International Swimming Hall of Fame and International Marathon Swimming Hall of Famer Honor Swimmer Petar Stoychev could not help staring at the Windy app on his smartphone. The 47-year-old Bulgarian professional marathon swimmers wondered all day and night when and how he could attempt a crossing of the Tsugaru Channel in northern Japan.
When he arrived in Tokyo from serving on the Technical Swimming Committee of World Aquatics at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, he was initially worried about earthquakes and tsunamis – as was the entire country when the Japanese government issued its first mega quake advisory after a powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck off the southeastern coast of Japan. The announcements frightened its citizens across the country.
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Stoychev and his support crew chief and sponsor Ivan Zlatinov had every reason to worry.
By the time they reached Tappi Misaki at the southern shoreline of the Tsugaru Channel, they had even more to worry about – back-to-back, fast-moving typhoons were building and headed their way.
Typhoon No. 5 made landfall in northern Japan the morning of August 12th, less than a day before Stoychev’s channel crossing window. While Stoychev and Zlatinov hunkered down and wondered what to do, the Japanese Meteorological Agency kept warning people about possible landslides, flooded rivers, strong winds, and high waves. Citizens were flocking to the markets and buying food and drinks, just in case things turned south. As predicted, the typhoon crossed through the Tsugaru Channel the very next day.
Then Typhoon No. 7 came right on its heels and was approaching the eastern coast of Japan, potentially eliminating any possibility of Stoychev to nail down a crossing of the Tsugaru Channel and achieve his Oceans Seven.
There was literally nothing Team Stoychev could do. So they moved from their small ryokan closer to the start location to a much larger hote, deep inland, in Aomori City, the prefectural capitol. While they were enjoying a Japanese meal, Masayuki Moriya of Ocean Navi and Channel Swim Japan gave them a completely unexpected call. “Can you meet us at 3 am tomorrow morning in Kodomari? There is a small sliver of a window and the pilots want to give it a try.“
That offer both stunned – and pleased – Stoychev. A late-night call for a 3 am meeting the next morning meant that it was highly unlikely that he would get any sleep. He would barely have enough time to prepare his drinks and travel to Kodomari to meet Captain Hashimoto and Captain Akimoto at the docks.
So, prepare he did. Sleep, he did not.
But he had to take a chance. It was now – or literally never. He had no plans to come back to Japan and he would be forever stuck on #6 of the Oceans Seven. Typhoon No. 5 had swept through the channel earlier that day and its remnants were lessening by the hour. But Typhoon No. 7 was threatening to reach landfall soon, so he had no choice but to give it a shot.
Despite the steady rainfall and the turgid waters in the early morning, Stoychev, Zlatinov, Moriya, and Captains Hashimoto and Akimoto left the Kodomari dock at 3:36 am. Nothing was for certain – but their collective determination and self-confidence. Stoychev had voluntarily signed up for this adventure. What an adventure it had quickly becoming: heading out to the starting point in the pitch darkness under a steady rain with lots of moving water in a confused state – with unknown conditions to be faced.
No one on the boat expressed reservations. It was time to take this opportunity in what is typically the Japanese typhoon season in northern Japan. Stoychev ended up jumping off the 17-meter escort boat into the confused seas. Initially, the Sea of Japan tossed him left and right, up and down – and never let down.
With his support crew nearly as wet as him, he braved being tossed and turned in the early morning darkness with a steady 60 strokes per minute pace which he never wavered from.
The crossing started off rough and ended in rough waters – and ever let up.
The first half of the crossing was surprisingly finished in 3 hours 15 minutes. But, the second half was nearly as twice as long.
Observers Log and Narrative
3:00 am Pull into parking lot after leaving hotel at 1:00 am
4:16 am Jump from boat with sunscreen with Masayuki Moriya of Ocean Navi, Ivan Zlatinov, Captain Hashimoto, Captain Akimoto, and Steven Munatones onboard. Darkness and a slight rain prevail as boat rolls constantly in the turgid sea. Petar swims to shore.
4:18 am Moriya blows horn from boat and Petar starts to swim from Kodomari in Aomori Prefecture in 25°C water in the direction of Kojima, an uninhabited island 23 km southwest of Hokkaido under light winds and turgid seas with irritating, non-linear 1–foot seas and a dense cloud cover. He swam the first 1 km in 12:11 at a 60 spm pace. Given the fact that he is swimming between two typhoons, these conditions are the best he can expect. In the first 10 minutes, he has pulled his swim cap tighter over his head twice as he battles the waves head-on. He plans to stop to feed (drink) at the 30- and 60-minute mark from the left side.
4:40 am Petar hits the 2 km mark at 20:49 – it appears he is benefitting nicely from a current that is unseen under the gray skies. He plans to swim fast in the first half of the crossing, knowing that the second half of the course will most likely get rougher with increased uncertainty based on the forecasted conditions.
5:15 am Petar yells, “It is not possible” when he is told he swam 5 km in 48:18 in the midst of constantly battling waves head-on under 3 meter winds. Moriya is on his 120th career Tsugaru Channel crossing, but he has never yet taken a dual inductee in the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
More details to be added tomorrow as the team continues to travel home.
RS Tracker
Stoychev used the tracker developed by Evan Morrison of Marathon Swimmers Federation. The tracker shows that Stoychev was swimming according to his plan until about two-thirds the water across. Then he hit a confluence of water of the Tsugaru Current, coming southwards from Hokkaido and northwards from the Sea of Japan. As Stoychev was approaching this area, it was similar in appearance to the Gulf Stream between Cuba and Florida. You could literally see the water moving fast, like a river in the ocean. Captains Hashimoto and Akimoto continued to point Stoychev in the direction of Kojima (the small uninhabited island show in the left of the tracker map below). Stoychev could see Hokkaido, but he was confused why he was not swimming directly towards his goal. The reason why is because he was trapped in this confluence in the strongest part of the Tsugaru Current.
Stoychev was literally swimming against the current, but was being pushed parallel to his goal. He continued to swim – or tack – against the current until he found an opening and was able to swim straight to the Hokkaido shore.
Petar Stoychev’s Oceans Seven
- August 2007: 33.5 km crossing of the English Channel from England to France in 6 hours 57 minutes
- March 2024: 23 km crossing of the Cook Strait from South Island to North Island in New Zealand in 6 hours 51 minutes
- April 2024: 14.4 km crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco in 3 hours 46 minutes
- May 2024: 45 km crossing of the Molokai Channel from Molokai Island to Oahu in Hawaii in 18 hours 53 minutes
- June 2024: 32.3 km crossing of the Catalina Channel from Catalina Island to California mainland in 8 hours 42 minutes
- July 2024: 35 km crossing of the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland in 9 hours 56 minutes
- August 2024: 19.5 km crossing of the Tsugaru Channel from Honshu to Hokkaido in northern Japan in 9 hours 30 minutes
Oceans Seven Swimmers
- Stephen Redmond (Ireland)
- Anna Carin Nordin (Sweden)
- Michelle Macy (USA)
- Darren Miller (USA)
- Adam Walker (UK)
- Kimberley Chambers (New Zealand)
- Antonio Argüelles (Mexico)
- Ion Lazarenco Tiron (Moldavia and Ireland)
- Rohan Dattatrey More (India)
- Abhejali Bernardová (Czech Republic)
- Cameron Bellamy (South Africa)
- Lynton Mortensen (Australia)
- Thomas Pembroke (Australia)
- Nora Toledano Cadena (Mexico)
- Mariel Hawley Dávila (Mexico)
- André Wiersig (Germany)
- Elizabeth Fry (USA)
- Attila Mányoki (Hungary)
- Jonathan Ratcliffe (UK)
- Jorge Crivilles Villanueva (Spain)
- Adrian Sarchet (Guernsey)
- Prabhat Koli (India)
- Dina Levačić (Croatia)
- Herman van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
- Andy Donaldson (Scotland)
- Stephen Junk (Australia)
- Kieron Palframan (South Africa)
- Bárbara Hernández Huerta (Chile)
- Mark Sowerby (Australia)
- Paul Georgescu (Romania)
- Zach Margolis (USA)
- Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria)
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