Every spring, Alicante lives one of its most deeply rooted traditions: the Romería de la Santa Faz, a pilgrimage that brings together hundreds of thousands of people walking the eight kilometres between the historic city centre and the Santa Faz Monastery. But there's another way to live this tradition — one that swaps asphalt for salt water and espadrilles for wetsuits.
The 15th Santa Faz Solidarity Swim – Jorge Crivillés, held on 18 April 2026, has once again shown that Alicante's nautical community has something special: the ability to bring together sport, charity and a love for the sea in a single event. What began as a local initiative to honour Jorge Crivillés has become, fifteen editions later, one of the most anticipated dates on the Costa Blanca's open-water calendar.
9 kilometres swimming along the Alicante coast
The route of the swim is, in itself, a postcard. Swimmers set off from Postiguet Beach — right at the foot of Santa Bárbara Castle — and cover nine kilometres of coastline all the way to San Juan Beach, the longest beach in Alicante. It's exactly the same stretch of coast that sailboats cover on boat trips from Alicante: Postiguet, Almadraba, Cabo de las Huertas and San Juan.
The profile of the participants is wonderfully varied. Federated open-water swimmers, triathletes in early-season form, amateurs who have trained all winter in indoor pools waiting for this day, and even families who turn up at the port just to see their loved ones start. Some cover the full 9 km at a steady pace, others choose the shorter route; the important thing, as the organisation reminds everyone every year, is not your personal best but crossing the finish line.
Organised by the RC7 Association together with Crono4Sports, the swim is non-competitive and charitable. It's not about arriving first, but about arriving — and doing so knowing that every stroke helps a good cause. Proceeds from the 15th edition, as in previous years, go to Alicante-based charities working with children and vulnerable groups.
How a 9 km open-water swim is organised from the sea
Behind the epic picture of hundreds of coloured swim caps crossing the bay lies a carefully planned naval logistics operation. The safety set-up is what makes an open-water event of this size possible without incident, and understanding it helps explain why the local sailing community is essential to the swim's existence.
The course is marked with reference buoys every few hundred metres, visible from the water despite any chop. The start is staggered in waves to prevent less experienced swimmers from being trapped in the initial peloton. Along the entire route there are support boats: inflatable rescue boats from Salvamento Marítimo and the Red Cross, municipal jet-skis, and several private boats lent by local clubs and owners that open and close the peloton.
Communication between boats runs on a previously agreed VHF channel, and each section of the course has a leader who reports every swimmer's passage back to the race director. If anyone pulls out, they are helped on board, wrapped in a thermal blanket and returned to shore — and that is part of the day's success too: that nobody ends the morning with a real scare.
The bathymetric profile of the Postiguet–San Juan stretch itself helps: these are relatively shallow waters, with no strong currents except occasional gusts of easterly wind, a sandy bottom and very good visibility. That is one of the reasons why this same route works so well for sailboats with families on board, as we will see later.
The RCRA and a community that lives facing the sea
One of the most moving moments of the day was the participation of the SCM rowers from the Real Club de Regatas de Alicante (RCRA), who supported the swimmers' start from the Postiguet. The RCRA isn't just a sports club: it's the epicentre of nautical life in Alicante. From its facilities at the port, it organises regattas such as the legendary TabarcaVela, trains young sailors and keeps alive a seafaring tradition with centuries of history.
That the same club that hosts international regattas sends its rowers to support a charity swim says a lot about how Alicante's nautical community works: here, everyone rows — literally and figuratively — in the same direction. Charter skippers lend their boats as support craft, sailing clubs open their moorings, the local diving association helps with the buoy layout, and fishermen pull their gear that morning to leave the course clear. If this city has any kind of water-based identity, it is largely because its different communities coordinate without fuss.
From our side of boat rentals in Alicante, we see this fabric from the inside. On any given Saturday you can see, at the harbour entrance, a RCRA youth regatta, two charter sailboats heading out with tourists, fishing boats coming back in, and a kayak group from the canoeing club — all at once. Nobody gets in anyone's way; everybody understands each other.
Santa Faz: a five-century tradition with a new recognition
The connection between the swim and the Romería de la Santa Faz isn't accidental. The pilgrimage, which this year brought together 330,000 people, is one of the largest popular celebrations in Spain. Its origins go back to the 15th century, when an alleged miracle involving a sacred cloth cemented a devotion that has survived for more than 500 years.
And 2026 marks a historic milestone: the Consell de la Generalitat Valenciana has declared the pilgrimage a Cultural Asset (BIC — Bien de Interés Cultural), granting it the highest heritage protection. This distinction builds on the Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional status the romería has held for decades, but the BIC designation goes further: it protects the essentials of the celebration — the route, the traditional dress, the chant of la Peregrina, the ritual gestures — so that they cannot be watered down over time.
It's a recognition that arrives precisely when initiatives like the Solidarity Swim show that the most vibrant traditions are the ones that evolve without losing their essence. There's even a little-known nautical connection: Juan Sebastián Elcano, the navigator who completed the first circumnavigation of the globe, left in his will the promise to send a pilgrim to the Santa Faz monastery. The sea and this land have always been linked.
Watching the swim from a sailboat: same route, different perspective
Few cities let you watch a sporting event of this scale from the perfect box seat: the deck of a sailboat anchored a safe distance from the pack. From the water, the perspective changes completely. You see Alicante the way Greek, Roman and Genoese sailors saw it when they first founded and repopulated the city — an open bay between two headlands, with Mount Benacantil as a bow and Cabo de las Huertas as a bowsprit pointing north.
The swimmers' route follows the most scenic stretch of coast in the whole municipality. After leaving Postiguet, the peloton swims past the Almadraba coves, where the rocky bottom yields turquoise tones even on grey days. Then it rounds Cabo de las Huertas, the northern tip of the bay, with its low cliffs, the lighthouse, and the small wild coves only accessible by sea: Cantalar, Palmera, Cantal Roig. It finishes at San Juan Beach, five kilometres of fine sand where the water turns transparent as soon as you swim a few strokes from the shore.
For those of us who share the coast with visitors, it is almost the ideal itinerary: three different atmospheres in barely an hour and a half under sail. This is exactly the route we follow aboard our sailboat Peggy on morning outings, with a swimming stop near Cabo Huertas and a slow return hugging San Juan.
Alicante in spring: a non-stop nautical calendar
The Santa Faz Solidarity Swim joins a packed calendar of events that confirms Alicante as the nautical capital of the Mediterranean in spring. In April alone, the city hosts the 24th Bahía de Alicante Trophy anchored fishing tournament, 420-class regattas, youth events and swims like this one.
For those of us who work on the sea, each of these events is a chance to share what we love most: seeing Alicante from the water. Because the city looks completely different when you watch it from a sailboat anchored off the Postiguet, with the castle above and the swimmers crossing the bay beside you.
And spring, for anyone who hasn't tried it, is probably the best time of year to sail here. Water temperatures hover around 17–18 °C — too chilly for a long swim, perfect for a wetsuit event like this — and the air stays at a comfortable 21–23 °C during the day. The afternoon thermal winds are already working reliably, the sea is clean after winter, and, above all, the coast isn't yet saturated with motorboats as it will be a month and a half later.
Experiencing the Alicante sea firsthand
If the Solidarity Swim has sparked your curiosity about this coast, you don't need to swim 9 kilometres. You can cover the exact same stretch — from Postiguet to San Juan, passing Cabo de las Huertas and its hidden coves — aboard a sailboat with a skipper.
On our half-day sailing escapes, the usual morning route follows the coast northwards, with a stop for swimming and paddle boarding in turquoise waters. And if you prefer something shorter, our sunset sailing trips along the Postiguet area are one of the most beautiful experiences you can have in Alicante.
For groups looking to celebrate something — a hen or stag party, a birthday, a family reunion — the formula works equally well: six to eight people, a skipper who handles the boat, the same iconic coast in the background, and the freedom to decide on the spot where to drop anchor. That is the kind of day people remember.
Because in the end — whether you're swimming, rowing or sailing — what matters is the same: getting out on the sea, feeling the Mediterranean and becoming part of a community that lives facing the water.
