Estrecho de Gibraltar 2016

For centuries the Strait of Gibraltar has been a place of historical significance from the Phoenicians, Carthaginians and the Moors to the mythological legend of the Pillars of Hercules to what it is today one of the busiest shipping channels in the world.

For swimmers the allure of the Strait of Gibraltar is that you can swim from one continent to the next-Europe to Africa and at the same time swim from one country to the next-Spain to Morocco. How cool is that?

(Aerial view of the Strait of Gibraltar from a friend)

Through a stroke of good luck earlier this year my friend Grant and I were introduced to Clint a dedicated school teacher from Alabama who had secured a slot to swim the Strait of Gibraltar this June. Together the three of us agreed to do the swim training separately in Boston, Birmingham and Manhattan. In the end Clint couldn't make it however Grant and I pressed on and trained for this adventure. 

The journey began when Grant and I met at the airport in Malaga. Once we finally figured out where to pick up our rental car we were on our way to Tarifa, the starting point of the swim. Our base of operations was Dar Cilla a charming guest house with a private roof top deck that had spectacular views of Africa and our eventual swim course. Martina and Nora were our lovely and informative hosts. It was Saturday and our window didn't open until Monday so we headed to Playa Chica the town beach for a quick dip and swim. The water was chillier than expected! The upcoming swim was beginning to feel more real.

(the view from our roof top deck @ Dar Cilla)

Late Sunday afternoon (8:00pm?) we were to meet with Rafael of ACNEG, the governing body of Strait of Gibraltar swims, for our briefing. To kill time during the day we took a trip to Gibraltar. We rode the cable car to the top of the Rock saw the monkeys, took in the view and walked the long way down. We tested the Mediterranean waters at a Gibraltan beach and made our way back to Tarifa for our briefing.

(Grant and Bob at the top of the Rock looking west)

(the Rock is huge!)

(Grant acclimating to the Med)

It was a short walk down the hill from Dar Cilla to Rafael's. We met in his office where he walked through the logistics of the swim from the tides, the wind and the ideal course.  There would be two boats with us at all times a fishing boat that would plot the course and guide the way and a zodiac that would provide support and our feeds. It was getting late and we needed to be at the marina by 6:30am so we rushed home to organize our stuff. Grant cooked the special mix of lanolin and vaseline (to prevent chaffing) and we scrounged a dinner of bread, serrano jamon and queso. Likely not the best pre-event meal. Per usual, before a big event, sleep didn't come easy for either of us. 

Finally the alarm went off! We nibbled on some food, protein mixes and made our way to the harbor to meet Rafael. Things seemed to move pretty quick once we got there, we met the boat captain, his crew, our photographer, we greased up and were motoring out of the harbor just before 7:00am.

The anticipation had certainly been building for awhile but when you are in your speedo on the boat to the Tarifa lighthouse and watching the sun begin to rise over the Strait of Gibraltar-you think "damn this is going to happen!"

(Goggles up)

Grant and I gave each other a big high five and it was-go time! On the count of 3 we jumped in (actually 3.5 for me)!  We swam to the rocks below the lighthouse the starter on zodiac blew then whistle and we were off.

(Tarifa, Spain Lighthouse)

We started off quickly due to the excitement but also to get the blood flowing to take off the chill.  In no time at all we fell into a rhythm and were stroking evenly paced side by side. My thoughts early in the swim were--wow we are really doing this and look at that beautiful sunrise from sea level in the Strait of Gibraltar. Not many people see it from that perspective.

(Gibraltar in the background)

(Jebel Musa in Morocco, Africa in the background)

(Early morning fisherman checking us out) 

The first hour in the water was a bit cool. Not horrible but you felt it. It the middle the water felt quite nice-perhaps even balmy. This worked well with the feeding plan to swim for an hour straight at the beginning have a feed and then feed every 30 minutes thereafter. 

(A feed)

(Go Dawgs!)

(Is that really my stroke?)

After the first feed I felt we hit our our groove and just enjoyed what was around us. Memorable to both Grant and I was the huge school of fish that swam under us. The clear water made it easy to see the hundreds of fish and each other as we swam side by side.

(Ok-that's my stroke!)

Swimming in a major shipping channel there were also the massive cargo ships and tankers that our crew seamlessly dodged. Some we saw out of our peripheral vision and others we didn't.

(Passing through the shipping channel-oddly no big wake)

(Totally didn't see this one) 

Morocco started to really come into focus and it was clear we would be hitting land soon. The water got a bit choppy and started to cool down and we felt a bit of a push from the current. Under the skillful navigation of captain Antonio we were swimming up to rocky Punta Almansa. 

(Captain Antonio and Skipper Fernando)

(the GPS course)

(Madonna and Child watching over our navigation)

We dodged a few rocks and carefully climbed ashore. Grant and I high fived each other, enjoyed the moment looking back across the Strait and the vast body of water we had just swum across. We looked behind us and there was an old Moroccan fishermen staring at us with his companion sleeping on the rock next to him. Above the fisherman, on the hill (top left) there was a lone figure staring down at us-border patrol. Just making sure we weren't going to stay in Morocco. 

(Swimming to shore at Punta Almansa)

(On the zodiac back to Columba) 

We took one last look around and jumped into the water swam to the zodiac that took us back to the big boat and Tarifa.

We did it!!! 17.3km and it took 4 hours 21 minutes! 

(Grant and Bob with Rafael Guiterrez Mesa, President of ACNEG)

Our celebration the rest of the week consisted of lots of tapas, sangria, cerveza, wine and mojitos! Along with day trips to....

Tarifa's nearby beach Valdevaqueros a kiteboarding and mojitos mecca.

Tangier, Morocco for Ramadan and took more traditional transportation--the high speed ferry.

(Roof top view of the Casbah and the Medina)

(Camels on the beach)

It was a great adventure making new friends and creating lifetime memories!

(How big is that Iberico jamon?)

Dreams and late night talks with Grant of future swims, life and adventures were always close at hand. Where will the swim be next???

Thank you to Grant for being a great swimming and travel companion and importantly to my family (read Shannon) for supporting these adventures!

Topless & Outdoors

For readers of my last blog on "Fashion Week" don't let this title Topless & Outdoors get you too excited. I know where some of my (male) readers minds went. This blog is not about topless swimming outdoors. This blogger does not write about such matters.

This blog in many respects kicks off the 2016 outdoor swimming season. On this auspicious Friday I nabbed two outdoor swimming experiences. 

First was swimming "topless" at the Wayland Community Pool. The night before they took the bubble (top) off the pool for summer. The pool was officially closed for maintenance work but as Coach Jen has keys she opened the pool for an early morning masters swim. It's was a chilly morning and there was steam coming off the pool so there was no dawdling on the deck. My new smoked tinted goggles were much needed as the sun was rising to the east. Blue skies, green trees above, a slight nip in the fresh air and the novelty of swimming outdoors made it an awesome way to start the day. Per usual Coach Jen's workout was interesting, punishing and fun all the same time!

The second "outdoor" swimming experience happened later that afternoon at Lake Cohicuate in Wayland. It was going be to be my first open water swim of the season. Who better to inaugurate the season than taking a dip with New England open water swimmer extraordinaire Elaine H. With Gibraltar fast approaching I have been a bit concerned that I haven't been in any cool open water (my cold showers don't count) effectively since last season. Currenlty, the temp in The Strait is around 65 degrees so anything between 60-65 degrees would do. Lake Cohicuate didn't disappoint. A couple of days of sunshine warmed the lake up (according to Elaine's big toe) to just above 60 degrees. Perfect! 

Wading very slowly into the water and a loud yelp made getting into the water somewhat easier. Elaine was the tour guide stopping a various sighting points and landmarks such as; Rocky, Pebble, Sax Beach (don't go there reader) and Deadfish. It was a nice leisurely swim with cool patches along the way. More importantly good conversation and the silent communication that takes place with swimming friends in open water and in pool water.

Today was a great day to start the weekend and the Topless & Outdoor swimming season!

For those readers that were looking for something a little more with "topless swimming" I will leave you with this.

A mermaid.

Fashion Week

For many, New York's Fashion Week in February, is the celebration of world class designers newest collections in Bryant Park.  For me the first week of May is the celebration of the start of Long Course season and where the Burrow Aquatic Collection is shown at MIT's Z Center Pool.

This years collection was quite vast with nine different designs from four haute aqua couture designers. With only five shows (days of swimming) this week it was difficult to choose from the assortment below. 

The following is a brief commentary of each days swim suit.

Monday's selection was Blue Splice by Speedo is a 50/50 poly blend. The blue thematic with small bursts of white was an ideal choice to shrug off the Monday morning blues. Logged 6,000 yards.

Tuesday's suit selection was very important and an easy decision as it kicked off the long course season. Budgy Smuggler of Australias fashion forward "Fishing for Compliments" suit had just the right amount of joie de vivre to mark the occasion. The fabric is 100% nylon. This suit is also a very strong contender to be worn in the Strait of Gibraltar swim this summer. Logged 4,500 long course meters.

Wednesday and Thursday highlight one of my favorite designers Arena. They are a relatively new sponsor to USA Swimming. Wednesday swim togs featured the Blue Confetti design.  The colorful pop of blue, orange and yellow helped ease my hump day mood.  Thursday brought a bit of change to the blue color palette of the previous days.  The green Polycarbonite pattern was a welcome change in color from my seemingly blue hued swim wardrobe. 4,700 and 4,000 long course meters logged respectively.

The Boston area was basically grey, dreary and rainy all week.  Saturday was no exception so I broke out my Waikiki Rough Water Swim suit to get that sunny "Aloha Spirit" going for the weekend.  It does the trick everytime. This suit was made by Hardcore Swim Wear from California.  One of their lines of swim wear is creating custom suits for charities and high profile swim events. I bought mine in Hawaii when I swam in the Waikiki Rough Water Swim in 2013. Looking forward to many more Rough Water Swims and swim suits to match. 7,000 yards logged.

The raison d'etre for this weeks fashion celebration is pictured below. Its a very long pool and it takes a couple weeks to get use to new send offs, sometimes new lane mates and lack of flip turns. In the end long course is great-you can really stretch out your stroke and work on technique and not have it interrupted every 16 or so strokes by a wall like you do in short course. Its also a good way to prepare for the open water season!

Hope you enjoyed this years Burrow Aquatic Collection and can better envision my morning routine and attire.  I think I need to broaden my color palette beyond blue. Stayed tuned for next year...

Workout Tracker-Gibraltar

Everyday post swim, I religiously enter my workout in my USMS fitness log (see blogpost dated 1/31/16). For the last eight weeks I have also been recording my workouts in my Gibraltar Workout Tracker. 

My friend, Grant and Strait of Gibraltar swimming partner created the tracker to keep us and our former team mate accountable to our training. At eight weeks out from the swim he shaded the spreadsheet to signify our "key training" period. 

To mark this occasion I decided to kick the training up a notch this week. The objective was to swim for six days straight and at least my age times a thousand yards a day (that would be 5,300 yards). 

I did it and a bit more! Monday, Tuesday, Thursday thru Saturday I did 5,300 a day and for good measure on Wednesday I swam 10,000 yards. I got in early everyday, did the team workout and stayed in a bit later for some extra credit with my friend Dustin. Wednesday was a bit of a slog as I swam quite awhile by myself. The weeks total was 36,500 yards or nearly 21 miles in close to 10 hours.

With the swim now less than eight weeks away I am sure there will be more big weeks ahead. 

A little motivation this week came from my mom with an aerial shot of the The Strait. A friend of hers was flying to Tenerife an took the pic. 

It's beginning to feel a little more "real" with the clock ticking and seeing this pic.

 

Below is how my USMS Flog recorded the week and has tracked my progress for the year. I'm at 308,000 yards or 175 miles to date and 35 miles ahead of schedule. I guess as Nemo says, "just keep swimming!"

#76 Getting My Kicks...Rose Bowl Aquatics

It was a very long and straight road that led me to pool #76 Rose Bowl Aquatics in Pasadena, California.  By long road, I mean I drove 3,077 miles from Boston to Los Angeles in 46 hours just to get to this Southern California oasis.  After 3.5 days of driving, truck stops, road food and no exercise I was relieved that this beautiful outdoor aquatic facility nestled in the Arroyo Seco next to the Rose Bowl was not a mirage.

This whole journey was inspired by Ryan's need for a car in Los Angeles over the summer so he could get to and from his internship.  With a fair amount of rationalization I decided to get myself a new car and pass my Jeep on to Ryan.  The question was how to get it to him. I could have it shipped out there on a truck or I could, well...just drive it to Los Angeles myself.  The answer was easy--drive it myself! Why not? It was something I always wanted to do. Yolo!

Pulling out of the driveway on a Thursday night after dinner was a bit daunting knowing what lay ahead of me. I wanted to get a couple hours under my belt so I drove to Danbury, Connecticut. Friday morning I hit the road at 5:45am and began the trek in earnest. I drove through New York and the hills of western Pennsylvania before having lunch in Ohio and powering through to Terre Haute, Indiana. Logging 887 miles on day one I fell asleep when my head hit the pillow.

Day two started just before 7:00am hoping for a quick dip in the new $10 million aquatic center in the middle of nowhere Terre Haute.  To no avail, as the pool was closed so I began driving. My drive took me through downstate Illinois to St. Louis where I stopped for a photo op in front of the arch. It was then a long drive through Missouri into and practically the width of Oklahoma to Elk City. Stopping at the Blue Whale of Castoosa I experience my first piece of Route 66 kitsch. It was a big day as I drove 779 miles and because it was the first time I had ever been to Oklahoma.

(Blue Whale of Catoosa)

Sunday morning was mentally a bit tough. It was hard to face another 11 plus hour day of driving. My morning ritual of listening to various covers of the song Route 66 for fifteen minutes got me in the right frame of mind for another long day of driving. I am glad it did because it was likely my best day on the road. I drove through Amarillo, Texas and saw Cadillac Ranch basically ten graffiti'ed Cadillacs standing on their ends in the desert. It was another "first state" as I drove through New Mexico and stopped on Route 66 in Tucumcari to see the wall murals on the sides of buildings. The final destination was Flagstaff, Arizona but not before stopping to "stand on the corner" in Winslow and to have dinner at La Posada. I had been there a couple years before with my dad and had a great meal and it was just as good this time. Perhaps it was even better as the food up until that point had been pretty marginal. Post dinner I drove the hour to Flagstaff at night in the desert listening to the Eagles. A perfect way to end a 754 mile day on the road!

(Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, TX)

(Tucumcari, New Mexico)

(Winslow, AZ)

Monday was the home stretch and a short-ish drive of 465 miles from Flagstaff to Los Angeles. I started the morning with another failed swimming attempt at Northern Arizona University at their new aquatic center.  With plans scuttled, I hit the road driving through the beautiful high desert pines and landscape surrounding Flagstaff. The beauty was short lived as I dropped in the barren Mohave from Kingman, Arizona to Bartsow, California.  By early afternoon, I was on the busy LA freeways and a heart beat away from my final destination of University of Southern California and South Central. I did it! Mission accomplished!

(Tommy Trojan, USC)

Ryan and his friends were blown away when they saw the car and realized that I had driven cross country. Loved seeing the surprise on his face.

(Car safe in South Central Los Angeles)

It was long and at times a tedious and boring trip but I am so happy I did it. It was an awesome journey! I am actually a bit proud I did it solo. I hit thirteen different states (two of them new to me). I traveled highways and byways, that perhaps I may never see again and got to experience what big beautiful diverse country America is. We are fortunate to live in America!

So as the popular rhythms and blues song Route 66 released in 1946 says:

When you make that California trip

Get your kicks on Route 66!