Swimmer Steve faces final stretch of ocean challenge

Giant squid, stinging jellyfish and sharks — not to mention 15ft high swells — are among the challenges facing swimmer Steve Redmond when he attempts the final phase of his gruelling Ocean’s Seven Challenge in Japan next week.

If successful he won’t just be the first Irish man to do it — Steve will be the first swimmer ever to complete the challenge, which has been described as the marine equivalent of the Seven Summits mountain-climbing challenge.

It’ll be like trying to climb Mount Everest naked — that’s how the West Cork man describes this final leg of the formidable competition which has brought him all over the world in the last three years and which now sees him attempt the risky Tsugaru Channel.