My open water club and one of the world’s great open water swimming locations.
Finbarr started it with the idea of a Sandycove three-lap invitational race at the end of October. With two weeks to go and no mention, Carol Cashell and I raised the idea again and discussion ensued. With less than a week to go the starting lineup was small. The forecast for the weekend showed the…
Real spring arrived most tentatively and late in Ireland this year, following the coldest early spring in 50 years. The water has been cold at its usual lowest point in late February, but recovery from the bottom took longer to occur than usual and many of the coldest days swimming have occurred after the normal…
First Corner and Comalees. Second Corner Stand of trees. Red House Yellow Bungalow. Guillamenes and Sandycove. Say my little swimming ditty out loud, it both scans and rhymes, a major achievement for me. 🙂 (It works for me, but you see, I really can’t write good poetry). When you swim the same open water locations…
Tragic Loss in the English Channel Today Dear Swimmers, It is with great sadness the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation confirms the death an Irish swimmer whist attempting a solo crossing of the English Channel early this morning. Páraic Casey from Cork, Ireland began his swim at 9.13am on Saturday morning and was just 1km from the…
Cork Distance Week is coming. Â The water is cold. (The water is always cold, relatively speaking). For the locals who know the conditions, Distance Week is still a very tough week. For many of those coming from abroad it will be even harder, maybe the toughest week’s swimming they have ever done. But to get…
Dover’s best known swimming Bed & Breakfast accommodation is Hubert House, but the B&Bs in Cork are better, (naturally, says a chorus of Corkonians). I know, I’ve stayed in both, and unlike Hubert House, Gabriel House on Summerhill in Cork is owned and run by an English Channel Soloist, Liam Maher, the tallest of The Magnificent Seven, and…
Ned Denison is part of the Sandycove group, started by Liz Buckley, Mag Buckley, (not related to each other or me), Stephen Black, Finbarr Hedderman and Mike Harris with a few other regulars along the way. This picture below is appropriate, it’s Ned doing the 2008 Irish Champion of Champion safety briefing. There are a bunch…
One of the great things about the Sandycove group is actually that it raises one’s own expectations of oneself. I reminded of that when I saw a quotation from Lewis Pugh on Twitter: “Don’t join an easy crowd. You won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform and achieve are high.” Jim Rohn.…
Getting blood from a stone would have been easier than getting this article out of Fin. He was the first person I requested to do a guest post, a very long time ago, and many times since. Fin is Sandycove personified (along with Mike Harris, Lisa, Ned, Stephen Black and Imelda). But don’t tell him…
Some time ago I discussed Ned Denison’s 3,5 & 9k annual swim list which runs each year and is available here on the Sandycove Island Swimming Club website. For some years now, Ned Denison has also maintained a list of swimming achievements by Sandycove Swimmers and those swimming within the area. For the last few years since…
I get asked various questions related to cold because I like to write about it. Those questions often inspire further writing ideas. One thing I realised was there was no good agreement on cold water. A poll of open water swimmers by DNOWS gave the following results. Under 5ÂşC (41ÂşF) – 0% Under 10ÂşC (50ÂşF) – 7%…
Excerpted from Lisa and Liz on the Sandycove website. I’m the only non-resident Cork person to have made the C club. It will take me many years to make the D club, (500 laps), I’ve only done about 20 laps so far this year and unlikely to do even a handful more before year end.…
Back to Sandycove for the first time this year at the weekend. The rest of the south coast seemed clouded over, but the sun was shining in Kinsale. Went for a lovely double lap by myself, back on Ned’s qualification list for this year, starting with the 3k+. Fin and Ned were just out, the…
LoneSwimmer 