He has organized 112 Tsugaru Channel swims to date with the organization of his first relayattempt held in 2008 with Team24 TV relay. The sextet swam for 11 hours 56 minutes, but ultimately did not finish that year.
Tsugaru Channel Career Highlights
1. Team24 TV relay (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, DNF after 11 hours 56 minutes on 31 August 2008
2. Team24 TV relay (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 12 hours 23 minutes on 30 August 2009
3. Masayuki Moriya (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, DNF after 13 hours 40 minutes on 16 August 2010 (43 years)
4. Masayuki Moriya (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 11 hours 55 minutes on 22 August 2011 (44 years)
5. Darren Miller (USA), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 15 hours 55 minutes on 10 July 2012
6. Stephen Redmond (Ireland), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, DNF after 5 hours 29 minutes on 13 July 2012 (47 years)
7. Stephen Redmond (Ireland), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 14 hours 32 minutes on 14 July 2012 (47 years)
8. Team Ocean Navi relay (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 9 hours 38 minutes on 24 July 2012
9. Team Umio relay (Japan), Hokkaido-to-Honshu, DNF on 23 August 2012
10. Kenichi Setsumasa (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 7 hours 30 minutes on 8 September 2012 (24 years)
11. Team Umidama relay (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 15 hours 23 minutes on 22 September 2012
12. Brad Allen McVetta (USA), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, DNF after 17 hours 13 minutes on 1 July 2013 (40 years)
13. Team Ocean Navi relay (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 6 hours 44 minutes on 12 July 2013
14. Team Ocean Navi relay (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 13 hours 41 minutes on 14 July 2013
15. Team Umio relay (Japan), Hokkaido-to-Honshu, 12 hours 45 minutes on 30 July 2013
16. Team Hachinobe relay (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, DNF after 6 hours 50 minutes on 1 August 2013
17. Adam Walker (UK), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 15 hours 31 minutes on 12 August 2013 (35 years)
18. Yesenia Cabrera Fuegos (Guatemala), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, DNF after 13 hours 17 minutes on 14 August 2013 (40 years)
19. Team Kizuna relay (Japan), Honshu-to-Hokkaido, 6 hours 40 minutes on 23 August 2013
Japanese live in an island nation that stretches from the tropical paradise of Okinawa to its northerly prefecture of Hokkaido surrounded by the northern Pacific. Masayuki Moriya works year-round, traveling from north to south, east to west, traversing the entire nation while sharing his passion for open water swimming as a coach, race director, safety officer, channel swimming crew member, blogger, administrator, videographer, and swimming holiday leader. He teaches newcomers including elderly masters swimmers, and helps organize domestic national championships for elite Japanese athletes – and is planning for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic marathon swim. For personally guiding, observing and organizing 21 solo and relay swims from 15 countries across the Tsugaru Channel and Sado Channel in northern Japan this year, for administering open water events with the Japanese Coast Guard and other relevant authorities, for his steady leadership of the sport in Japan, Masayuki Moriya is a worthy nominee for the 2016 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year.
2016 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year nomination
Japanese live in an island nation that stretches from the tropical paradise of Okinawa to its northerly prefecture of Hokkaido surrounded by the northern Pacific. Masayuki Moriya travels from north to south, east to west, traversing the entire nation while sharing his passion for open water swimming as a coach, race director, safety officer, channel swimming crew member, blogger, administrator and swimming holiday leader. He teaches newcomers including elderly masters swimmers and helps organize domestic championships for elite Japanese athletes. For his deep heartfelt love of open water swimming that he genuinely espouses in all his activities, for his leadership of the sport in the island nation of Japan, for his patience and investment of time and energy to help develop the sport in the Far East, Masayuki Moriya is a worthy nominee for the 2016 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year.
La Pérouse Strait is a strait is 42 km (26 miles) long and 40 to 140m (130 to 460 feet) deep. The narrowest part of the strait is in the west between Russia’s Cape Krillion and Japan’s Cape Soya. The strait is named after Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, who explored it in 1787.
