It’s been a while since I posted any nightmare fuel for open water swimmers, so I thought I might collect a few of my favourites together.
We’ll start gently. Close encounter with a humpback.
One from years ago on the blog, the frilled shark, aka dragon shark.
Remember Brutus the giant Australian salt-water crocodile?
A subtle one, what is the super predator?
This one is fairly well known, and you know, a bit of a traditional swimmer’s scare.
Remember the conger eels?
A favourite on the Marathon Swimmers Forum, and Game of Thrones, the lamprey, aka the sea vampire.
As anyone who has ever swum into one knows, plastic bags can be surprisingly scary. What if they were alive?
And then of course, there’s this thing, and honestly, I don’t even care what it is.
If only I could stop there. There’s worse though.
None of these are as scary as approaching the second corner at Sandycove during the annual challenge race, and seeing Finbarr Hedderman reach out to grab you. Sharks, jellyfish, Finbarr, crocodiles and eels, all pale in comparison beside the last nightmare, the one thing that unites open water swimmers in fear.
I’m
putting
it
further
down
this
page
to
protect
those
who
aren’t
ready
or
are
of
a
more
tender
disposition…
These guys:
LoneSwimmer 
Good stuff, Donal.
Here’s one to add to your list: attack of the cantaloupes!
When I swam around Manhattan Island in the ’80s (in the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim race) I was swimming along smooth and fine in the East River when I suddenly plowed into a big mesh bag of rotting cantaloupes (melons). They were soft and I thought it was human heads or organs I was swimming through… yuck! I wasn’t prepared for that. 😉
All in a day’s swim (it took over 8 hrs to complete it).
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That’s a great thing to be showing people the day before the Garnish swim! Could you not show a few seal attacks to cheer us up!
Ken O’Shea
RTE TV
Ph: 01-2083124
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I think of racing as a full contact sport Ken! Best to keep clear of me around Garnish!
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