 STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR SWIM By Marcia Cleveland Isla de Tarifa, Spain to Pointe Cires, Morocco Tuesday May 20th, 2025 Distance: 14.4 km, 9 miles Completion Time: 4 hours, 1 minute Start: 4:08 PM Local Time Finish: 8:09 PM Local Time Water temperature: 16 to 18°C, 61 to 66°F Air Temperature: 23°-24°C, 73°-75°F Choppy on both coasts, Manageable Swells (1 meter or <, 3’ or less) in the middle. Water Visibility: Crystal Clear Lead Boat: Columba RIB (Zodiac): Duende Del Mar Tracker: My husband, Mark, used MarineTraffic.com searching for Columba and Duende Del Mar, both from Spain. Each boat gave off strong, continuous signals. Our four feedings occurred at one (plus) hour; one hour, 45 minutes; 2-1/2 hours; and 3 hours, 15 minutes. They consisted only of Endurox, Gels, “Nick’s Blend” 2 or water. My first reactions upon completing this swim were relief and happiness, especially since I did it with my daughter, Julia. With the finish of this swim, I became the Oldest Person to complete the Oceans Seven 3 at the age of 61 years, 21 days, as well as having the longest time span for the Series: July 29, 1994 to May 20, 2025 - 30 Years, 9 months, 23 days (11, 253 Days). Having our children is the main reason for this long span in time (Julia b. February 1998, Sam b. December 2000.) I was the 36th person to finish the Oceans Seven. Additionally, Julia and I became the first Mother-Daughter Duo to swim the Strait of Gibraltar together.
Our 2024 Team arrived ready to go. The days passed without a suitable swim day, due to high winds. In order to swim the Strait of Gibraltar, several factors must coincide: the wind must be less than 5 on the Beaufort Scale, 4 coming from a western direction, and on an incoming tide. Otherwise, you’ll be blown out into the Atlantic. And all this must occur during daylight hours only. Ultimately, Julia and I would spend 16 days in Tarifa, much of it spent refreshing our Weather Apps. I was pretty despondent when I got home but I had to reframe this situation because I knew I was going back. I decided this “minor delay,” was merely an obstacle in the grand scheme of things, however frustrating it was at the time. Mother Nature had bigger plans for me. Lots and lots of people knew about this swim because it was my final leg of the Oceans Seven. Social Media and electronic communications compound the intensity. I am someone who keeps my goals and aspirations “close to the vest”. This allows me to avoid outside opinions, unsolicited comments, and any negative mojo directed my way. When it’s time to let the world know, I’ll say something. Until that point, my nose is to the grindstone and I’m putting in the work. To come home with a “dry suit” in 2024, then be asked repeatedly “When are you going to swim Gibraltar again?”, reminded me of my unfinished business. To do all the training again for Gibraltar was complicated by having to be with Sam at work twice a week. To achieve my weekly yardage goals of 15-20 miles, I had to swim extra early on those two days, along with long training sessions (2-3 hours each) two to three other times a week. Even though swimming is considered by many to be a solitary sport, it is generally done in groups in which lots of socializing happens. I missed my pack. In the late winter months of 2025, some of my swim mates started joining me on my early days because they, too, wanted more distance training. It was nice to be part of a swim pod again, alleviating my social isolation. To stay motivated, I reminded myself every time I put on my bathing suit that if I completed this swim in 2025, I could become the oldest person to complete the Oceans Seven. "Nevertheless, she persisted." 5 The vibe for this year’s swim had changed too. Last year, we had a large, festive group, and a week of touring around this beautiful area of the world, when we weren’t swimming at the beach or looking at the weather forecast. This year, Chris Layton was no longer able to be with us. Because Julia, Chris, and I had been together for this from the start, I was sad Chris couldn’t make it but I understood how over the span of eight years, time marched on. Chris and I swam on the same age group team in Connecticut in the mid-1970s. We went back a long time and our commitment to one another runs deep. I thought long and hard about who would replace Chris and came upon the idea of asking Emily Frank. She swims with North Shore Masters several times a month when she is in Chicago for her work. I knew she would show up in shape and acclimated. Most importantly, Emily is a delight to be around, a real team player, goes “with the flow”, and she came through like a champ. Our 4th swimmer, Kristian Rutford, is an experienced Open Water swimmer and expressed to me his desire to swim Gibraltar. He was invited to join our team in May 2023. There’s the backstory now…On with the swim. The hardest part about this swim is getting to the starting line and the Organizers know this. The swim itself is “relatively easy” 6 Laura Gutierrez Díaz, the ACNEG Representative, (Asociación Cruce A Nado Estrecho De Gibraltar, i.e. the Strait of Gibraltar Swimming Association) does her best to accommodate swimmers into tandem teams of 4, the current maximum number to cross together at one time. All team members have to swim at the same pace, four-across in a line, pretty much stroke-for-stroke, for the duration of the swim. Otherwise, the swim will be stopped. The process is very fair and the wait to get a swim window is extraordinarily long. The rules are to be abided; in 2024, Laura appreciated Julia’s and my behavior reflecting as much, despite the challenge. Eventually, May 2025 rolls around. Mother Nature seemed to recognize that we had paid our dues over the previous 12 months, and she granted us passage early in our window this year. The weekend before our designated swim window - May 19-29th, I told Laura I would be at the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, being conveniently held in nearby Jersey Island, UK; right off the coast of France. (ACNEG is an Honor Organization in IMSHOF (International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame) so Laura understood the significance of attending this ceremony.) Julia would join me in Jersey since she has grown up amongst many of the Honorees. As a result, we would be on a tight timeline arriving in Tarifa. There are no direct flights between Jersey and Tarifa. Instead, we had to leave Jersey at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning (sadly missing some of the Induction events) after a late Saturday night, and fly back to Heathrow. From there, we connected to a Gibraltar flight, touched down on “The Rock” mid-afternoon, and made our way to Tarifa by dinnertime Sunday. Mother Nature and/or the Channel Gods may (?) have played a hand in our trip since it was smooth sailing: no delayed flights and all our luggage, especially the two large bags with all our swim gear, arrived without a hitch. When we arrived in Tarifa, I immediately contacted Laura. She said we would not swim on Monday (tomorrow) but Tuesday May 20th was “looking good.” This allowed us one day to settle in. On Monday, we swam at Playa Chica, gathered last minute supplies, and had both our own team meeting and our official swim briefing with Laura. I led our team meeting. We went over all our gear, how it would be packed and stored between the two boats, and the mechanics of the feeding process. Jon, Emily’s husband and our crew, asked lots of questions, absorbed the information quickly, and as a result, performed well for us during the swim. At this meeting, I stated the importance of this swim for me without sugarcoating it. “This is my swim. You all are on my team. I have been waiting 8 years for this swim. If I finish it, I will become the oldest person to complete the Oceans Seven Series. I would like each of us to finish the swim but it is crucial for me to complete this swim. If you feel you cannot keep up or need to get out, you must do so.” Everyone assured me they would respect this stipulation. After this meeting, we went to the Official Briefing, where Laura went over all the rules, procedures, and the course. She went through the same information we had heard in 2024 but this was all new to Emily and Jon. One of the important things she emphasized was the tack line our course would take: a continuously left-slanting diagonal line towards Morocco because the tides and currents would push us in this southeastern direction. This had been seared into my brain and I deliberately led our group in this direction during our swim. Laura was fairly confident our swim would happen on Tuesday afternoon. We were to report to the dock at 3:30pm and depart shortly thereafter. (It is a 10-minute boat ride from the dock to the swim start.) Our next 24 hours revolved around this departure time. We “United the Waters”, figured out meals, and packed our gear. The next morning, I slept in, ate breakfast, rested, ate lunch, and then rested again. I sent out a mass email to let people all over the world know of our departure and tracker details, then I had my first cup of coffee of the day. At 3:10pm, we began our 10-minute walk to the boat dock. I really hoped we would swim this year. In 2024, after being in Tarifa for 2 days, we had been given the green light that our swim would start. The swim was called off 45 minutes before we were to report to the boat, beginning the long, frustrating wait towards a swim that never happened. This year I would not add water to my powdered drinks until the last minute, when I was 100% sure we would be swimming. Once we arrived at the dock, a miracle seemed to transpire. We were actually doing all those things one does to get ready to start a swim - applying sunscreen, putting on our suit/cap/goggles, the bags were loaded on the boats – and no one was calling it off! It had been a long 8-year wait but there were no stories to tell yet. We had a swim to do. At this moment, my focus, as ever, remained on completing this swim. Finally, we boarded Columba and set off! I was ready to go.
I wanted to be clear that neither Julia, Emily, nor I would relay messages to him from the RIB. He uttered “Sure.” The horn sounded, and at 4:09pm, we headed towards Morocco, on Tuesday May 20, 2025, a beautiful, sunny afternoon. I was raring to go. From the start, I felt fantastic. The rough waves and colder water created a sweet spot for me. Coupled with a “well-rested and properly caffeinated Marcia”, my now rarely seen “A Game” appeared. It was all on the line and I wanted to get to the other side AFAP, F=fast. I pushed the pace from the start, covering about 3800 meters in the first hour – even before factoring in the significant southeastern push from the current. I sensed our rapid progress. At the first feeding, Emily said she couldn't keep up this pace so I dialed it back, allowing us to stay together because I wanted her to finish. (Emily is faster than me in a pool by about 5 seconds a 100.) Had I been swimming solo and maintained this pace from the start, which I could have on this particular day, my swim would have been faster (more on this later), but Emily was a great teammate and would not be left behind. Julia emerged as an even better teammate as the swim progressed, remembering my mantra for tandem swims, “The slowest person sets the pace.” Therefore, Julia stayed with Emily. Nora 5 told me several times that the first and last half-hours of this swim were rough and colder in temperature than in the middle. This is due to the plateaus coming off the land of Spain and Morocco. These plateaus drop into canyons 3000 feet (900 meters) deep. In the middle, the water settles down because there is more room for the water to move around, and it warms up because cold water is usually closer to the bottom. Nora’s advice, as always, was spot on. ¡Gracias, mi amiga!  I could instantly tell where the topographical changes occurred on both sides. When I first jumped in, I thought the water was 18°C/65°F or warmer, then it went up to 21°C/70°F in the middle. Apparently, the actual temperature range was 16°C/61°F on the coasts and 18°C/66°F in the middle but the sun helped to warm us. Obviously, the water temperature wasn’t an issue for me.  Instituto Geográfico Nacional Mapa Físico (Relief Map of the Gibraltar Strait) The first hour went by quickly, literally and figuratively. It was pure joy to swim near Julia, as we stroked along just fine in 3000 feet/ 900 meters of water. At one point, some whales appeared behind the RIB. I could tell by the delighted smiles of the crew that “something” was there. We’d find out later what the “something” was. When I did find out, I felt it to be a privilege to share these glorious waters with them. Doesn’t every Mother-Daughter Duo do things like this? Jon gave us the hand signal for “5 minutes” before our first feed. I picked up the pace, as I do before all my feeds. Five minutes soon stretched waaaaaay out. I saw an outbound cargo ship swiftly approaching us from the east and realized the crew wanted us in front of this ship before stopping for our feed. Once we were safely in position, Jon held the bottles high, indicating “Chow Time.” The boat stopped and an incredibly well-orchestrated scene transpired. From the front side of the RIB, Jon handed Kristian and me our bottles, with open gels attached by plastic wristbands. “Willy” was doing the same with Julia and Emily at the back side of the RIB. (We never found out his real name so we tagged him as “Willy.”) Treading water, we each sucked down our gels, chugged our various energy drinks (Endurox for everyone but Julia; she received “Nick’s Blend”), and then shared two bottles of mint mouthwash as an oral rinse for the salt. Fernando held out a fishing net into which we deposited our bottles and empty gel pouches when we completed our feeds. Then we immediately began to swim again. Our feeds were done in 30 seconds or less. I had emphasized during our Team Meeting the need for fast feedings and our group executed this perfectly. Even Cristina and Fernando, the pilots of our two escort vessels, were impressed. Preparing for, then feeding four people is no small task and Jon nailed it every time. Kudos to all for such precision. Because we started in the day, one hour after the low tide, I marked the time by the sun's position. Closer to the Moroccan side, I knew we'd make it by sundown and for this, I was grateful. Laura told us in the briefing that when we were in Spanish waters, the boats flew a Spanish flag. Once we crossed into Moroccan waters, a Moroccan flag went up. I noticed this change, driving the point home that open water swimming is a global experience. And, we were over halfway there! Well into Moroccan waters, I saw what I'll call a “GI Joe” ship, heading east out of the port and crossing far in front of us. This large military ship was painted the same vivid green as the toy soldiers in Toy Story 2. (Julia and Emily also saw this ship.) If we were to get close enough, I envisioned all these little toy figurines being dumped on us. (Sam loved this visual when I told him about it afterwards.)
No reason to have armed guards aiming their loaded weapons at four wet swimmers crawling from the water in Speedos. (No joke! This situation has happened!)
During this swim, Emily realized where she needed to improve to be ready for Gibraltar and did so. She is well-trained, communicates clearly, and has good situational awareness. These were just some of her many positive contributions during our swim.  Onwards towards Africa! Columba is in the foreground. To the contrary, Fernando wasn't great with his directions from the RIB. “Follow the boat” could mean either “Follow the RIB” or “Follow the Columba.” I got the impression that Fernando was happy to be out on the water on this sunny day with competent swimmers who were going to finish. He was definitely in on the fact that the hardest part of this swim was getting to the starting line, occasionally yelling, “Relax, you’re going to make it. Enjoy this beautiful swim.” I was enjoying it but finishing this swim was key; I’d relax then. About half an hour from the finish, a rapidly approaching massive cargo ship was heading directly towards us from the west. I urgently asked if we were going to pass in front of it, similar to the cargo ship that delayed our first feeding, or behind this floating behemoth. Had Fernando let me know right away, either using simple hand signals or words, that this ship would take a hard right into the Moroccan port, - an amazing maneuver by an obviously very skilled ship pilot – he would have greatly eased my anxiety. I was mainly concerned because Julia and Emily were going to take the brunt of the ship’s wash due to their closer proximity. Clearly, Fernando was in charge and his approach was more laid back than I liked but I was not in a position to question. We cranked towards the finish.  The approaching Cargo Ship causing great concern. I’ll remember these letters forever: CMA CGM After we had finished and were on the Columba, Claudia told us we had been swimming into a 2-knot current for the final hour. Blissfully, none of us realized this. During this time, I had become a “bit bored” with the slower pace so I started to move around in our swim order. I hung with Emily a bit; my presence assuring her we were all going to finish. I did several “Karen IM” 9 series and a lot of backstroke. Had it not been for these little things (the head-on current, Emily’s speed), the total time for my Oceans Seven Series would not have added up to 77:34, (adding 3+4 equals 7), a total number that is easy for me to remember. Once again, “Everything happens for a reason” and “Mother Nature is always in charge.”
High fives were shared amongst us all and Julia gave me a hearty congratulations for my Oceans Seven completion. (She was with me on four of the seven! The first one was 3 ½ years before she was born so she gets a pass on that one.) As we started to return to the waiting Columba for our ride back to Spain, I remembered promising Chris Layton I would get him a rock from our finish. I swam back to the Pointe and clawed off a massed combination of shells, barnacles, mussels, and vegetation to bring home for him. (He loved this gift when I gave it to him a month later. It still smelled of the sea.) These tough critters endured the unending pull of powerful tidal waters, mirroring my dedication to hang on for so long. The only way to improve this swim would to have had Chris with us. But he was with me in spirit every stroke of the way. Onwards to life's next journeys!  Our Course is the Left Line, diagonally slanting eastward towards Africa.. The right line is the return boat ride back to Spain.  Mother-Daughter Duo after our Crossing. I am so proud of Julia!!!  Back in Tarifa, Spain. Joy is clearly evident between us! Emily, Julia, and Marcia. My Oceans Seven Accomplishment is real!  We received our Official Certificates and Maps of the Crossing the next day!  Modeling our newly acquired Sweatshirts, with Morocco, Africa in the background.  At Playa Chica, with our Strait of Gibraltar Jewelry from EKA Magic Jewelry 10 in Tarifa, Spain. Owner Ivan Queredo posts pictures of successful Strait swimmers wearing his jewelry. Marcia, Julia, & Emily Notes1 ACNEG: Asociación Cruce A Nado Estrecho De Gibraltar www.acneg.comThe Strait of Gibraltar Swimming AssociationYou must register to swim the Strait of Gibraltar with this Association.
2 Nick’s Blend Creator: Nicholas Solomon, Deerfield, Illinois, USA 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon Sugar, 8 ounces Water. An alternative to powdered high-quality Endurance Drinks. The ingredients are readily available in most countries. 3 Oceans Seven Swim Series https://longswims.com/challenges/oceans-seven/ The Oceans Seven is a marathon swimming challenge, proposed in 2008 and consisting of seven historically iconic ocean channel swims:
4 Beaufort Scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale https://www.weather.gov/mfl/beaufort One of the first scales to estimate wind speeds and the effects was created by Britain's Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857). He developed the scale in 1805 to help sailors estimate the winds via visual observations. The scale starts with 0 and goes to a force of 12. The Beaufort scale is still used today to estimate wind strengths. 5 “Nevertheless, she persisted.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevertheless,_she_persisted A Feminist Rallying Cry. 6 “Relatively Easy” This is my perspective. It’s only a 10-mile swim. If you swim about 25-30,000 yards/meters a week at a 1:30/100-yard pace, plus lift weights, do calisthenics, and stretch regularly as part of your weekly training, you should be able to make this swim without a second thought. Even better if you do a few sub-60F/15C four-to-six-hour swims in the months leading up to your swim window. Other athletes may have a different definition for what constitutes “Relatively Easy” and I encourage anyone with such a perspective to write their own story. 7 Nora Toledaño Cadena https://www.openwaterpedia.com/wiki/Nora_Toledano_Cadena https://longswims.com/p/nora-toledano-cadena One of my dear friends. Nora has become one of the leading Mexican Open Water Swimmers and has created an amazing Latin American presence in the Global Swimming Community. 8 EQ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence Emotional quotient (EQ), also known as Emotional intelligence (EI), 9 “Karen IM Series” A series consisting of an equal number of all four strokes, done in IM order (Individual Medley) indicating the finish of our open water swim workout. This series usually begins at the buoy 300 yards offshore at Gillson Beach, Wilmette, Illinois, USA, and continues until one gets to the shoreline. Created by Karen Lundgren, long-time North Shore Masters member. 10 EKA Magic Jewelry - “EKA Tarifa Blue” This local jewelry store located at Plaza La Paz, 1, 11380 Tarifa, Cádiz, Spain is becoming the central meeting spot for Strait of Gibraltar swimmers. Owner Ivan Queredo posts pictures of successful Strait swimmers wearing his jewelry.
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