It’s that time of year when eBay handles the disposal of mountains of unwanted crap handed over as Christmas gifts. To highlight one listing – the “seller” is offering to pay anyone who’ll come and take away an item that mysteriously landed in his wife’s present pile. It’s hideous – even the dog isn’t happy to have it as bedding. What a load of goat shite.
Goats????? Get it off me!!! Call the CSPCA!!!
Volunteers matter!
Congrats to Eoin Lowry and Anne Sheehy – winners of the Devil’s Island Trophy 2017 who crewed the most interesting, completed epic swim during the year. The swimmer was Maeve Mulcahy and it was the Fastnet to Baltimore swim.
This will be presented during the Cork Spring Dinner.
Thanks to all who volunteered in 2017: organisers, crew, pilots, kayaker, timekeepers, webmasters, checkin and checkout team…etc. The sport doesn’t happen without you.
Eight nominations were received and voted on by the panel of Steven Black – West Cork, Adrian Healy – Mallow, Ned Denison – Sandycove, Damian O’Neill – Myrtleville and Dave Mulcahy – Fermoy
Everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – would love a Myrtleville Towel or Hat this Christmas. Whether it’s the Mr. Finbarr or Yankee Ned in your life, there’s nothing they’d love more.
For a stocking filler to be proud of, call to Bernie in Centra Crosshaven for a cool Towel or Hat.
Thanks to Centra staff for facilitating distribution of these by the way – it’s a hassle for them for no cost to us Myrtlevillians. Much easier than using the boots of our cars and messing around with change! Much appreciated.
If I’m asked – and I often am – why so many people have taken to swimming in Myrtleville I say, “Siobhan Russell”. In this digital age, having an in-beach photographer who captures the fun of sea swimming is fantastic. People trying to decide if they should take the plunge and try getting in to the sea can browse online and clearly see others who may look a bit mad (we do), but who definitely are having fun. Siobhan captures that and it’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have her.
Here’s this year’s labour of love showing us all in all our glory! Have a coffee and a relax. It’s worth it. Thanks, Siobhan. You are a star.
It’s gone mad now. Everything. The world. Mad.
One constant I had to cling to in life was that the car boot is where you keep swimmy stuff. Everyone the same. Dumped there. Loads of it. Clean it out a couple of times a year. Grand. Comforting, though. You know your swimmy stuff is there. Togs. Goggles. Hats. Flasks. Towels. Lip liner. Wha?
“I’ve lip liner in the boot, if you need it”. Words I never thought I’d hear at the top of Myrtleville beach. Until yesterday. Then I noticed various ladies unwilling to get out of their cars until they had primped, preened and titivated to their satisfaction. 
Is this the Instagram generation taking us over? “I wouldn’t be seen dead at the Dutchman without lipstick….”? “It’s under 10c, I’d better use a different foundation….”?
Seriously, ladies, ye don’t need to be listening to Denis. Ye’re gorgeous just they way ye are. Clean out those boots now. Put the lippy back in the house where it belongs. Go for the natural look. Like these icons. Not a lip liner between them.
Really now. Kiss that lip liner goodbye.
The last 6pm swim of the year is this evening. Back to dark evenings and waiting for Monday, March 26th, 2018 after today.
Look at yer man Slowey only five or six years ago – where’s the beard?
Last Monday night Myrtleville swims: 22 October, 2012
Wondering what to get for the swimmer (and car-owner) in your life, this Christmas? The year’s must-have fashion accessory, of course. The Myrtleville Swimmers windscreen decal. I didn’t even have to make this one up. Fair dues to Owen McSweeney.
You’d expect to find Kieran Murphy around anything like this – and sure enough…
Can’t wait to see Finbarr Hedderman’s car when he gets his one done. Bernard has already ordered one for Ann Lynch. Don’t tell her though, it’s a surprise.
Honestly – some people?! We do all this work to support Sandycove and our peaceful emissaries are grievously mistreated by way of thanks. The images from the events of Saturday are simply shocking. Those of a gentle disposition may wish to look away now (Denis, Eoin Lowry etc).
First up – staunch Myrtlevillian, Finbarr Hedderman was lured into a picture with horrendous grey branded products and some kind of goat flag. Ever the gentleman, he faked a smile but refused to wear any of them. Myrtleville to the core, is Finbarr. 
Further insult was heaped on the unsuspecting award-winning Siobhan Russell, when she was unceremoniously bundled up in some of the gear. We think this is an attempt to get star recognition of the goaty stuff, what with Siobhan’s high profile and access to all the top media outlets – this site, the Carrigdhoun etc.
The swim itself was where the real badness occurred – with outright assault on poor Bernard Lynch by person or persons unknown out the back of the Island. Eoin O’Riordan, by the way. Beaten and battered was Bernie – until he pulled away and bate the perpetrator. Gwan ya good ting, Bernie!!
The assault was raised with Rob De Bull after the event, in the hope that Eoin might get his just punishment. “I saw nuttin”, said Rob.
We’re sure there were other assaults, but Myrtlevillians swam on regardless. It’s worth noting that every single Myrtlevillian in the event beat Ned Denison. How about that? Doesn’t happen too often.
Darren Morrissey also showed the begrudgers what he thought of them. Gwan, Dazza!!
Things just got worse at the after-party. Senior statisticians pored over the purported results and noted numerous additions of time onto Myrtlevillians. Fake Times, said some American guy. 
Leading Myrtlevillians, Aisling and Finbarr, took to the stage to appeal for calm and a modicum of gratitude for all that Myrtevillians have done for little Sandycove. That went down well.
Eoin O’Riordan responded with shouts of “thanks, I’ll give ye thanks!!!” and went for Bernard again. How much punishment must the poor man take?
Salt was then rubbed in the wounds when our Mike Harris award was presented to Alex Jeffers. I’m sure Alex has done his bit for Sandycove – but nowhere near as much as myself and Bernard. Fix, like. Fix. They made our Finbarr stand in that pic too.
Still, there’s always positives amidst the gloom. The Irwin family had another great day out! Well done, Mae – and the first man home in togs, Neddie, of course 🙂
If you happen to have the incredible misfortune to step on a Weever fish, it’s important to know the steps to take. I’m helpfully listing them here. Not all of them are strictly necessary or helpful, but you can weed those out.
First of all, to avoid needing to know these steps, shuffle into the water – especially at low tide. Otherwise, you might meet this guy. Mostly they stay away from us and down in Sandycove – so there is hardly anyone in danger – but sometimes Ned drops a bucket of them in Myrtleville, so we have hundreds of swimmers to warn.
Have you seen this fish? Vicious Weever transported from Sandycove and dumped at our beach.
One useful thing to know is that after you’ve been spiked, if you stay in the water your foot will be so cold you won’t really feel the pain. You’ll know there’s something wrong, but it’s a deferral method. Try deferring for as long as you can. Do a ten hour swim. I only did an hour and was sorry I got out.
Once the pain starts to hit as your foot warms up, here’s what you do:
So, from Irish Water Safety: When entering the water, make plenty of noise with your feet and kick up the sand a little, this alerts the weever fish to your presence and they normally swim out in to deeper water away from you.
Otherwise, you’ll end up like this. And Bernard’s no feckin’ help. Believe me.
Do the Weever Shuffle. You don’t want to be this guy.
I’m reprinting here my nominating letter for this annual award down West. I hope that all Myrtlevillians will get behind this nomination and inundate Eoin O’Riordan, Gordon Adair and Finbarr Hedderman with communications to swing the vote in our favour.
For those who don’t know, the Mike Harris Trophy is for the person who has contributed most bigly to the spirit and ethos of open water swimming at Sandycove in a given year.
Dear Mike Harris Trophy winner pickers,
I’d like to nominate myself and Bernard, jointly, for this award.
I don’t think anyone has shown more support for the dwindling numbers of Sandycovers than the two of us. We’ve constantly mentioned Sandycove in Myrtlevillian communiques, just to remind people it still exists and to encourage someone – anyone – from the hundreds upon hundreds of regular Myrtleville swimmers to trudge down West. We encourage people to go – some more than others – to make it look like d’Island is still being used, before it’s reclaimed as a goat sanctuary and swimming is verboten.
In addition to trying to get people to go there the odd time, we have offered a refuge to all those escaping Sandycove who now spend the year training in Myrtleville, while still saying they’re true-blue Sandycovers – they just “don’t get there as often as they’d like”, as they say (as in, once a year).
Although Bernard wouldn’t get out of bed to go there, I personally visit quite often when I’m in Kinsale twice a week, dropping off for TKD classes. There’s never anyone there, obviously, but I at least go out there to try to show there’s a bit of interest in the place and to send bleak, empty photos back to Myrtleville. Maybe I should stop that – it might be putting people off going there even more, if that’s possible.
To be fair, it’s busy enough during Distance Week – a genius idea by Ned to get people from out foreign who aren’t in the know to go swimming there – and the day of the Challenge. But, I digress – back to the nomination. We routinely use our #supporttheweakercounties tag to raise the Sandycove profile and we send rakes of cakes down there for the Turkey Swims.
All in all, it’s hard to think of two more deserving recipients of the Mike Harris Trophy. Mike can present it to us down in Myrtleville. He’s always here.
The only known photo of the nominees in Sandycove. Taken a long time ago, there was nobody else there that day either – so we swam home to Myrtleville.
Myrtleville Swimmers 