals and dolphins, to getting stung by man o’ war to swimming in 8-foot swells to sitting with cultural leaders to hear more about the history of the island and people,” wrote Jonathan Ridler, an endurance swimmer from New Zealand. “The biggest highlight was the people. The swimmers, the crew, the safety team. We came in as strangers and left as family.”
Connected to the ocean
Epic Swim Maui is an official activity of the United Nations Ocean Decade, a 10-year global initiative working toward ocean sustainability.
The expedition swim featured an element of citizen science, with the swimmers using cutting-edge technology to help collect data for scientists to analyze.
The team worked with researcher Dr. Dimitri Deheyn of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, to collect samples to test for microplastic pollution.
Deheyn said Epic Swim Maui allowed him to get samples of air and water for microplastic analysis in places that he otherwise would not have been able to reach.
“Working with the athletes and the local community also helped me put the data into a unique framework, a unique context, which made the analysis of the samples even more meaningful to me,” he said via email from Europe.
Swimmers also helped research PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” for the Hereon Institute in Germany.
Leong said he had an unintrusive device tied to the back of his goggle strap that would measure salinity and temperature. He and the other swimmers would also swim out and take samples in collection containers.
Seeger said a main objective of the event was to call attention to ocean health.
“This is more than just an extreme sport, I want to raise awareness for the ocean,” he said. “I think we need to raise awareness of how connected we humans are to the ocean.”
Celebration of Hawaiian culture
About a week into the swim, a community event held at the OUTRIGGER Kaanapali Beach Resort featured a screening of the award-winning documentary Waterman.
The 2021 film honors Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian competition swimmer who popularized the sport of surfing. His “legacy of ocean stewardship serves as a guiding example to us all,” event organizers said.
Seeger said the Olympic gold medalist is the embodiment of the aloha spirit.
“Duke would say, ‘In the water, we are all equal. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from,’ ” Seeger said.
Kahanamoku’s great nephew even swam with the Epic Swim Maui group, bringing awareness to youth drowning and swim education through the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation.
“It was never just about the swim,” Seeger said. “It’s a global celebration of Hawaiian culture. We are building the future by understanding the past.”
Seeger said the project received support from respected kupuna to local politicians. Partners included the County of Maui, Hawaii Tourism Authority and Maui Brewing Company.
Safety was a priority with doctors, emergency medical technicians and professional lifeguards on hand. The crew, lead by renowned waterman Archie Kalepa, Mark Pokini and Kurtis Chong Kee, created a barrier with five jet skis and underwater Seabobs so the swimmers could swim in the middle.
If a shark was spotted, the swimmers would temporarily get out of the water. In one instance, Leong’s “joyful” reaction to seeing a shark helped change the perspective of a fellow swimmer who feared them.
Haiku resident and award-winning filmmaker Stefan Schaefer was brought on board to capture stunning footage documenting the swim while weaving in cultural stories from each of Maui’s 12 moku, or traditional land divisions.
Schaefer envisions a full-length feature film along with a six-part series for a streaming service. Because swimmers flew in from around the world and the team worked with international scientists on the topic of ocean health, he said the project has wide appeal. “It’s really a global story,” Schaefer said.
And to think that it all started over a glass of wine on what Seeger called “a lonely Haiku night.”
“It has been two years of my life – hundreds of Zoom calls, public meetings,” said Seeger, who was inducted into the Windsurfing Hall of Fame last year. “I really do believe that it’s such a special swim. I do see it as the Mount Everest of open-water swimming.”
