Courtesy of Masayuki Moriya, Ocean Navi, Japan.

18-year-old Prabhat Raju Koli of India started at 4:42 am in 21.5℃ and proceeded to knock off his fourth Oceans Seven career swim with a 9 hour 52 minute crossing of the Tsugaru Channel in northern Japan from Honshu to Hokkaido.

“Finally after fighting with those freaking currents, I completed the Tsugaru Channel.

Thanks to my pilot Captain Mizushima, he is the best for this swim.

Tomokazu Sakurai did an awesome job and Ladybird Lee, the translator on board, was amazing; he was encouraging me all the time. Thanks to Yusuke Shimasaki for his awesome organising efforts and not to forget [my coach] Sal Minty-Gravett MBE. She wasn’t here, but I couldn’t have done without her help and encouragement and thanks to GR Krishna for all the help and support.”

When Koli finally walked on the cape at Shirakami Misaki, he set the new record. He became the youngest person to successfully swim across the Tsugaru Channel at 18 years 1 month 15 days, breaking Japan’s Honoka Hasegawa‘s previous record of 18 years 4 months 20 days set last year.

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