Rob Woodhouse (Australia, 59, MSF bio here) succeeded at what he described as the “hardest swim of his life.”

The shortest straight-line tangent between Honshu and Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Channel  in northern Japan is 19.5 km, but Woodhouse had to endure at least 58.6 km of hard swimming.

While the water temperature started at 22°C in Kodomari on Honshu, it was a constant mash-up of turgid water and fast-flowing current that held steady at 7 knots for most of the crossing.

“There was always something,” commented Woodhouse who also had to endure the last 4 hours in 15°C waters. “It was a washing machine – and I was getting cold the last four hours.”

Under the helm of Captain Kawayama and coaching of Tim Denyer, Woodhouse slowly tacked his way across the channel while dolphins and schools of tuna dotted his course. But all that tacking and struggling across a 7 knot current turned the crossing into a constant 58.6 km struggle. “I was in the best shape of all my Oceans Seven channels here in Tsugaru,” he said later. He kept to his plan of 30-minute feeds and a steady cadence of an Olympic medalist (1984 Los Angeles Olympics 400m individual medley).

While Woodhouse achieved the Oceans Seven, he came up short on breaking the Fastest Cumulative Time for the Oceans Seven, held by Andy Donaldson (Scotland, 34, MSF bio here, @andy.swimming) in 63 hours 21 minutes 20 seconds. Woodhouse missed the record by 2 hours 10 minutes – an outstanding achievement for a near sexagenarian.

“Rob was simply outstanding today,” said Steven Munatones. “It was a gutsy performance throughout, inspirational. And he was so well prepared and committed. It was hard, but Rob was hardened.”

Oceans Seven Swimmers

1. Stephen Redmond (Ireland)
2. Anna Carin Nordin (Sweden)
3. Michelle Macy (USA)
4. Darren Miller (USA)
5. Adam Walker (UK)
6. Kimberley Chambers (New Zealand)
7. Antonio Argüelles (Mexico)
8. Ion Lazarenco Tiron (Moldavia and Ireland)
9. Rohan Dattatrey More (India)
10. Abhejali Bernardová (Czech Republic)
11. Cameron Bellamy (South Africa)
12. Lynton Mortensen (Australia)
13. Thomas Pembroke (Australia)
14. Nora Toledano Cadena (Mexico)
15. Mariel Hawley Dávila (Mexico)
16. André Wiersig (Germany)
17. Elizabeth Fry (USA)
18. Attila Mányoki (Hungary)
19. Jonathan Ratcliffe (UK)
20. Jorge Crivilles Villanueva (Spain)
21. Adrian Sarchet (Guernsey)
22. Prabhat Koli (India)
23. Dina Levačić (Croatia)
24. Herman van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
25. Andy Donaldson (Scotland)
26. Stephen Junk (Australia)
27. Kieron Palframan (South Africa)
28. Bárbara Hernández Huerta (Chile)
29. Mark Sowerby (Australia)
30. Paul Georgescu (Romania)
31. Zach Margolis (USA
32. Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria)
33. Nathalie Pohl (Germany)
34. Caitlin O’Reilly (New Zealand)
35. Ryan Utsumi (USA)
36. Marcia Cleveland (USA)
37. Eduardo Collazos Valle-Guayo (Peru)
38. Rob Woodhouse (Australia)

The Oceans Seven Challenge of Gráinne Moss

Meanwhile, Gráinne Moss (55, Ireland, MSF bio here) was also on her final leg of the Oceans Seven. She started at the same time and location as Woodhouse did, but she swam separately under the escort of Captain Masa.

Hour after hour, Moss faced the same conditions and similar struggles as Woodhouse. For most of the crossing, they were within visual contact with each other…except when the channel became shrouded in fog.

She swam valiantly with her mother and daughter on board along with Japanese-language interpreter Maya Yatsu, starting at 4:55 am. Unfortunately, she called off the swim 6.3 km from Hokkaido at 5:35 pm after talking with Captain Masa and her family. Hopes were high for her Oceans Seven challenge, but today, Mother Nature had the upper hand.

Moss will have to attempt the Tsugaru Channel again in order to set the Longest Duration to Achieve the Oceans Seven that is currently held by Marcia Cleveland (61, USA, MSF bio here, IISA bio here, @marciac944) of 11,253 days between the date of her first and seventh channel crossing.

Other Oceans Seven Challenges

Andreas Waschburger (38, Germany, MSF bio here, IISA bio here, @andreaswaschburger) will attempt his crossing tomorrow in the early am. Waschburger is on track to set or reset the Fastest Cumulative Time for the Oceans Seven based on his 2 hour 51 minute Strait of Gibraltar crossing, 5 hour 13 minute crossing of the Cook Strait, 9 hour 55 minute crossing of the Molokai Channel, and 6 hour 45 minute crossing of the English Channel to date. He has the Catalina Channel and North Channel crossings scheduled for the remainder of his summer.

Dr. Steve Minaglia (52, USA, MSF bio here), Marek Lehocky, and Dai Matsui attempted a relay crossing of the Tsugaru Channel today, but aborted the attempted after 11 hours.

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