“Did you see that video on Facebook Donal? Complete tool”. “I mean what the hell Donal, is your sport all gobshites like that?” “It doesn’t matter you don’t use Facebook. It was on the news last night as well. Here it is here on my phone. Look!” “What kind of a fool goes swimming in…
Back in the spring, when the water was at its lowest point for the year and therefore not conducive to test swims with the purposes of reviewing equipment, well-known and reputable UK open water swim organiser (including I’ve heard the London Olympics 2012 10k swim) Colin Hill contacted me to ask me to test out…
I just have to start this with a disclaimer: I’m not really a kayaker. I have spent maybe eight hours total escorting swimmers on a kayaker and my total kayaking time is only about twenty hours as I write this. I’ve done so little kayaking that I can estimate the total time spent. However I am a…
Three or four years ago I wrote a post about swimming a new location, and the steps I take to do so safely. However as primarily an ocean open water swimmer it focused specifically on my thoughts when swimming a new coastal location in a high tidal range area. As every regular reader may have…
Any experienced open water swimmer will be, or at least should be familiar with evaluating personal risk on an ongoing basis. (I have written many posts about the Do’s and Don’t’s of open water). One thing we don’t talk about is drowning, because we put ourselves in the category of people unlikely to join the…
Because I live and swim in Ireland, I am constantly made aware of the large tidal range here. I’ve written extensively about tides previously because I feel they are an aspect of open water swimming not appreciated by enough swimmers and because global variations can mean that many people never see nor even realise the…
Part 1. Continuing on from the previous article on the subject, I’ve made a point now of completely abandoning the pool during the summer, allowing my lungs a break from chlorine. I have to try to remember this as it would be easy for me to go back to the pool especially if I want to…
Sometimes something is such a habit that you almost cease to realise its presence or utility. Such is the case with the wristwatch. I was at the Guillamene, there by myself as more usual these days, when I realised that I wasn’t wearing my watch. The last time I’d swum open water without a watch…
LoneSwimmer 