Two swimmers from Switzerland cross the Strait of Gibraltar

Text: firmm and Roberta Bernet; photos: Sebastian Kanzler and Jürg Ammann

Already two years ago, Jürg Ammann came up with the idea to cross the Strait of Gibraltar swimming, with the intention to raise awareness for the threatened whales and dolphins living in the Strait. The project needed a lot of preparation  and of course also a lot of special training, which he completed successfully  together with his diving partner Roberta Bernet, and so the event could take place at the beginning of June.

   

Caused by Atlantic currents, the water  temperature is mostly only 14-19 degrees, there are often strong winds  blowing and depending on the tide, the permanent current varies. Rafael, employee of Tarifa Trafico together with his reliable and highly motivated team, has direct access to all available data and they monitored the whole event.

   

Jürg, who crossed the Strait only a few days after Roberta successfully, reported enthusiastically about his exciting encounters with whales on the way back. Especially a nearby lingering Sperm whale overwhelmed him with his descent in slow motion!

  

We would like to thank the two brave swimmers wholeheartedly for their successful crossing and we wish them success and joy for their future swimming projects.

Roberta’s personal report

I love to swim; I’ve been swimming since I was 7 years old, and only realized when I was in my 40s how important swimming really is to me. I just feel good when I get the chance to swim on a regular basis. My teammates are my friends. I love to go to swim practice. When I tell people about my long distance swimming, their first reaction is almost always “Why? There are ferries you know…”

For me it is really important to have little projects in my life – be it to finally get those tax forms filled out or to finally clean out the basement. And so in comparison, swimming is a really positive project! I always try to have some goal, not always something huge like swimming the Strait of Gibraltar, but something smaller that I can do together with my teammates. I think it is important to not have too many great projects. I like to take my time and really enjoy the preparation for it.

To swim the Strait of Gibraltar, one has to ask the Chairman of the Gibraltar Swimming Association for a “slot”. A slot last for about 10 days or so. The Chairman has to juggle all the swimmers that want to swim each year, so one only knows short notice when the actual swim will take place. Patience is required! After one has been given a slot, one has to complete an application and pass a medical test. Here I had to work really hard. I have a heart arrhythmia and my doctor at home wanted to be really sure that my heart could handle such an undertaking. And then comes the training. If I am lucky I swim 3 – 4 times per week, twice over lunchtime with my teammates. I work a fulltime job and have responsibilities to my family, so I can’t always just take off and train whenever I want. Since the crossing was planned for early in the season, all of my training was in the pool.

The water in the Strait is much colder than your average swimming pool though, so I went with a friend to a swimming camp in Mallorca in mid April and was able to train in the ocean and in the “right” temperature, 15 degrees Celcius. This training was great, also because we were able to train with other like minded individuals who don’t always think of a ferry as a first option. And this is not my the first long distance swimming project, so I had some experience to rely on.

   

We arrived in Tarifa and the first chance possible we called the Chairman, Rafael. We were lucky enough to be able to meet him that night and got the news: we can swim tomorrow! We were told what time to be at the marina to meet the pilot and get ready. My friend Jürg and I greased up on land (to help prevent chafing from the salt water) and the others got the boats ready. We had our friend Remo as a supporter who was in the smaller rubber boat who would feed us every half hour with carbohydrate drinks. And then we set off. A larger boat set the course and our job was to follow him. And to swim; just swim.

The next question everybody asks me is “What do you think about the whole time?” Most swimmers swim short distances – 200 meters is already considered a longer distance in the pool, and this is over in about 2, 3 minutes. For a long distance crossing one has lots of time…

How do you tell somebody what goes through your mind during the course of 3 ½ hours? Lots! It’s very personal. The predominate thought that went through my mind is that I felt very lucky to have the chance to swim in the middle of the ocean, with the Atlantic Ocean on my right, the Mediterranean Sea on my left and Africa straight ahead. I felt like a kid that has permission to cross the big street for the first time. I’ve never been to Africa, even with the ferry! The ocean is great, so blue, so deep, so endless and sometimes a swimmer is even blessed to be able to actually swim with a dolphin. During my swim, I felt strong, and that is a good feeling. It gives me confidence. I thought about my friends at home, my friends on the boat. I thought about my family, my work colleagues – all of whom were following my progress on a GPS Tracker. Sometimes during a swim, some negative thoughts creep into your mind, and it is really hard to push them away because they have the tendency to eat away at you. This happened on my swim as well. My friend got out after an hour and I swam on. I felt incredibly guilty because I was having a great day, actually an incredible one, and he was having less of one. He will get another chance though and for that I am happy, because it is a great feeling to swim to Africa!

   

So what does it feel like? Well actually it is a lot of hard work. It is not to be underestimated. Swimming the 15-17 kms is the easiest challenge. I have to keep moving fast enough to generate enough body heat to keep me warm. I have to drink my feeds quickly to not waste time and keep moving. I have to follow the lead boat which was sometimes so far away I could not see it. It is of course normal in the ocean that there are some waves and I swallowed some sea water, which does not taste as good as my carbohydrate drink. I was rewarded with seeing some tankers pass by. They make a special kind of wave which is kind of fun to ride. And a school of striped dolphins swam under me. They were so fast and the experience was over in no time!

The start happens very quickly at the point of Isla de Las Palomas and we had to swim hard to get away from the coast. One sees Africa for the entire swim and it never seems to get any closer. Especially at the end; the last 300 meters seem to take forever. It’s about here I that I start to cry, because I know I’ve done it, and that is a great feeling. I am also a little bit sad though because the positive project that I spent a year preparing for is over. My time in the ocean is over and I have to get out. The moment I touched a rock at Point Ahmiar I was afraid. The waves were crashing against the rocks and I am then helpless against them. It is kind of like the ocean reminding me that my fun is over, time to get out now. So as soon as the whistle blew, I swam right back to the boat into the arms of my supporter.

    

What’s next for me? I don’t  know. I definitely want to do another long distance swim, but I don’t know which one or when. For sure, not anytime so soon. I want to enjoy this one a little longer.