Mumbai: Milind Soman’s 15 km swim across the Strait of Gibraltar was certainly a jaw-dropping achievement. But not only because the fitness icon did it at the age of 60. Unknown to many, the Strait is one of the most dangerous bodies of water for swimmers.
The Strait of Gibraltar looks deceptively calm when one states across at Morocco while standing on the beach at Tarifa, Spain. However, the moment one steps in, s/he gets to realise that the water doesn’t care about fitness level or training, as reported by The Times of India.
Huge cargo ships passing the Strait, which is one of the busiest shipping lanes on the planet. These large vessels care little about a human being in the water.
The tides are another thing altogether. They shift unpredictably and the currents are strong enough to push even the most experienced of swimmers swimmers off course. The weather can also change in minutes, turning calm water into something genuinely hostile.
Experts say that at times, a swimmer has to fight a current that pushes her/him backward. At other times, the water pulls the swimmer sideways so hard, they lose track of which direction they were originally headed.
“Even if you’re a strong swimmer, the currents can add hours to your swim or simply defeat you entirely. Your stroke technique means nothing when the ocean has decided you’re not making progress,” an expert said.
And there’s just not one current. There is the Atlantic pushing in from the west and the Mediterranean pulling from the east. They collide in this narrow passage, creating unpredictable water conditions that can change within minutes. Swimmers talk about swimming downhill one moment and then hitting a wall of resistance the next.
It wasn’t a cakewalk for Soman either. He has been serious about endurance swimming for years now. Just before tackling the Strait in May, he completed a 20-kilometer swim in Goa that took eight hours. His wife, Ankita Konwar, joined him for part of that effort, swimming eight kilometers.
The level of difficulty in the Strait of Gibraltar would be difficult to understand for most.
A 15-kilometer open-water swim isn’t like laps in a pool where you can get out whenever you want. You’re in the ocean, in shifting water, for hours. Your body gets cold. Your shoulders start aching. Your mind plays tricks on you around hour three when you realize you’re not done yet. Add the Strait’s famous conditions — currents that don’t cooperate, tides that pull in different directions and the constant noise of shipping traffic overhead, as pointed out by TOI.
Soman’s swim would’ve been several hours of pure determination in water that wanted him to fail, the newspaper notes. The physical strength matters, obviously. But at that point, it’s mostly mental. It’s about convincing yourself to keep moving forward when everything in your body is asking why you’re doing this to yourself.
