The Epic Swim

Benjamin and Fliss both shared combined passion for open-water swimming and deep concern for the damage being done to the ocean by intensive salmon farming. Quickly becoming besotted with the Isles, the Frenchman dreamt up the 'Epic Swim', a nearly 4km relay from the Isle of Rùm to the most westerly Small Isle, Canna. However, Fliss and the other swimmers would need convincing;"You're a nice guy, but it's crazy," was Fliss’ initial response, and a tome of local mythologies seemed to support her misgivings. The Canna Sound is deep, patrolled by orcas, ripped by currents and the water is cold, even in the summer months.

But Benjamin was not to be dissuaded. He had been swimming in the open ocean since childhood, encouraged by his father, who was an experienced sailor. "I remember swimming in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, with no land in sight and 3000m of big blue under me.” He describes floating on the surface of the ocean, “like gliding in an in-between zone where sky and sea meet.”

"We won't fight against the sea and currents. We'll use them," Benjamin told Fliss. For him it was as much a question of navigation as it was a swim. To prove that it was possible, he completed a solo crossing in September 2023, under the guidance of local boat master and all-round waterman Billy Simmonds. "It looked impossible because of the currents, orcas, and other dangers," he says, but alternating between swimming and paddling a custom board shaped by Roma Surfboards in Cornwall, he landed in Canna in under two hours.

The following year, on 2nd June 2024, Benjamin and an assembled team of Hebridean wild swimmers headed into the waters off Rùm's Bloodstone Hill, with Billy Simmonds once again piloting the swim. With a 4-nautical mile swim in 10 degree water ahead of them, Fliss and her friend Margaret, an artist from Canna, were the first to slip over the gunwales into the icy sound, the steeps of Bloodstone Hill casting a shadow across the black depths.   

Swimming in a body of water like the Sound of Canna is far more demanding on the body and mind than a marathon of catches and glides. The water is cold and dark and plays tricks on the mind. On the day of the swim the sound was racked by criss-crossing currents that surprised even Billy. "When you see the chart of the swim, it's a mess of tiny zigzags," Benjamin explained, and the team’s slow going was leaving them open to the whim of the current. But speed and performance were never the aim of the swim. It was about generating connection.

Benjamin and Alison, an Australian import to the Isles who runs a seaweed company on Skye, followed Fliss and Margaret into the water, alternating between swimming and paddling tow boards, like Benjamin had done on his first crossing, which allowed them to make headway. Phoebe, a teacher from Muck and the fifth member of the team, also joined them. 

After four hours the team beached on Canna. Whilst crossing the sound they were visited by flocks of seabirds, a curious lone seal and a pod of dolphins, who shadowed their final leg. "There were no orcas this time," Benjamin was quietly disappointed. The team have more swims planned for the future, and in the meantime, Benjamin has taken to harvesting wild seaweed and venison on the Isles, supplying an eager market of Michelin-star restaurants in London and beyond. It's the ultimate side hustle to keep him in the Hebrides for more Epic Swims.

With strength in numbers, united the Hebridean swimmers can make the changes they want to see within both their community and the environment.