Still plenty of places – but I said that last year and they disappeared 🙂

Click here to enter. Thanks to everyone who is already in.

Staunch Myrtlevillian, Ned Denison, has been nominated for the WOWSA (World Open Water Swimming Association) Man of the Year 2023. 

While he might get a few votes from down West (Rob, ahhh…. Finbarr….aaahhhm – is there anyone else down there?) he’ll need the massive voting bloc that is Myrtleville Swimmers to get him the award he deserves.

Tell your friends – VOTE NED! WOWSA Awards 2023 Link for voting

For any swimmers who did something interesting in their swims this year and want to recognise those who helped them, please nominate your crew:

The Devil’s Island Trophy – is given to and held by the Crew whose swimmer completed the most interesting, epic swim during the year. The Crew names will be listed FIRST to emphasise the importance of the crew.
There is a judging panel of 5 representing all big Cork OW groups.
The judgement is very subjective, but emphasis will be on the following:
Must be a marathon swim of 10k or longer – and the longer the better.
Must Not be a major recognised swim like the English Channel etc. We are looking for unique or firsts or just an epic of a day.
A Cork swimmer travelling alone, and using Foreign Crew, in some foreign destination to swim is not a candidate for this trophy.
Ideally a unique swim. Or just an epic or first, or a good story.
Ideally the swimmer must be from/living in Cork at the time of the swim.
Ideally a solo swim – but a pod swim or a relay swim will be considered.
Ideally not a huge mass participation event. Unless each swimmer has own boat/crew.
Ideally listed on the Cork long swim list, but all locations considered.
Some or all should be Cork based crew.

You can nominate more than one set of crew if you have different swims to be included.
Presented annually – as long as there is a worthy swim.
The award will be announced later this year

YOUR crew MUST be nominated by you…by email to ned.denison@corkopenwater.com by the 15th November and must include:
Crew names…roles
Confirm, your swim as listed on the attached is accurate…and give date of swim
A Citation as to why you are nominating the crew (from a few sentences to a one-page essay). The key is HOW they helped YOU !

That joke never gets old. Never. Good news.

Update on the maintenance from Marc:

The yearly maintenance is now complete on the buoys. Thankfully we got a good day for it which helped. Replaced buoys 1 & 3. The other buoys needed replacement ropes & chain, thimbles & shackles. Buoy 2 needs to be replaced in 2024. Buoys Floating better now & repainted.

We still have 55 people on the waiting list for the swim next week. If you are entered and your plans have changed so you are not swimming, please cancel your place. You’ll have made a donation to the RNLI and also allowed someone else to contribute and participate.

We do not allow transfers and there are no entries on the day.

The best laid plans…..Buoy 1 wasn’t willing to wait for its replacement to arrive so it has made its way onto the beach in the very strong Easterlies we’re having.

Repairs are planned for May when we have better weather, so we’ll have to work with five buoys until then and hopefully won’t lose any more before the two new ones get here and all the shackles etc are checked.

Good news today that following an application submitted by myself and Bernard Lynch to Cork County Council, Myrtleville Swimmers have been approved for a grant of €3,900 towards the cost of maintaining and replacing the buoys, chains, ropes etc. This is very much appreciated and thank you to everyone who assisted in the Council.

The full amount we’ve been quoted for this year for the buoy maintenance and replacements is €6,150. We have €1,250 from the support given to us by the Centra Crosshaven Challenge Triathlon. We need another €1,000 – as well as the €1,000 to cover the defibrillator.

In April, we’ll hold a swim and shake out the buckets to look for contributions towards the shortfall of €2,000. There are hundreds of us benefitting from the buoys and having the defibrillator is very reassuring. Be generous 🙂

A new defib is now in place, for which we will be holding a fundraising swim over the next few weeks. €1,000 needed – be generous. Details here when they’re known. Thanks to everyone who helped to get this organised.

The setup is complete with heated case, which has been provided free and which is very much appreciated. Thanks to Ger O’Dea, Community Engagement Officer from the National Ambulance Service.

TO OPEN THE CASE, PRESS C AND TURN THE HANDLE. TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS! We’ll get a sticker with that information put on the case soon.

In the next month or so, Victor Shine will be holding a training evening in the Coast Guard station in Crosshaven for swimmers and local residents on hypothermia and using the defibrillator.

This is your defibrillator. Please keep an eye on it and between us we can ensure it’s there if we ever need it – which we all hope we don’t.