We made it! 4 hours 39 minutes of swimming, and a bit harder than expected. Conditions worsened the night before the swim, and the pilot and swimming association commissioner wanted to postpone or cancel on Sunday morning. After much lobbying from Matthew and Andy, they agreed to let us start and see how conditions were out in the Strait.

The start itself was relatively pleasant. The water felt warmer than it did in the days leading up to the swim. Part of that could have been a placebo effect since it was before sunrise and a bit cooler outside than during our usual afternoon swims. The sun rose during the first hour of our swim, a beautiful red orb slowly emerging above the Mediterranean and coloring the thin clouds scattered across the sky.

After the first hour, we started hitting some cold pockets. There was a debate after the swim as to whether these were caused by the ships crossing the channel in front of us (900k ships per year, apparently), or if it was a pod of Orca whales waiting for their opportunity to feast on two imported swimmers. The average temperature slowly decreased from about 68 degrees to 66 degrees from hours 1 to 3 of the swim. Enough to make our hands and feet numb, but still pretty manageable for two guys who swim in the SF Bay every week.

THEN - about 2.5 miles from the shores of Africa - the current changed, the winds increased and the water got much rougher and colder. Instead of having a slightly faborable current, we were swimming almost directly into the tide, which was now 59 degrees. Our first attempt to remedy the situation was to sprint, only to realize that after 3+ hours of swimming you don't have much speed left in the tank. We resigned ourselves to some rough conditions and pointed our heads towards the harbor in the distance.

We pushed for over an hour in this very cold water until the pilot of the guide boat finally pointed to the breakwater for the industrial harbor to our left and said "go there!" We looked at what seemed like a mile, and sprinted for 10 minutes until we were touching the shores of Morocco. There wasn't much of a landing celebration as: (1) there was nowhere to stand, the breakwater was a bunch of huge cinder blocks, (2) neither of us could feel our hands or feet (or faces or bodies, really), and (3) we couldn't get back to the boat and out of the water fast enough.

Great to have a successful crossing, and glad we led the way for more Night Train swimmers to make the crossing in the next year or two (hint, hint).

Thanks for the support, see you at the next swim!

Looking across at Morocco from Spain the day before the swim.

Good morning from Tarifa. It's 6:15am and Team Night Train is the only group stirring at this hour. We're taking our fearless leader, Vito, to the airport for his flight to Germany where he's meeting up with his daughter. At some point yesterday afternoon, Andy managed to convince Matthew that it was a good idea to stick around for one extra day (and I quote: "Really, what can you get done in a single day back at home."), so there will be two Night Train Swimmers heading towards Africa on Sun...
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Night Train checking in here from Tarifa, Spain. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon to the warm Spanish welcome of 40 mph winds and 9 foot seas. Not good conditions for swimming, and possibly even worse conditions for lounging at the beach. Tarifa is a small town about 45 minutes from Gibraltar, a colony of England. Since we arrived, we've been in the water every day, scoped out the local restaurants, carnivals and festivities, gone for runs on the beach, taken the ferry over to Tangier, visited...
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Our most recent Night Train Swimmers inductee, Andy Schilling, was in Alaska earlier this month. In true Night Train tradition, he had to get in the water when he saw the opportunity to swim with an iceberg. Here's the documented evidence:



 Look for Andy in much warmer water next month as he takes on the Strait of Gibraltar with Vito and Matthew. Likely swimming September 9th or 10th, Europe to Africa express train - the Night Train!

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Night Train swimmer Gordon Clute (aka "Dorado") completed a solo crossing of Lake Tahoe on Saturday, July 18. He left from Sand Harbor on the Nevada Shore and after 6 hours landed near Tahoe City on the California side of the lake. Gordon swam alongside over 100 relay teams (6 swimmers each!) who were competing in the Olympic Club's annual Trans Tahoe Relay, and boy did he beat a lot of relay teams! Next stop English Channel, Gordon?


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As we posted on the homepage last week, Night Train had to abort its mission to swim 157 miles in the Sea of Cortez due to safety concerns. Here's how it all unfolded:

The swim began on June 26 at 6:00am from the beach in La Paz. The seas were calm at sunrise and remained that way most of the day. Every swimmer was covering an amazing distance - averaging more than 3 miles per hour. We went through the 6-swimmer rotation two times before the sun began to set. During twilight, the winds began t...
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During our final week of preparation in San Francisco, Night Train made a few relatively unpleasant discoveries. Here are two:

1. Humboldt Squid - Life is not without risk and so it is with life at sea. Initially, we chose this window for the swim because it is the time of year when the Great White sharks have migrated to the Farallon Islands near San Francisco. That only left Hammerhead sharks, jellyfish and maybe a few whales. Great. Well, recent research by team safety leaders uncovered an ...
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As part of our final preparations for the Sea of Cortez swim, Night Train had its official send-off party at Bialla Vineyards in Napa on Sunday. The team, friends and family all enjoyed an afternoon of swimming, food and great wine on a beautiful sunny California day. We're getting into taper mode, so the next two weeks are about recovery and mental preparation for the task at hand. Here's the team that will be heading to La Paz on the 24th:
From left to right: Vito Bialla, Gordon Clute, Scott...
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The donations are now pouring in for Night Train Swimmers and Wounded Warrior Project. Martin Franklin, Chairman and CEO of Jarden Corp. (NYSE ticker JAH) just pledged $ 10,000 if we have a successfull completion for our swim.

“This certainly is motivation for our team," said Vito Bialla. "We're all out there trying to get as many donations to this great cause as possible, and people like Martin and Jarden are really making a difference in this difficult fundraising environment."

Martin and ...

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This past Sunday, May 17, was the 98th annual running of San Francisco's premier foot race, Bay to Breakers. It's a 12k run that starts near the Port of San Francisco and traverses the city to Ocean Beach. Team Night Train decided it would be a brilliant idea to swim from the Bay Bridge (very near the start line of the foot race) to the Golden Gate Bridge, a distance of approximately 10k. Jumping in at 8:30am, the team crossed under the Golden Gate Bridge about 90 minutes later on a beautiful...
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