Lizard Point Swim

Lizard Point is the southern-most point on mainland Britain. None of the official swimming bodies have any record of anyone swimming around the point. So we can assume that this swim has never been done before, there is a good reason for this. A rocky reef extends for one mile off the coast of the headland, with only one narrow channel just below the cliff. This is an very treachorous part of Cornwall's rugged coastline, there are countless shipwrecks litterd along the coast. On Saturday 26th July, I became the first person to attempt the five mile swim from Kynance Cove on the western side to Cadgwith on the more sheltered eastern side.

When I started the swim at 7:40 that morning, conditions were perfect. The sea was calm, there was only a light breeze, the sun was shining and the water was about fifteen degrees celcius. However, when we reached the rocks around Lizard Point, a thick fog began to drift in from the east. Because we had arranged to swim on a flowing tide, we quickly surged through the Vellan-Drang Channel near the old Lifeboat station at Polpeer. It was amazing to see the famous lighthouse above us as we rounded Bass Point, our half way mark. Then the fog became very thick and we could not sea the coast, luckily, we had arranged to meet a second boat. He then went between us and the cliff so we could get our bearings. Suddenly a fin appeared out of the fog, imaginations ran wild on the support boat but it turned out to be a sun-fish. When Ilooked at my watch I estimated that I had about a mile left to swim, so I began to pick up the pace a little. Just then, my Dad shouted, "half a mile", and I began to hug the cliff and sprint. When the cliff fell into the narrow entrance to Cadgwith Cove I knew I was finished. I left the water 1hr 59mins 24secs after starting. There were a few people at the finish, my Grandad, Mam, brother, sister and four local people who were friends. Chris Maunder ran down the beach and rapped me in three hot towels, gave me a cup of tea and a plate of fresh crab sandwiches. What a waay to start the morning.


Through the swim we raised just over GB£1,200 for the local RNLI who are trying to buy a new lifeboat. But, without the help of Coxswain Phillip Burgess and Crewman Nick Pryor, the swim would have been impossible. Because we raised so much money from the swim, Phil said in a broad Cornish accent, "Come down 'ere Kilcobben o' Tuesday n' we'll take you out on a launch". So on Tuesday myself, my Dad, my Uncle John and his friend Stefan went to the Lifeboat station and we took part in a full launch and training operation with the Lifeboat. It was an amazing expeirence. On the way back, it was quite stormy so we got the full treatment of bad weather and heavy seas. The crew on-board were very friendly and even explained to us everything that was going on during the excercise. When we got back from Cornwall I sent away the application forms for recognition of the swim to the BLDSA, so all going well, by the end of this year the course will be made official and my swim will be recognised.

Lee Swim 2008

This year's Lee Swim was held on Saturday 19th July. There was the usual excitement on the boardwalk of the Clarion Hotel in Cork City before the race. After Ned had made his safety briefing, we started to walk towards the start area at the Old Distillery Yard. About halfway up the course a harbour seal was spotted in the river showing off his freshly caught salmon to the crowds on the bank. I was starting in the first group where there was the most competition. When the clakson sounded we dove in to the water and it was a mad dash to get into the leading pack. I eventually settled in next to Gerard Mangan, a fast pool swimmer from Sunday's Well. I knew that if I could stay with him, I would be in the early finishers.

It was neck and neck until we came to the Port of Cork sign where we turn for the upstream section. Ger was able to take a tighter turn around the corner and hug the bank where there would be less current. because I was further out into the centre of the river I was suffering more due to the current. From the last bridge it was an all out sprint to the finish. At the touch-pads I finished just eight seconds behind Ger. When we finished there was noone else around so we thought we finished first and second. But when we went through the showers there were two swimmers infront of us. They were; Chris Bryan of Ennis and Shane Drumm of ESB(Dublin). Still, I was relieved to have finished before Ned Denison. There is always great competition between us at races.

After the race the sun was shining and there was a great atmosphere on the quay-side. Everybody was enjoying themselves and it was a great opportunity to meet past Channel swimmers, most recently Finbarr Hedderman of Ballincollig, and other Channel aspirants, including three other swimmers from Cork who are signed up to swim on the same tides as myself. Then, it was up the the Pegasus Suite for the prize-giving. After a few not-so-long-winded speeches, it was time for the prizes. The overall winner was Chris Bryan, and the winner of the women's race was Jullie Ann Galloway from NAC Masters, who is signed up for an English Channel Solo next year.Two medals came home to Fermoy that night, the first was my gold medal for my category of Male Non-wetsiut 12-18yrs, and the second was Leo Bartley's bronze medal in his Male Non-wetsiut 60-64yrs. Overall times were faster than last year for everyone. But I was still surprised to see my time of 24mins 38secs, nearly 4mins faster than in 2007. All in all, it was a great day and I look forward to next year's.

Slathill Swimming

My family decided to go to Galway for the bank holiday weekend. Just to the west of the city is the wonderful sea-side resort of Slathill. I was used to swimming there and we brought the kayak with us. So I decided to do a two-way Prom Swim, from the Blackrock Diving Boards to Grattan Road Beach and back. A total distance of 4,000m.

When we arrived, the sun was splitting the stones, the tide was full and the sea was calm. We quickly got ready and began the swim. The water was quite warm and there was a light breeze pushing us up towards the beach. It was a wonderful experience, the water was clean and clear. We swam past the Galway Bay Hotel, Lesiureland, Seapoint and the Galway Atlantiquaria. At the aquarium, the temperature suddenly dropped due to the output form the tanks...brrr! After 33mins we arrived at Grattan Road Beach, where the beachgoers seemed stunned at the idea of someone swimming all the way from Blackrock. They seemed even more suprised when, after a quick break, we turned and headed back. The whole swim took a total of 1hr 8mins.

Champion of Champions

Yesterday the first Irish "Champion of Champions" was held in Sandycove. The plan was to swim 5 laps at 9am, 3 laps at 2pm and 1 lap at 5pm. A few people stuck to the plan, but because of the strong easterly gales I decided to just do 3 laps at 9am and 2 laps at 2pm.

Even with the bad weather it was a very enjoyable day, with the added bonus of Munster winning the Heineken Cup. There were lots of great swimmers at the event, including Kevin Murphy, the King of the Channel. Hopefully next time the weather will be better and I will be able to complete the challenge.

Close encounters...

It was an unusual swim in the river last night. It was quite dark but it was very mild and dead calm. I was the only one in the water and my dad was kayaking. About 1200m upstream, I lifted my head to see where I was going. I could see something breaking the surface and swimming along infront of me. I presumed it was a small fish, as usual. A few strokes later, I was greeted by a huge splash on my left hand side. I stopped to take off my googles and watched a curious otter swim away from me. This was certainly a new experience. I had only ever seen otters from a distance and in the early mornings. I am looking forward to more close encounters with our furry friend.

River temperatures

Since the weather has started to really improve, conditions for river swimming are perfect. Many hours of sunshine on the surface of the water has brought temperatures way up into the mid-teens. So far we have done two swims of over an hour and 5km are swims on the charts for the next couple of weeks. The inaugural Irish "Champion of Champions" in Sandycove is less than three weeks away. Hopefully this weather will keep up and we will be well prepared, if I can find a kayaker that is.

Training in full swing

After a terrible few weeks of dropping temperatures and sicknesses, training is finally back to normal. Club training is continuing as normal and open-water training is finally starting to pick up. This week the temperatures in the river rose to 11 degrees, a good improvement on 8 a few weeks previous. Today we did 4km in the river. A good sign that we can start to swim as we would for the rest of the summer.

First swim in the Blackwater in 2008

Last Saturday 23rd February was the first swim in the Blackwater this year. There were only two of us, myself and Dave Mulcahy. The water was 9.5°C, which is unusually warm for this time of year. At its coldest in January it's about 7°C. So it's well on the way to warming up for the summer. This is the earliest we have ever swam in the river. Last year we started in mid-April and continued until November. Hopefully we will be swimming twelve months a year from now on.