Gertrude Ederle, now 44, was the first woman to swim the English Channel, in 1926. Since then, a dozen women have followed in her wake from France to Britain. Last year a 31-year-old stenographer from San Diego named Florence Chadwick topped the Ederle record by swimming the distance in 13 hr. 20 min. (TIME, Aug. 21, 1950). But until last week no woman, and only nine men, had ever swum the Channel eastward from Dover to Cap Gris-Nez, the 21-mile stretch which, like a cat, hates to be stroked the wrong way.
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