…after two weeks away from it. Damn, it reminded me why I swim and why I love the sea and sea-swimming with friends so much (not that I need much reminding).

Clare & I at Dungarvan beach, getting close to hight tide so no walking or avoiding rocks. Light NE wind, but clear sky and sun spearing through the water, 14C air temperature to counteract the wind.

Clear water, temperature down below 10C, a bit early this year, at 9.4C, probably because of the wind. Forearms (new one for me) a bit achy for the first couple of minutes, then fine, glorious in fact, swimming through the largest shoal of sprats I’ve seen this year, must have been tens of thousands, all individually trying to catch the sunbeams. An easy 30 minutes, little bit of a push for the last few hundred.
Perfect existentialism, once again. Almost pantheistic.

No cold at all, (I’d be surprised and worried if I was), I felt perfectly fine after, today would have been close to a two hour day in that temperature with those conditions back in the spring.

Much better than the 7C Sylvain is coping with in Sweden this week! What a difference the sun and good air temperature makes. And, of course, a good friend and just enjoying ourselves.

So different also to be doing it without any pressure, not because I have to, but because I wanted to.

It was one of the those “so good to be alive and a sea-swimmer” swims.

As the Sandycove Swimmers know, swimming with friends is one the great joys of this sport. Thanks Clare…