February – the coldest month. Crowds swimming.

The first year I swam in February was 2012 – in a wetsuit. I got brain freeze, followed by dizziness, followed by a sharp exit from the water after eight minutes (that had a bit to do with the seals in Adrigole Harbour too, but mostly the cold). Clearly (looking at the land temperatures table below), I was a total wimp. On average, February 2012 on land was way warmer than this year – so we can expect the sea was too!

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for Cork_Airport

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2015	5.4	4.8											5.1
2014	5.5	5.0	6.9	9.4	11.0	14.5	16.3	14.2	14.8	11.2	8.4	6.3	10.3
2013	6.0	5.1	4.3	7.4	10.0	13.5	17.3	15.3	13.5	11.9	6.7	6.4	9.8
2012	7.2	7.4	8.3	7.1	10.5	12.4	13.8	15.0	12.6	9.2	6.5	6.5	9.7
mean	5.6	5.7	6.9	8.4	10.9	13.5	15.3	15.2	13.3	10.5	7.8	6.1	9.9

My wimpiness in 2012 is confirmed by the many Myrtlevillians who made the decision to swim through the Winter this year and have taken any weather thrown at them. Dizziness? Brain freeze? No problem!! The coldest month is over and we now have up to twenty new year-round swimmers. Very well done to everyone. A few of the many pics Siobhan took during the month….