When she went into the water off the coast of Spain to swim across the Strait of Gibraltar on June 16, Westbrook’s Pat Gallant-Charette never intended on setting any records, she was just looking to complete the nine-mile swim from Europe to Africa.

But when she touched land in Morocco, Gallant-Charette, 59, not only completed her swim, she also became the fastest American woman to ever swim the Strait of Gibraltar. Her time of 3:28 was the third-fastest time ever posted by a woman since records began being kept in 1928. Penny Palfrey of Australia, a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, holds the women’s record with a time of 3:03. India’s Rashmi Sharma holds the second fastest time, completing the swim in 3:24.

Gallant-Charette said she got the idea to swim the Strait of Gibraltar when she was in England last year, where an English Channel swim association official recommended that she try it. “It sounded like something fun to do,” she said. “So I worked a vacation around it.”

With her American record in hand, next up for Gallant-Charette is a third attempt to swim across the English Channel in 2011. She has tried the swim twice before, with her first attempt at the over 30-mile swim in 2008 coming up just two miles shy of her goal due to strong currents. She wasn’t even able to get into the water on her second attempt last year as the winds and the currents never cooperated to allow her to set off from England.

But she’s still in training for the Channel and until then, she said she is extremely happy with the results of her Gibraltar swim.

“For 59 years old and a grandmother, I’m pretty tickled,” she said, adding that she had no idea she was on a record pace until the swim was over. “When I finished the swim, they were very excited and (the captain of the support boat) said ‘you better buy the paper tomorrow.’” And, sure enough, the next morning there was a story in the local paper “Euorpa Sud” discussing her record swim, albeit with one small mistake. “They put me down as a world record holder,” she said with a laugh.

What made the record even more surprising for Gallant-Charette was that she is not known for her speed in the water. “When I found out that I placed the third-fastest (time) in the world, I was on cloud nine,” she said, adding that favorable currents played a role in her time. “I knew I had the endurance to finish, but to do it at a fast pace, I’ve never been a sprint swimmer, I’ve always been an endurance swimmer.”

In fact, Gallant-Charette never knew she was on a record pace until the captain of her support boat told her after she finished. “Through the swim, I never knew I was doing a fast time,” she said.

While the currents may have been a big help in setting the American record, Gallant-Charette also got some help from her late brother, who has been her inspiration for years.

Gallant-Charette first got into swimming over a decade ago, after her brother Robbie died from a heart attack. He was a championship swimmer, and her son decided to swim the annual Peaks to Portland race in his honor. Gallant-Charette said she wished she could do the same, and she’ll never forget her son’s response.

“You could if you tried,” he told her.

Now, over ten years later, Gallant-Charette, who trains at Pine Point in Scarborough as well as at the Freeport YMCA, has completed many marathon swims and still has her eyes set on the English Channel, and Robbie’s son Christopher will be a member of her support crew when she attempts to swim the channel next summer. She said she hopes she can convey that message through her accomplishments as a swimmer – that with hard work, anything’s possible.

Robbie was with Gallant-Charette when she started her swim by jumping off the support boat and swimming to touch the rocks on the coast of Tarifa, Spain. “When I touched the rock formation, I said ‘this is for you Robbie’,” she said.

Once she was in the strait, Gallant-Charette had to overcome obstacles that had nothing to do with her endurance. One obstacle is a list of marine life that could intimidate any swimmer that saw the movie “Jaws.”

“They have dolphins, sharks, killer whales and pilot whales (in the strait) and that was always on my mind,” she said. “Everyone’s laughed, they said ‘that’s probably why you swam so fast.’”

Thankfully, other than some dolphins, Gallant-Charette never had to worry about encounters with large marine animals during her swim. But she did have encounters with the other large objects moving around the strait.

The Strait of Gibraltar is the second-busiest shipping lane in the world, behind only the English Channel, and Gallant-Charette had to share the water with some huge ships that made things difficult for her.

“The very first large ship that went by me, I got sick from the diesel fumes, I got the dry heaves,” she said, adding that she just backstroked for a bit while she waited for the crystallized ginger she took to ward off the nausea to take effect.

But she wasn’t out of the woods, as a second large ship also threatened to impede her attempt with a five-foot wake and more nausea-inducing diesel fumes. Thankfully, Gallant-Charette had her crystallized ginger as well as her training to help her get through. “The style of training I do, they call it ‘total body confusion’,” she said. “You teach your body to swim no matter what.”

With her training to fall back on, Gallant-Charette kept on swimming, determined to reach Africa. With the memory of having her English Channel attempt cut short with the lights of France in sight, Gallant-Charette said she didn’t want to start celebrating until she actually touched the coast of Morocco. “Mother Nature was with me that day,” she said, adding that the currents off the coast of Africa allowed her to swim right into shore, where sometimes that isn’t the case.

And finally, with memories of Robbie on her mind, she touched the rocks off the African coast and celebrated her accomplishment, which was made sweeter after her last two attempts at the English Channel came up short. “I was just jubilant, words can’t even express my thoughts,” she said, adding that after her English Channel experiences, it felt good to make it all the way. “I knew I could do the distance, but I was so, so excited just to finish it.”

With the mountains of Africa in sight, Westbrook’s Pat Gallant-Charette swims across the Strait of Gibraltar on June 16. Gallant-Charette set an American record for the nine-mile swim, crossing the strait in 3:28, the third-fastest time ever posted by a woman since records began being kept in 1928.
Photo by Tom Charette
Westbrook’s Pat Gallant-Charette shares the water with a large tanker ship during her swim across the Strait of Gibraltar last month. Despite getting ill from the diesel fumes from the ships in the strait, Gallant-Charette completed the nine-mile swim in just under 3:30, setting the American record for the fastest crossing.
Photo by Tom Charette