Eduardo Collazos Valle-Guayo of Lima (53, Peru, MSF bio here, @eduardo_collazos_) and his support team of Luiggi Fujioka, brother Daniel Collazos, wife Rocío Gómez, and coach Nora Toledano are now staging in Aomori City for their upcoming attempt of the 19.5 km Tsugaru Channel from Aomori to Hokkaido in northern Japan.
The conditions look good for a Friday attempt with low winds, light currents, 16.5°C water, and 28°C air temperatures.
If successful, Collazos will be the first man from South America and second swimmer overall (after Bárbara Hernández Huerta of Chile) to achieve the Oceans Seven.
So far, Collazos has completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming and six of the seven Oceans Seven channels – all on his first attempt:
- September 2019: 33.5 km English Channel crossing from England to France in 11 hours 16 minutes
- July 2021: 32.3 km Catalina Channel crossing from Catalina Island to the Southern California mainland in 9 hours 56 minutes
- August 2022: 35 km North Channel crossing from Northern Ireland to Scotland in 12 hours 29 minutes
- June 2023: 45 km Molokai Channel crossing from Molokai Island to Oahu in Hawaii in 14 hours 18 minutes
- July 2024: 14.4 km Strait of Gibraltar crossing from Spain to Morocco in 4 hours 6 minutes
- January 2025: 23 km Cook Strait crossing from North Island to South Island in New Zealand in 9 hours 44 minutes.
- June 18-22, 2025: 19.5 km Tsugaru Channel attempt from Aomori to Hokkaido in northern Japan
Others In The Hunt – Six Down, One To Go
In addition to Collazos, there are several other swimmers around the world who are knocking at the Oceans Seven door, just one channel crossing from achieving the feat. The ‘almost-there’ pod of Oceans Seven swimmers include:
- Robert Woodhouse (Australia, 59, MSF bio here)
- Eduardo Collazos Valle-Guayo of Lima (54, Peru, MSF bio here)
- Joe Zemaitis (USA, 45, MSF bio here, IISA bio here @joe.zemaitis)
- John Zemaitis (USA, 41, MSF bio here, IISA bio here)
- Simon Olliver (New Zealand, 60, MSF bio here, IISA bio here)
- Gráinne Moss (née Gunn) (Ireland, 54, MSF bio here)
- Alessandra Rossi Cima (Brazil, 50, MSF bio here, @ale_rossi_cima_swims)
- Lauren Lesyna (USA, 30, MSF bio here, @swimsintheswells)
- Dean Summers (Australia, 66, MSF bio here)
- Marcia Cleveland (USA, 60, MSF bio here, IISA bio here)
- Pat Gallant-Charette (USA, 73, MSF bio here, @gallantcharette)
- Penny Palfrey (Australia, 62, MSF bio here)
- Ryan Utsumi (USA, 46, MSF bio here)
- Steve Walker (USA, 57, MSF bio here)
Five Down, Two To Go
- Andrey Bozhko (Russia, 38, MSF bio here)
- Bengisu Avci (Turkey, 28, MSF bio here)
- Callum Eade (Australia, 52, MSF bio here)
- Christian Jongeneel (Spain, 50, MSF bio here)
- Craig Lenning (USA, 46, MSF bio here)
- Cynthia Aguilar Valdéz (Mexico, 43, MSF bio here)
- Eduardo Collazos Valle (Peru, 54, MSF bio here)
- Forrest Nelson (USA, 62, MSF bio here)
- Guy Moar (Australia, 57, MSF bio here)
- Jim Barber (USA, 65, MSF bio here)
- Joanne Norman (Australia, 54, MSF bio here)
- John Batchelder (USA, 43, MSF bio here)
- Kamil Resa Alsaran (Turkey, 64, MSF bio here)
- Karen Ennis (Great Britain, 52, MSF bio here)
- Luca Pozzi (Italy, 38, MSF bio here)
- M. Tulasai Chaitanya (India, 36, MSF bio here)
- Marty Filipowski (Australia, 61, MSF bio here)
- Matthias Kaßner (Germany, 57, MSF bio here)
- Paul Feltoe (Australia, 51, MSF bio here)
- Paul Leonard (Great Britain, 53, MSF bio here)
- Sarah Thomas (USA, 42, MSF bio here)
- Suwei Chen (China, 57, MSF bio here)
- Toni Enderli (South Africa, 48, MSF bio here)
- Victor Pineiro (Argentina, 48, MSF bio here)
Collazos has some significant experience in his escort boat. Coach Nora Toledano [shown above] is on her fifth visit to Aomori for a Tsugaru Channel attempt.
Her first visit to northern Japan was with Antonio Argüelles of Mexico on his crossing in 2015. Then, she was with Mexico’s Mariel Hawley Dávila on her first attempt of the channel in 2016. Then, she completed her own channel crossing in a tandem swim with Hawley in 2018. Last year, she helped Barbara Hernandez Huerta of Chile complete the channel and achieve the Oceans Seven.
Oceans Seven Club
- 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 at 23 years 7 months 5 days, shown below on right)
- Dina Levačić (Croatia)
- Herman van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
- Andy Donaldson (Scotland in 354 days)
- Stephen Junk (Australia)
- Kieron Palframan (South Africa)
- Bárbara Hernández Huerta (Chile)
- Mark Sowerby (Australia)
- Paul Georgescu (Romania)
- Zach Margolis (USA)
- Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria in 173 days)
- Nathalie Pohl (Germany)
- Caitlin O’Reilly (New Zealand at the age of 20 years 7 months 15 days)
- Ryan Utsumi (USA)
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