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Ben Gravy has been making a name for himself in the world of surfing for years. Back in 2019, the New Jersey surfer became the first person to surf waves in all 50 states, a 3-year mission made possible in part to wave pools, rivers, and waterfalls.
Last month, Ben Gravy became the first person in history to surf the 7 seas in 7 days. It was a record-setting trip that he’d been planning since his ’50 states’ record. And I was fortunate enough to catch up with Ben Gravy for an interview right after his trip. I’d actually gotten a nail in my tire that morning and he didn’t seem to care at all that I was taking his call from a Tire Kingdom which I was quite appreciative of.
Mr. Gravy just posted a recap video of his 7 Seas In 7 Days surfing trip. So here is that with some portions of my interview with New Jersey surfer Ben Gravy below:
Interview With Ben Gravy Who Surfed The 7 Seas In 7 Days
Cass: How long after you finished the ‘Surfing All 50 States’ challenge did you start thinking about this new challenge of surfing the 7 seas in 7 days?
Ben Gravy: Well, even before I finished the ’50 States’ people were already telling me I had to go surf every country in the world. So I was already stressed out about that, but this kind of came from that. Because it’s one thing to surf every country in the world eventually, but for me I have to keep it interesting and fun.
What even are the 7 Seas?!
Cass: How many people throughout this whole process have you talked to who didn’t know what the 7 Seas are?
Ben Gravy: Pretty much everybody. And I gotta be honest, I didn’t know what the 7 Seas were either because there’s actually so many different lists.
Cass: Right? There’s like 50 actual seas in the world and I feel like I’m at least semi-up on my geography and when I looked up ‘7 Seas’ I suddenly realized I would’ve immediately failed that question on an exam.
Ben Gravy: Yeah, so, what we did was a ‘Ben Gravy 7 Seas’ because instead of flying to the South Atlantic Ocean I ended up doing the Gulf of Mexico just to make it fun and add the tanker surfing to add a novelty wave.
But I figured we gotta split the Pacific Ocean into two because it’s the biggest ocean in the world. And then for the North Atlantic I represented in New Jersey. But for this, I’m going to edit a short documentary and one thing I did was ask everyone I interviewed if they could name the Seven Seas and I don’t think one person got it.
For what it’s worth, the official ‘Seven Seas’ are: Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans
Ben Gravy’s Next Challenge
Cass: Have you started thinking about what sort of challenge you want to do next now that you’ve become the first person in history to surf the 7 seas in 7 days? You mentioned surfing every country in the world?
Ben Gravy: The Every Country in the World thing is definitely something that I believe will take me my entire life. Because looking at it right now, I’m just a little bit more than 10% done… So it’s going to take a while.
But I have so many ideas and they all surround different things like the Caspian Sea… Red Sea… Trying to figure out how I can make these stories fun and entertaining for people to watch. Because it’s one thing to just go surf a country. I kind of enjoy the challenge aspect. But as of right now, there are so many ideas up in the air.
Cass: Did you burn any airline miles from previous trips to help cover this 7 Seas in 7 Days trip or how did that all work?
Ben Gravy: Well, I don’t know how every miles program works but I’ll say that I banked around 50 to 60,000 miles on this trip through United.
Cass: What’s the first place from this 7 Seas in 7 Days trip that you want to go back and surf again?
Ben Gravy: Honestly, I kind of fell in love with Norway. It’s frigid but there’s so much potential.
Cass: Okay… weren’t you surfing in Alaska earlier this year? When was that?
Ben Gravy: I was in Alaska in the Spring… The cold really does’t bother me at all.
Cass: I was going to ask, why did you opt for Fall as the season to do this with the Northern Hemisphere being so cold?
Ben Gravy: Well, it was kind of a fine line between how can I potentially score waves in every country that we stop at? So… I think Bali was the closest stop to being out of season but everywhere else was coming into season.
I didn’t want to show up in Norway and it just be ankle-high waves.
Embracing The Journey
Cass: What’s the reception been like from the surfing community after you completed this trip? Have you been hearing from people you haven’t heard from in years?
Ben Gravy: I’ve actually been surprised because I pretty much made this thing up, right? Clean total fiction. Fantasy. It’s a picture that I painted. And people are super stoked and it’s kind of surprising. Like, it’s awesome and I really appreciate it.
And I just think it’s kind of a beautiful thing that I can introduce I guess what I would refer to as like that childhood wonder and make it an adventure. I feel like in this day and age everything’s been done and every place has been visited. I think it’s fun to not just be like ‘I’m going over here, I’m going surfing, yadda yadda’ but instead embracing the journey aspect of it and get excited about it as opposed to being like ‘whatever, I just hope we get good waves.’
‘Surfing is always the unknown’ — Ben Gravy
Cass: What do you think it is about surfing the attracts so many people who are also passionate about traveling? Part of it is searching for great waves but it’s not always that, right?
Ben Gravy: I think surfing is really one of those things where it’s always the unknown. Like, even if you go surf out at your local beach every single day, it’s going to be different every time. The conditions are going to be different. The waves are going to be different. You might be surfing in the rain, and heavy winds and snow, like whatever. And I think every time you go out surfing, it’s different.
So I think that type of person also enjoys putting themselves out there and kind of exploring something that they don’t know very well. Because one of the biggest rushes for me is like ‘Okay, we’re going to this place. It’s 7,000-8,000 miles away from my house, I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t speak the language. And somehow we’re gonna figure this out.’ And that’s, it’s kind of like a rush that you get like traveling.
Cass: Did you get to meet any cool people on the trip that you’d known for a while but hadn’t met in person yet?
Ben Gravy: We had some fun meetups. A couple of Australian guys in Sydney. Red Bull kind of set me up with a couple of people along the way. There’s a guy Alex Hayes I met up with and then this kid Cory who’s a Red Bull athlete in Sydney. And then Red Bull set me up with this. This girl Erin Brooks. She’s like a young, phenomenal surfer. And I met up with her in Texas.
And it was cool to see people along the way randomly. But to go to these different places and bump into people in the water who were like, ‘man, you’re doing the seven seas?! This is awesome!’ It’s just such a trip.
Make sure to watch that YouTube video above, the mini-doc from Ben’s 7 Seas in 7 Days trip. And a big thanks to Ben Gravy for taking the time to speak with me. You can find him on YouTube right here for his latest videos and find him on Instagram at @bengravyy.