Ice Mile Dilemmas – IV – Local context. Ice Mile Dilemmas – V – IISA Rules Discussion Part 1. – Something Terrible Is Going To Happen. Ice Mile Dilemmas – VI – IISA Rules Discussion Part 2. – Safety and Experience. This is the third and last part of discussion of the IISA rules. Age Limit…
As you will recall from the previous article the IISA says one of its primary objectives is: Promoting Safety in Extreme Swimming Events. Let’s consider that. One overseas organiser of a reputable Ice Mile swim said: “We should be going above and beyond the IISA rule to make sure someone does not die from inexperience…
“I’m with you in fearing that something terrible is going to happen, and it’s going to happen soon”. This is a direct quote from a well-known and respected Ice Mile and Channel swimmer in response to my own similar assertion in my introductory email. I’m putting it up front so you understand exactly the concerns…
An Ice Mile is a one mile (1610 metres) swim at or under 5.0º Celsius with standard swim costume, cap and goggles. Records to early March 2014 indicate 116 recognised Ice Mile swims, with only about 80 Ice Mile swimmers worldwide. In the context of these small numbers this continuation of the earlier series can be interpreted,…
When I started back swimming for the first time since I was a kid, it came a huge but only slowly realised shock that I was the not the excellent swimmer I’d been as a young teenager, when I swam front crawl and butterfly in club for a year or two. I really don’t recall how long…
How many times have I started a posted a post with similar words to; “Strange things happen in marathon swimming?” Ah, how the worm turns. One reader of LoneSwimmer.com is a pool swimmer with their sights set on open water and their first 10k swim, always a big milestone. Their research led to LoneSwimmer.com and accidentally to my…
Once again my mind was wandering during a swim. I’d had a conversation earlier in the day with someone about the “giving back” aspect of open water, how most swimmers were also involved in some way or other in maintaining the community aspect of the sport, which in turn maintains the sport itself. This led…
Part 1 Part 2 Ten minutes after briefing and the swimmers were lined up on Lough Dan’s so-called beach for the group photo seen in the previous part. Sometimes writing about the minutiae of swimming is really boring. Sometimes such reportage can mask some other truth. Sometimes I think that the more I try to…
Driving to Wicklow that morning, it never once occurred to us that the water temperature would be cold enough. I was absolutely fine with that. “Here’s anther stupid thing we are doing on yet another early morning“, may have been something Dee said. We passed over the Wicklow Gap pass, and there was no snow…
Sometime back in winter of 2010, Sandycove Island Channel swimmer and local legend Finbarr Hedderman and I discussed attempting an Ice Mile. At the time the International Ice Swimming Association was very new and less than a dozen people had joined its ranks, and half of those were the founders. For those unaware of the…
This post was a companion to HABITUATION, both of which I wrote in early 2010. Since I revisited and largely rewrote that as Cold Water Habituation, my plan was to do the same in this post also. Acclimatization (acclimatisation for those of us who forego the use of the z) is a different factor to habituation. While…
HABITUATION was one of my very first posts, and the first post I wrote about cold and cold water swimming, over four years ago, little realising it would become my favourite subject. Although it is linked in the Cold Water Articles Index, I decided to air it out and rewrite it. (And change those capitals).…
In the early twentieth century, American satirist Ambrose Bierce collected his weekly newspaper columns into a book which he intended to call a Cynic’s Dictionary. His repeated characterisation as a devil by various US politicians of the day led to its publication under the title of Devil’s Dictionary. I have neither the wit not skill of…
I had forgotten about the anniversary but I started LoneSwimmer.com on a whim on the afternoon of 18th of January, 2010. Little did I guess where it would lead. Since then LoneSwimmer has grown year on year, and often month on month. It was viewed in 185 countries in 2013 though the countries that most…
Over a year ago I wrote a popular post called The First Three Minutes, which investigated just the first few minutes of a cold water swim. (A real cold water swim, not your balmy 10 degree Celsius getting a tan (50F) water for softies). We know, us cold water swimmers, that passers-by focus on the water…
In November 2010, Cork and Sandycove Channel Coach Eilís Burns held one of her irregular brief seminars for prospective Channel solo swimmers for the 2011 Channel season. It wasn’t an open-to-all seminar. Those attending were people who had contacted Eilís asking her to coach them. Eilís is careful in whom she agrees to coach, requiring…
Look away, look away. My head whirls, sentences and clauses. Words and incantations. I need to hold the intent, remember the state. I need to write. I have swum, and now more than anything, I need to write. More than I need people or food, more even than I need heat, I need to vomit out…
For the entire year your pool is pretty predictable: “Hey Larry“, “How are you Mary?”, “Want to split the lane, Conor?“. (These are a fictional Larry, Mary and Conor in my local pool, not the actual real-life Larry, Mary and Conor in my local pool). Then it’s the start of January and the first full…
When I started writing loneswimmer in 2010, almost four years ago, I didn’t add a single image for months. I was learning to write regularly, learning, as I still am, to express my thoughts about swimming, and trying to stick rigidly to one of my guiding principles, not always easy for any Irish person, and…
I didn’t think 2013 was a great year for swimming new locations for me, though early in the year I’d hoped that would be different. Unsurprising, I suppose, as the longer I’ve been swimming, the further I would need to travel to swim new locations. I’ve covered all the Copper Coast, much of the rest…
Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. I wasn’t sure when I started this how long this series would be. Previous long series have run to five posts. This will take six. Given his achievement, I think it’s fair to say that Sylvain deserves a six-part series! As I wrote in the previous post, almost immediately…
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…
I’ve had no time for writing recently. The huge effort of writing the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim 2013 report series, long hours at night moderating the marathonswimmers.org forum during the Diana Nyad controversy, personal crises, trips to Dover and other things have meant the blog has been quieter than since I started, I’ve always previously…
I have a substance-abuse problem. Sometimes I’ve used it when I should have been doing other things. I thought of it when I should have been thinking of other things. I done it to extremes, by myself, often where no-one else can see me. Sometimes I done it in full view of others and felt…
Part 1. Introduction Part 2. Start Timing & boat availability In Part Two, I raised a question, a question that over-shadows much of the discussion of the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim and so needs to remain to the front. What is the significant entry fee ($2150) per swimmer actually for, if not for a boat…
LoneSwimmer 