Gibraltar - No. 4

I have admittedly lost momentum on my blog since my mom passed away. That said, it has been a Big Year on the swims and for Number 45 York Avenue in general with Madeleine's promotion to Researcher (dropping the "Junior"), Eitan finishing his law-studies, getting a contract with Cripps and winning a mooting competition at the Royal Courts, and Sonnet's Schiaparelli exhibition. 

Picking up on swimming first, and following New Zealand's Cook Strait in February, I joined Tim (Red Top coach, pictured in front), Johnny, Jade and Sean in April for the Gibraltar Strait connecting Tarifa Spain, famous for its gnarly winds and kite surfing, to Punta Cires, Morocco. Gibraltar is the only Oceans Seven swim allowing up to four swimmers at once; otherwise each is solo. Gibraltar is also the shortest by distance at 14.4 km (9 miles) and so the quickest - we finished in 3 hours and 49 minutes. The challenge, and they all have a challenge, is the unpredictable wind and the Coast Guard, which has no qualms about cancelling an attempt at the last-minute. Which happened to us, on the dock, in our swim trunks, this year. In fact, our group required three trips to Spain to (finally) get it done.