A six-person relay team of Japanese masters swimmers from Tokyo’s Ocean Navi completed their first crossing of the Tsugaru Channel yesterday.

Under the helm of Captain Mizushima with the support of coordinator Masayuki Moriya and observer Motoko Honma, Kouji Kobayashi (小林功司 age 44), Etsuko Shima (島悦子 age 51), Yoshitaka Saito (斎藤好豪 age 43), Naoko Saito (斎藤直子 age 43), Mihoko Yokota (横田美歩子 age 36), and Ryuhei Ouchi (大内龍平　age 43) each took 20-minute legs from Honshu to Hokkaido, replicating the Honshu-to-Hokkaido course of Stephen Redmond (in 2012) and David Yudovin (in 1990).

The mixture of veterans and newcomers started a bit nervous in the early morning at 3:52 am, but gradually picked up confidence as they quickly crossed the Tsugaru Channel, navigating the point-to-point 30 km course in wetsuits in 9 hours 38 minutes with plenty of smiles to spare.


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