Dean Summers’ Marathon Swim Story

Today I travelled through time. I spoke with Dean Summers in what will be my tomorrow… his today.

In hot pursuit of the Oceans Seven, the Australian has ticked off 6 of the 7 channels. The 7th, the Tsugaru Strait continues to allude him.

At home in and one the water, Dean is perfectly suited for the challenge. He even tells us about swimming with a shark for hours!

I hope you enjoy his story!

Find out more about each of Dean’s swims in pursuit of the Oceans Seven at: https://www.swimdean.com/

In his own words:

Dean is a long-distance marathon swimmer based in Sydney Australia.

He started work as a 16-year-old boy going to sea as a merchant seafarer and continued representing seafarers as a trade union official.

Dean has just finished 20 years as the Australian coordinator of an international trade union body, the ITF which represents 20 million transport workers across the globe.

Dean returned to swimming in 2013 as a way to manage stress and try to regain a level of fitness. He says he soon fell in with a bad crowd in pools of Sydney and was quickly roped into training for the EC. In 2015 he swam his first channel, the English Channel, and followed up with the triple crown within 12 months. 

He has been chasing the elusive Ocean 7 but remains one swim shy of that target Tsugaru Channel in Japan.

Dean swims with the Sydney-based coach and close friend Vlad Mravec who has a huge following in Australia under his Vladswim squads. Vlad has coached, encouraged hypnotized more than 60 successful EC swimmers and dozens of other challenges.

Dean lives with his wife Kylie in Coogee on the beautiful Eastern Beaches of Sydney. Kylie is a far better swimmer but doesn’t like cold, dark or swims where you lose sight of the shore.