When we think of swimming feats, the first thing that comes to mind is swimming in the English Channel. At its shortest, the distance between the English and French coasts is just 22 miles, but a combination of strong and cold currents means that only 10% of people who attempt this feat make it to the other side.
The first channel attempt was by JB Johnson, who had to retire after just over an hour. Three years later, Paul Boyton made it to the other side using a special prototype buoyancy suit. However, the first unassisted swim went to Captain Matthew Webb, who swam from Dover to Calais in 21 hours 45 minutes on his second attempt.
Curiously, after this success, it would take 35 years before another was recorded, although there were many attempts. One man, Jabez Wolffe, tried and failed no less than 22 times, four of them by less than a mile! Thomas Burgess was more successful, becoming only the second man to swim across the channel on his thirteenth attempt.
The first man to swim in the opposite direction from France to England was Enrico Tiraboschi in 1923; today France-England is recognized as the ‘easy’ route due to favorable tides. In 1926 Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to complete the distance.
The popularity of canal swimming reached new heights with the organization of a cross-Channel race in 1950; 20 entrants took part in the maiden race, 9 of whom finished. In 1972, 15-year-old Lynne Cox became the youngest person to swim the channel, breaking men’s and women’s speed records in the process, and in 1988, Thomas Gregory swam the channel at just 11 years old.
To date, more than 1,200 people have completed this challenge since the first success over 130 years ago. The team with the record for the most swims is the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team with almost forty swims completed by its members. The current speed record is held by Christof Wandratsch in a staggering time of 7 hours and 3 minutes. However, the undisputed champion of channel crossing is Alison Streeter, a native of Dover who has crossed the channel 43 times, as well as setting the first three-way channel crossing – a trip back to Dover and then back to France! again! The popularity of Canal swimming is now such that hopeful swimmers must go on a waiting list to secure a boat crew to escort them across.
