Before, During and After

A few days after the swim – Patricia and Philipp making silly faces for the camera:

We were celebrating the birthdays of Joan, my dad and Denise – which fall, respectively, on August 26th, 28th and 30th.  By unanimous consent we went to our favorite Tarifa restaurant, Souk – which serves some of the best Moroccan food on either side of the Strait.

The Rock of Gibraltar:

There are many misconceptions about the Rock.  It does not sit out in the Atlantic but is actually attached to the main part of Spain on the Mediterranean side.  It is a little ways around from the southern-most tip of Spain, which is Tarifa where we started our swim from.  It was considered to be one of the two Pillars of Hercules by the ancient Greeks, with the other pillar either being Jebel Musa in Morocco or Mons Abyla (a.k.a. Monte Hacho) which is part of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta – on the other side of the Strait.  The territory of Gibraltar, which includes the Rock, is British-owned and has its own currency.  We all took a one day excursion to Gibraltar after the swim.

Jebel Musa in Morocco – possibly the second of the Pillars of Hercules, as they were known to the Ancient Greeks:

For a long time it seemed like this rocky escarpment would be our landing point.  We didn’t appreciate that it was Jebel Musa until later.  Reaching to almost 3000 feet of elevation, Jebel Musa was readily visibile from our villa on clear days.  In the vicinity of this photograph the current picked up to two knots and our ultimate landing point turned out to be considerably further east (to the left in the photograph).

One or both of us swimming; Patricia, Maddy and Jesus in the feeding boat, and the Rock of Gibraltar in the distance:

My favorite still shot from the swim:

I am on the left and Philipp is on the right – Philipp is riding up on a small swell.  The Tarifa Lighthouse is on the far left.  We are probably only ten-fifteen minutes into the swim and showing good form.

Paul McClintock and me at the Westwood Pool in Thornwood, NY:

Paul has been active in all aspects of Wetchester swimming over many years, including meet organization, coaching, refereeing, governance – and he is still an incredibly fast swimmer.  Last year he was inducted into the Westchester Sports Hall of Fame.  Paul’s son Craig holds most of the University swimming records at Pace – the pool where I swim.  On the morning in which this photograph was taken Paul, wife Fritzi, and Craig hosted me at Westwood for a 10K tune-up the weekend before I left for Spain. Paul swam the first 5K with me.

The regular Westchester Masters early morning swim crew on the morning before I left for Spain:

Left to right: Noel Clusaz, Dick Grose, me, Brad Polhill and Martin I. M. Burkhardt.  Carrie Dillon and Steve Yates were away on vacation.