Next Wednesday, Penny and Chris are flying to Japan to swim the Tsugaru Strait, between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido.
The Tsugaru Strait was first conquered in 1991. Only three people have successfully swum it, two American men David Yudovin and Steven Munatones, and one Japanese lady Miyuki Fujita. We understand the main challenge will be the very strong currents which flow between the islands, often at speeds of 5+ knots.
The shortest distance between the islands is 20 klm, but we will have to swim much further than this in order to hit land and not be swept by the current out into the Pacific. Penny’s planning to swim a double crossing, and Chris a single.
Penny’s swim distance will be up to 60k and Chris’, up to 30k. The crew are anticipating a swim time for Penny of 16 hours and 9 hours for Chris. The other main challenges for us will be the often rough conditions in the strait, in part due to the currents and wind funnelling between the islands. As well as a very large number of commercial ships, ferries and fishing boats which ply these waters.
We’ve been planning our Tsugaru Strait crossings for more than a year, there’s a lot involved with such a swim, including chartering boats, permission from the relevant authorities and arranging support crew, one of whom is flying to Japan from New York to assist in our crossings. Thankfully, the organisers have done much of this ground work for us.
The Tsugaru Strait will be Penny’s last swim for 2011, Chris has one more planned for the Whitsundays in October.
