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Guide to Swimming the Gibraltar Straits (revised)
evmo
Sydneydev
Here is Nick Adams' revised "No BS Guide" to swimming the Straits of Gibraltar. The revised edition corrects a few typos in the first edition, and includes a better explanation of why it's effectively a 11/12 km swim rather than the 14.4km quoted distance.
Nick has compiled it in a nicely formatted PDF document, which you can download HERE.
To avoid confusion, the previous thread with the first edition has been deleted.
Nick has compiled it in a nicely formatted PDF document, which you can download HERE.
To avoid confusion, the previous thread with the first edition has been deleted.
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• Round Jersey or Jersey to France. They might also be full by now for 2014 though.
• Arrange a 2-way Windermere (21 miles) in the English Lake District. (I arranged mine with Chillswim and was able to choose the date I wanted to swim).
• BLDSA Champion of Champions 17th June in Dover Harbour: 5 miles/3 miles/ 1 mile in quick succession.
• BLDSA Torbay 8 miles on 5th July (maybe not known internationally as an epic swim, but the swim is similar in distance to the Gibraltar Strait).
• Ned’s torture camp in Cork from 11th-20th July!
If you stop-over in Dubai, we can go for a long swim; beautiful trainings ground here (except during the jelly season).
The ACNEG does allow for 2, 3 and 4-way swimming in a line across the Strait. Oliver, Jen, Jamie and I did a 4-way across the Strait back in May 2012, so I am sure you could locate the swimmers who are crossing and see if you can find someone who would be interested in lowering the cost involved since you would have more than one swimmer. The individual cost for a multiple swimmer crossing was pretty low compared to a solo. I would think this shouldn't be too difficult, since you know the exact timeline you are going to be there!
www.darren-miller.com
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania U.S.A.
http://notdrowningswimming.com - open water adventures of a very ordinary swimmer
I like the idea of sharing a swim and the costs if there's anyone booked. I'm a 3kmph swimmer and pretty inexperienced at longer distances.
Seeing as I'm hijacking torgormans thread I will of course give first dibs to him for his time slot or if my swim times were similar join in a 2,3,4 person swim.
Thanks
In terms of the Capri- Napoli swim, the non FINA race looks like the last weekend of June or first week of July but the committee can't confirm yet as authorities haven't cleared it. Will post up when I find out those dates.
@Inthepocket, will let you know if ere are multiple spots anywhere
http://www.nedaelmon.com/en/Travessies/Detalls/52
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
See:
http://www.acneg.com/acneg ingles/medical formm 2014.pdf
I also noticed this
I wonder how strictly they review the forms submitted.
No Bullshit Guides: Corsica to Sardinia Swim
And Dave Van Mouwerik put together this "Roadmap" for the 12.4-mile Anacapa Island swim in the Santa Barbara Channel:
http://santabarbarachannelswim.org/anacapa-roadmap
I'm not aware of any others, but obviously these are really useful documents. Any volunteers? We'd be happy to publish them here...
OK, this is quite simply awesome.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
@evmo, Seems the links to the Gibraltar guide and the No BS Corsica one are not working any longer. Can you advise where to find them?
(FWIW, I searched through MSF but couldn't find any working links. Same with Google which kept pointing me back to this thread.)
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Links fixed above, and copied here for convenience:
You rock! Saving to my Google drive now.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Hi, I am new to this forum and I am swimming Gibraltar Straits in the week of June the 23rd. I have tried to download the BS Gibraltar but it seems that the link do not work now. Any ideas on how can I get a copy? Thanks and regards
@Combilin, did you try @evmo's link only a couple above? I just tried it and it worked.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
It didn´t work a few hours ago but it does now. Thank-You IrpnMike and Evmo
Both links work fine now....I'm interested in Gibraltar for next year. Thanks for sending along the info.
I finally did the swim the 7th. of July, 2016. After a few days with strong winds of Levante, the wind ceased on the 7th. and we were ready to go at 12:00. From the island of the torch light in Tarifa to Punta Cires in Morocco in 3 hours and 57 minutes. Really enjoyed every minute of the swim, despite strong currents leading to Gibraltar in the first hour and a big storm with thunderbolt and lighting during the 2nd.
I emailed in 2015 for 2016. I got a reply in 2016 after repeat inquiry to be told 2017 is full but I could book for 2018. But I still need to go back and resend what I sent in 2015, along with more information. Like a copy of my passport.
Let me say this clearly:
What the fuck?
Over-priced and badly organised.
loneswimmer.com
I know a few guys who have swum Gibraltar (all of them with a wetsuit), and they are happy with the organization. But we are all Spanish...
I'm ashamed to say that the "mañana, mañana" cliché is quite right, so it is probably badly organized.
And highly over-prized, taking into account that the minimum wage in Spain is about 750 Eur/month.
dieciseisgrados.com/
Feckin brilliant. This is the one on my list. I may not be able for the EC, who knows, but this I can do I reckon. I'm thinking 2018 or 2019. I need more speed though. 3km/hr is top speed for me over a long distance.
Contact ACNEG early. I contacted them May 2016 for an Aug 2018 crossing and was told I would be on the waiting list for 2018. It was only in October this year that I was told I could cross in Aug 2018. :O
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Realistically, how tough a swim is it? I can do 5km now.
How long might you need to spend over there? I'm thinking of time off work and so on. I've been to Tarifa a couple of times, I like it as a town.
I think most spend a week there.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
I contacted by email them 3 times 3 years ago and never got a response, it kinda put me off... I have got a pal who swam it with his father in a 2 man relay (dad was @70 at the time!) and they really enjoyed it.
My gut feeling tells me even if they confirm a booking that it would be a stressful experience until you actually walk into the water.
What might be cool would be for MSF to block book a full week and aim for a crossing a day. I'd turn up for sure.
He does his best to get people away, but the problem with that part of the world is that it is pretty windy the majority of the time. Ideally people swim when the wind shifts to blow out of the west, in concert with the current, otherwise swimming is very hard going. We spent a week there last year, and were lucky enough to go on the only decent day, though other swimmers went the day before in less pleasant conditions.
All described in somewhat tedious detail here:
swimsequence.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/the-strait-of-gibraltar-swimming-to-africa/
Once you are in Tarifa...Rafael and his team really look after you. Getting a slot is difficult for sure. Roger Finch and I had both been trying to get a slot...me for two years and Roger for three so we teamed up. Do not underestimate this swim. Tarifa is the windsurfing capital of Europe. We finally got a day. We got really strong currents and twice only swam about 500m in an hour. Another group went out in the morning (same timenad us) and the afternoon and neither sadly made it. Here's an article I wrote about our experience. I learnt a lot from this experience...this swim made me a tougher swimmer mentally that's for sure!!! http://dailynews.openwaterswimming.com/2015/06/battling-mind-game.html?m=1
Travel tip: visit Ronda when you're there!!
I'd like some more information on this swim and the organization that runs it. I've seen a lot of conflicting information. The original guide says they start taking bookings in December for the next year, yet now it seems one has to ask for further out years. I've also seen, in an article, that you now must swim with a group.
I would like to do this swim, but don't know how to go about getting started. Did anyone do this swim this past year, or have any newer information?
I did get that email this morning. I'm just confused as I've seen a lot of references to doing it by teams because of how hard it can be to get the timing right and there are a lot of people who want to attempt it.
Today I saw this notice in the ACNEG website, which may be of interest to anyone who has lately contacted them (or want to do it) - I think it's been there since last September:
dieciseisgrados.com/
That warning's been there for many, many months now. I first saw it in March 2017 and (re)contacted them, asking them if I'm still good for a summer 2018 crossing. No answer.
I've moved on...
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Thanks to Niek for providing a recent (Sept 2017) email from Laura, the new ACNEG coordinator, which may be of interest:
Dear [redacted],
You must to be in the wait list, 2018 is already full, if you want to have options on next years, please complete next steps:
Have in mind that people since two year are waiting, the demand grows but the conditions in the strait are the same, few possibilities and a lot of swimmers, we work for give the opportunity to all but all we loves this sport knows how works. All cancelations have to be repositioned on the next year.
Kind Regards .
Laura Gutiérrez Díaz
(Coordinadora)
www.acneg.com
acneg (at) acneg.com
After me reading the NoBS,
Is there someone interested in Gibraltar, to team with me, for 2019?
From what i read there are financial benefits with multiple registration in a slot, along meeting new people
hello,
i'm looking for any info about corsica to sardinia (this way, so starting from bonifacio)
thanks
manu