The English Channel was and is the goal of many distance swimmers. Fewer than 7% of the swimmers who try to swim, complete the English Channel trip testifies the difficulty of the task. While the distance is only 32 kms [20 miles], currents, tides, drift, and weather conditions can add several kms to the actual distance swum.
Captain Matthew Webb achieved the first authenticated swimming of the English Channel on 24-25 August 1875. Webb covered the distance in a 21 hour, 45 mins swim. As free style was not yet invented, Webb used alternating cycles of breaststroke and side-stroke.

Two-way English Channel swims originated in 1961, when an Argentinian, Abertondo, swam the channel in both directions in a combined time of 43 hours, 5 mins. In such swims a 5-minute intermission is allowed at the change-over point.

Today, the crossing of the Cook Strait from the South Island to the North Island of New Zealand is considered a more severe challenge than the English Channel.

Long distance swimming is now recognised by the American Athletic Union and a 1-hour swim championship measures how far one can travel in 1 hour.

The golden era of long-distance swimming as a major spectator sport was relatively short, but as Judith Jenkins George, has observed: 'thousands of spectators were drawn to the oceans, lakes and pools to observe the swimming marathons of the 1920's and 1930's. The fad of endurance swimming lasted less than a decade, yet during this time, it captivated the public's interest and the athletes imagination as a test of courage and stamina.

* All the material is from 'Encyclopedia of World Sport' edited by David Levinson and Karen Christensen