津軽海峡横断 海外から挑戦、続々 ～毎日新聞全国版～

7月にオーストラリアから民泊宿屋PittINNにご家族で宿泊され、津軽海峡横断遠泳に挑戦成功されたAndrew Hunt氏が毎日新聞全国版の記事で紹介されました。（写真：津軽海峡遠泳横断激励会「民泊宿屋PittINNやぐら」にて　Andrew氏は左から二番目）

毎日新聞2018年8月25日 12時26分(最終更新 8月25日 13時16分記事抜粋)リンク⇒津軽海峡横断　海外から挑戦、続々

https://mainichi.jp/articles/20180825/dde/001/040/043000c



＊津軽海峡の挑戦を考えている多くの海外からの挑戦者の方へ参考になるように、Andrew氏の津軽海峡横断に関する挑戦への意気込みを以下に英文内容でお伝えします。

1. When and why did you start to try Channel Swim?

Until the age of 16 I was a competitive pool and surf swimmer while I was growing up in Western Australia. For the next 30 years I swam occasionally at the beach but didn’t swim much at all.

Around 2005 I returned to Australia after 15 years of living and working in the UK. Some of my Australian friends were doing short ocean swimming races of around 2 km. I went along to one of these and really liked it, so I found a swimming squad to train with.

In the squad I met some other swimmers that were training for bigger swims, like the 19.7 km Rottnest Channel Swim. I got interested in this and trained together with my friends for the Rottnest Channel Swim.

I did my first Rottnest Channel Swim in 2009 and have done this swim 19 times solo since then. This swim has become really popular and now involves around 2000 swimmers swimming in teams and solos. The main swim event is in February each year (http://rottnestchannelswim.com.au/) and around 2000 swimmers take part as solos and teams. My friends and I also do the swim in small groups at other times of year and there is now a second event which occurs in March each year (https://porttopub.com.au/).

Around 2010 some of my swimming friends and I became interested in swimming the English Channel, and 7 of us trained together. These swimming friends have become some of my closest friends, and I’ve been training with them and planning swims with them ever since.

The English Channel was my first longer channel swim in 2011 and since then I’ve swum the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 2013, the Catalina Channel in 2014, and now the Tsugaru Channel in 2018.

You can find a blog and small film about my English Channel Swim http://www.channeldare.com/?p=1069. There are also stories about my “Channel Dare” swimming friends English Channels swims in 2011 and 2012.

This web site shows the majority of the channel swims that I’ve done (doesn’t include Manhattan or my most recent Rottnest swims)
https://db.marathonswimmers.org/p/andrew-hunt/

2. Why did you decide to try Tsugaru Channel Swim? Is that because
Tsugaru　Channel is one of the Oceans Seven ?

I first heard about the Tsugaru Channel Swim around 2012 and was intrigued by the remote location, the strength and unpredictability of the currents and the beautiful fishings boats that accompany the swimmer.

I think I probably read about the swim on Steve Munotone’s Open Water swimming web site, the fact that the swim is part of Oceans Seven may have meant that I heard about the swim, but I wasn’t directly influenced by this.

I’ve always been fascinated by Japan having visited once before around 30 years ago and the idea of swimming the Tsugaru Channel was an opportunity to combine visiting Japan with my family while attempting a challenging and intriguing swim.


3. What is the most difficult point in the Tsugaru Channel? How did you
　conquer that difficulty?

The Tsugaru channel swim is famous for the strong currents and in particular when the Tsugaru current is flowing in an Eastward direction and the wind is blowing in a Westward direction. This creates a situation where the wind wave chop breaks like it might in shallow water.

The other difficult thing compared to other channels is that you have to swim fast to get close to the other side before the current gets too strong. This usually means starting in the dark and swimming as fast as possible to get close to the other side before the current gets too strong.

The most difficult part of the swim was early in the second half when the current was quite strong and the wind was coming from the opposite direction to the current. Its very hard to swim in these conditions as every stroke the swimmers arm hits the chop and after hours of this shoulders can get very sore.

I conquered this by trying to relax and keep my stroke smooth and rhythmic. Also during my training I prepared for this by swimming in the ocean at least once each week and several times swimming in Sydney harbour during very strong winds.

Another unique thing about the Tsugaru Channel Swim is that the water temperature can change a lot, in particular it can get much colder on the Hokkaido side. I prepared for this by training in cold water during the Sydney winter, regularly swimming for hours in temperatures down to 13C. During my swim the water wasn’t particularly cold, it didn’t get much colder than 18C, but its important to train for the cold.

4. Please tell me your feeling when you successfully swam across the　
Tsugaru Channel.

During a long swim like the Tsugaru channel there are good and bad times. Sometimes you are swimming along with blue sky, beautiful blue water feeling great. At other times your shoulders are hurting, you are cold or you feel nauseous from the motion, or you feel as though you are swimming and getting nowhere.

The end is a mixture of elation, relief, and gratitude for all the great support that your family, the observer, the captain, and all of your training friends have given you and for the ocean for letting you pass.

5. Everyone guess it's so so hard to swim across 30km long. What is the
　attractive point of Channel swim?

The Tsugaru Channel is a bit mysterious because of the Isolated fishing villages, misty mountains of the surrounding area, the fascinating fishing boats and skippers who have spent their whole life around boats.

The Tsugaru channel has powerful currents, tides, strong winds, abundant sea life and a whole lot of other things all mixed up which make swimming it a great challenge.

Its a personal challenge, a bit like climbing a mountain, but its great to work towards a common purpose with a whole lot of like minded people and family towards doing something out of the ordinary.

毎日新聞2018年8月25日 12時26分(最終更新 8月25日 13時16分記事抜粋)

激しい潮の流れや大きくうねる波にうち勝ち、体ひとつで海を渡る「海峡横断泳」。本州と北海道の間にある津軽海峡は、英仏間のドーバー海峡や米カリフォルニア州のカタリナ海峡などとともに、世界で最も難易度が高いとされる七つの海峡「オーシャンズセブン」に数えられ、近年、世界中のスイマーたちの参加が増えている。【井川加菜美】



　７月１８日午後１０時。青森県外ケ浜町の漁港で漁船が出港の準備を進めていた。乗り込むのは家族３人とオーストラリアからやって来たアンドリュー・ハントさん（５７）。「これからの挑戦に興奮している」。少し緊張した面持ちで話すと、翌日に挑戦するという米国人らに見送られ、スタート地点の沖合へと出港していった。

　「オーシャンズセブン」は２００８年に選定された。津軽海峡のコースは、同県中泊町の権現崎から北海道松前町の白神岬までの約３０キロ。挑戦者をサポートする会社「オーシャンナビ」（神奈川県）によると、「単独泳」と「リレー泳」を合わせ、これまで約６０組を支援した。海外組が多く、今年も、２４組中１９組は海外からだという。

　津軽海峡の特徴は、日本海から太平洋に流れる潮の速さと複雑さにある。本州から北海道への最短は竜飛崎（外ケ浜町）からの約２０キロだが、流されるとたどり着けない。このため、竜飛崎の南西から西側に膨らむようなルートで泳ぐ。オーシャンナビによると、単独泳では７時間台で泳ぎ切った人もいるが、普通なら１０時間はかかり、成功率も約６０％。同社の守谷雅之代表は「ほかの海峡を経験した挑戦者も津軽海峡が一番難しいと話す」と明かす。

　夜通し泳ぎ続けたハントさんは翌１９日の午前１０時半過ぎに北海道にたどり着き、見事成功した。記録は１０時間５２分。オーシャンズセブンのうちの、ドーバー、カタリナに次いで３海峡の制覇となった。「長い時間泳いでいると、良い時と悪い時がある。青い空の下で泳ぐ時は本当に素晴らしいが、肩が痛くなり、寒さや吐き気を感じ、どこにもたどり着けないと思う時もある。今は家族やサポーター、漁船の船長や仲間の支援と、海への感謝しかない」

　同社によると、今年の受け付けは既に締め切られ、新たな挑戦は来年以降になる。次なる成功者は誰か。