<P> Gertrude Ederle's successful cross-channel swim began at Gris Nez in France at 07: 05 on the morning of 6 August 1926 . Her trainer was Burgess . 14 hours and 30 minutes later, coming ashore at Kingsdown, Kent, England, in a total time of 14 hours and 39 minutes, making her the first woman to complete the crossing and setting the record for the fastest time, breaking the previous mark set by Tirabocchi by almost two hours . A reporter from The New York Times who had accompanied Ederle's support team on a tugboat, recounted that Ederle was confronted by a British immigrations official, who recorded the biographical details of Ederle and the individuals on board the ship, none of whom had been carrying their passports . Ederle was finally allowed to come ashore, after promising that she would report to the authorities the following morning . </P> <P> L. Walter Lissberger financed the $3,000 in expenses that Amelia Gade Corson and her husband incurred in preparing for the Channel swim . Lissberger made a wager with Lloyd's of London betting that she would succeed in crossing the Channel, and received a payout of $100,000 at odds of 20--1 when she completed her swim . She was one of three swimmers who were trying to make the swim across the Channel at the same time starting at 11: 32 at night on 28 August 1926, leaving from Cape Gris Nez . The two men with her failed, Egyptian swimmer Ishak Helmy dropping out after three hours and an English swimmer failing one mile (1.6 KM) from Dover's Shakespeare Cliffs . With her husband rowing alongside in a dory and providing her with hot chocolate, sugar lumps and crackers, she completed the swim in a time of 15 hours and 29 minutes, one hour longer than the record set by Gertrude Ederle three weeks earlier . </P> <P> Jackie Cobell had intended to make the 21 - mile (34 km) crossing by a more direct route in July 2010, but inadvertently set the record for the slowest solo swim, when strong currents forced her to swim a total of 65 miles (105 km) in 28 hours and 44 minutes, breaking the record set by Henry Sullivan in 1923, who had been the third person, and the first American, to make the crossing . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Direction </Th> <Th> Country of origin </Th> <Th> Swimmer </Th> <Th> Year </Th> <Th> Time </Th> <Th> Notes </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> United Kingdom </Td> <Td> Matthew Webb </Td> <Td> 1875 </Td> <Td> 21: 45 </Td> <Td> First crossing from England to France on 25 August 1875 . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> United Kingdom </Td> <Td> Thomas William Burgess </Td> <Td> 1911 </Td> <Td> 22: 35 </Td> <Td> Second crossing from England to France . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> United Kingdom </Td> <Td> Henry Sullivan </Td> <Td> 1923 </Td> <Td> 26: 50 </Td> <Td> Third crossing from England to France . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> Argentina </Td> <Td> Enrique Tirabocchi </Td> <Td> 1923 </Td> <Td> 16: 33 </Td> <Td> First crossing from France to England . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> United States </Td> <Td> Charles Toth </Td> <Td> 1923 </Td> <Td> 16: 58 </Td> <Td> Third crossing from France to England . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> United States </Td> <Td> Gertrude Ederle </Td> <Td> 1926 </Td> <Td> 14: 39 </Td> <Td> First woman to cross in either direction . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> United States </Td> <Td> Amelia Gade Corson </Td> <Td> 1926 </Td> <Td> 15: 29 </Td> <Td> First mother to cross from England to France . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> United Kingdom </Td> <Td> Mercedes Gleitze </Td> <Td> 1927 </Td> <Td> 15: 15 </Td> <Td> First British woman to cross the English Channel . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> United Kingdom </Td> <Td> Hilda "Laddie" Sharp </Td> <Td> 1928 </Td> <Td> 14: 58 </Td> <Td> 15th to cross and the 5th fastest </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> United Kingdom </Td> <Td> Edward H. Temme </Td> <Td> 1934 </Td> <Td> 15: 34 </Td> <Td> First man to swim the English Channel in both directions . He swam from France to England in August 1927 and from England to France on 18 August 1934 . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France to England </Td> <Td> United States </Td> <Td> Florence Chadwick </Td> <Td> 1953 </Td> <Td> 14: 42 </Td> <Td> First woman to swim the English Channel in both directions . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> Canada </Td> <Td> Winnie Leuszler </Td> <Td> 1951 </Td> <Td> 13: 25 </Td> <Td> First Canadian to swim the English Channel . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> Mexico </Td> <Td> Damian Pizá Beltran </Td> <Td> 1953 </Td> <Td> 15: 23 </Td> <Td> First Mexican to swim the English Channel . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> Egypt </Td> <Td> Abdellatief Abouheif </Td> <Td> 1955 </Td> <Td> 11: 44 </Td> <Td> Winner of a special 1955 race from France to England, competed against another 11 male and four female contenders . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> Pakistan </Td> <Td> Brojen Das </Td> <Td> 1958 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> First Asian (from Bikrampur, East Pakistan; now Bangladesh) to swim the English Channel, at the English Channel Swimming Competition in 1958 . Das became a Bangladeshi citizen after the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> India </Td> <Td> Mihir Sen </Td> <Td> 1958 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> First Indian to swim the English Channel . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> India </Td> <Td> Arati Saha </Td> <Td> 1959 </Td> <Td> 14: 20 </Td> <Td> First Indian woman and first Asian woman to swim the English Channel . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France to England </Td> <Td> Argentina </Td> <Td> Antonio Abertondo </Td> <Td> 1961 </Td> <Td> 43: 10 </Td> <Td> First person to swim the channel both ways non-stop . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> United States </Td> <Td> Charles Chapman </Td> <Td> 1981 </Td> <Td> 12: 30 </Td> <Td> First black swimmer to cross the Channel </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France to England to France </Td> <Td> United States </Td> <Td> Jon Erikson </Td> <Td> 1981 </Td> <Td> 38: 27 </Td> <Td> First person to swim the channel three way </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> United Kingdom </Td> <Td> Chris Little </Td> <Td> 1986 </Td> <Td> 17: 23 </Td> <Td> North Yorkshire Long Distance Club, Youngest person to swim one way until 1988 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> Tunisia </Td> <Td> Nejib Belhedi </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 16: 35 </Td> <Td> First Tunisian to swim the channel, namesake of a trophy for swimming the channel at the highest tide . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> India </Td> <Td> Ashwin Krishnasamy </Td> <Td> 2007 </Td> <Td> 16: 07 </Td> <Td> Youngest successful swimmer (12 years old) to cross the English Channel for the year 2007 . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> Australia </Td> <Td> John Maclean </Td> <Td> 1998 </Td> <Td> 12: 55 </Td> <Td> First paraplegic to swim the Channel . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> France </Td> <Td> Philippe Croizon </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 13: 28 </Td> <Td> First quadruple amputee to swim the English Channel . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> England to France </Td> <Td> Iceland </Td> <Td> Sigrún Þuríður Geirsdóttir </Td> <Td> 2015 </Td> <Td> 22: 34 </Td> <Td> First woman from Iceland to swim the English Channel . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> France to England </Td> <Td> South Africa </Td> <Td> Margaret Duncan </Td> <Td> 1930 </Td> <Td> 16: 17 </Td> <Td> First woman from South Africa to swim the English Channel . </Td> </Tr> </Table>

How far across is the english channel to swim