Strait of Gibraltar

Mercedes Gleitze and the six attempts

The first recorded swim across the Strait of Gibraltar took place on April 5, 1928, and it was achieved by a woman: Mercedes Gleitze, born in Brighton in 1900, who on October 7, 1927, had become the first British woman to swim the English Channel. She succeeded on her sixth attempt. Her story was reconstructed by historian Wenceslao Segura González using newspapers of the time—British, French, and Spanish—and the notarial deed signed in Tarifa the following day (Al Qantir, 2018).

In November 1927, another swimmer, Millie Hudson, publicly challenged her to a race across the Strait. Gleitze refused the race, but on December 1, both departed from London and were in Tangier by the 5th. Gleitze's first three attempts started from Africa.

• December 16, 1927: departs at night from Tangier. At dawn, the Levante wind picks up; after about eight hours, seasickness forces her to stop, 7 miles from Spain.
• January 2, 1928: departs at three in the morning toward Cape Spartel. After about eleven hours, she sees the Spanish coast nearby, then a current pulls her back. On the same day, Hudson stops 4.5 miles from Tarifa.
• Night between January 22 and 23: from Cape Spartel, in the water at midnight. At five o'clock, she is caught in a whirlpool that drags her toward the bottom. After that night, it is agreed that one must start from Tarifa.
• March 11, 1928: first attempt from Isla de las Palomas, the island of Tarifa. They pull her out after almost eight hours, a mile and a half from Punta Almina, in Ceuta. The military governor of Tarifa tells reporters that «Miss Gleitze is braver than a bullfighter».
• April 2, 1928: again from the island, with pilot Fernando Gurrea Castro. She retires 4 miles from Benzú.

On April 5, she enters the water at 7:50 from the western side of the island, with Gurrea on a rowboat beside her, the sailing ship Joven Manuel, and later the Víctor Hugo with over thirty people on board. Pinned to her swimsuit is a medal of the Virgen de la Luz, patron saint of Tarifa. She touches land at Punta Leona, on the African coast, at 20:40, after 12 hours and 50 minutes. She would later tell a newspaper about the «constant company of the Spaniards and the dolphins, which were jumping around me». Upon returning to the port of Tarifa at 23:30, the municipal band plays God Save the King.

The steamship that was supposed to bring the witnesses from Gibraltar did not show up: the witnesses were all Spanish except for one, and on April 6, they swore before the notary of Tarifa. The Diario de Cádiz reported the news that same day, and the British newspapers on the 7th. In the association's register, Gleitze is line number one, with 12 hours and 50 minutes: no one-way crossing since her has lasted as long.

The first man and twenty years later

After Gleitze, twenty years passed. On July 22, 1948, the 38-year-old Peruvian Daniel Carpio crossed in 9 hours and 20 minutes, after twenty days of waiting in Tarifa for the Levante wind. He returned to the Strait in 1977, at age 64, and again on August 8, 1987, at 77: this is the highest age in the register. On September 21, 1948, the first Spaniard arrived, Eduardo Villanueva; the first Spanish woman was Montserrat Tresserras in 1957, who fifty years later wrote a book about the history of the Strait.

In 1953, the American Florence Chadwick crossed in 5 hours and 6 minutes, which was presented at the time as the best time. In 1966, the Indian Mihir Sen was the first Asian to cross, in 8 hours and one minute.

From a few crossings a year to hundreds

Until the nineties, there were few crossings. In the eighties, a group of Tarifa residents, including Rafael Gutiérrez Mesa, began accompanying swimmers along with the Red Cross, modeled after the association that monitors English Channel crossings. In 1999, the association was born, with two or three crossings a year; today, there are hundreds of requests and waiting lists last for years. The chart below, built on its register, shows the growth.

The first round-trip crossing was by the Spaniard María Luisa Cabañero, on September 21, 1990, in 10 hours and 58 minutes. The first relay in the register without a wetsuit is Japanese, from July 3, 1999.

Today's times

The shortest time in the register without a wetsuit belongs to the Greek Georgios Charcharis, 2 hours and 16 minutes on August 24, 2009. Among women, the Mexicans Cynthia Aguilar Valdés and Patricia Guerra Méndez finished in 2 hours and 43 minutes on July 8, 2023. With a wetsuit, the Spaniard David Meca crossed in 2 hours and 29 minutes on December 16, 1999. The association does not publish official records: they are lines in the register, and the timeline below puts them in order.