‘Dream come true’: Explorer swims world’s Seven Seas to honour late grandfather

An explorer’s dream is set to become a reality as he is on the verge of achieving two world records after swimming the world’s Seven Seas in memory of his grandfather.

Louis Alexander, 24, has tackled 10km swims in each of the “classical Seven Seas”, starting with the Red Sea in Egypt on June 4.

He then made his way to the Arabian Sea in Oman, the Aegean Sea in Greece, the Adriatic Sea in Italy, the Black Sea in Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea in Spain.

Mr Alexander is on track to achieve two world records (Thomas Franks/PA)

He was overcome with emotion as he emerged from the North Sea on Friday after taking on his final swim.

“It’s amazing to finish in the UK,” Mr Alexander, who is based in Richmond, south-west London, told the PA news agency, from Margate Main Sands beach.

“It’s also a strange feeling to start a seven-week challenge which has been the toughest thing I have done in my life and then it just ends in one split moment.”

Mr Alexander finished his swimming challenge on Friday (Thomas Franks/PA)

Mr Alexander took on the feat to honour his grandfather Captain Rick Taylor – who served in the British Army for 38 years and died in 2019 with dementia – both through visiting places he was fascinated by and fundraising towards finding a cure for the condition.

He said that while it will take time for him to process all he has learned about himself and his grandfather, it has brought him closer to his late loved one.

“I’ve had some of the darkest, loneliest moments ever during this project with so many things going wrong behind the scenes with logistics or the actual swim,” he explained.

Louis Alexander with his late grandfather Captain Rick Taylor (Louis Alexander/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Family handout

“In those moments you ask yourself: Why am I doing this? I made a promise to my grandad five years ago to find a cure for dementia.

“To do things like this, you don’t need to be the fittest or strongest – I’m not an athlete.

“You just need three things, which is the ability to take risks, to have faith and simply never give up and I think my grandad had those values and I hope that I’m starting to learn them from him.”

Speaking to PA at an earlier stage, Mr Alexander said it was a “real privilege” to visit the pyramids of Giza while on a layover, which was a location his grandfather dreamed of visiting in his retirement.

Mr Alexander took on the swimming challenge to honour his late grandfather (Louis Alexander/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Louis Alexander

Other locations with sentimental connections include Oman, where Captain Taylor spent time when he was in the military.

Mr Alexander said the final swim was the most “pleasant” as he had the current behind him and was joined by two of his closest friends, even though hundreds of jellyfish tried unsuccessfully to ruin his momentum.

“A support boat was with me for the swim and I had two of my best friends on the boat with me – Dillon and Dan,” he said.

“I’ve known them since I was at school, so for them to be on this last part of the adventure with me meant more than they’ll ever know and to have Dan in the water swimming with me too was a real treat.”

Louis Alexander has been raising money for Alzheimer’s Research UK through the challenge (Louis Alexander/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Louis Alexander

The marathon in the Red Sea was ranked as the most difficult by the explorer.

“It was a tough initiation with the heat, with the GPS trackers going wrong, but on the flip side, I swam over incredible corals and wildlife.”

Mr Alexander ran seven marathons in the most remote corners of all seven continents in December and is on the verge of breaking two records through the latest challenge.

These include becoming the youngest person to swim the classical Seven Seas, as well as the first person in history to run the seven continents and swim the Seven Seas.

He has been collecting evidence, including data from his swims, which he intends to send to Guinness World Records, and said it feels “incredible” to be so close to making history.

Mr Alexander’s last swim was in the North Sea (Thomas Franks/PA)

“To have two records would be an ultimate privilege and feels like a dream come true,” he added.

“These records aren’t just for me, they’re representation for everyone affected by dementia around the world and hopefully Guinness World Records can verify them as well pretty soon,” he added.

He said he hopes the younger generation in particular can draw inspiration from his adventures to help find for a cure for dementia.

Mr Alexander has been raising money for Alzheimer’s Research UK through the feat and donations can be made via this link: https://www.justgiving.com/page/thesevenseas

A support team – as well as his sponsor Thomas Franks – have been by his side throughout.