RNLI Myrtleville-Church Bay: July 4, 2015: Six weeks to go.

Six weeks to go to the sixth running of the RNLI Myrtleville – Church Bay Swim. Don’t miss this event.  Get swimming and entering.

In the earlier days of the event, there wasn’t a clear distinction between Administration staff and Competitors.

B. Lynch would give the safety briefing, then run to the nearest phone box (tough going from Myrtleville, to be fair) and change in to his superman Orca costume.  Ta Da!!

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

Crosshaven swimmers Bernard Lynch, Brian O’Connell, Caroline Fagan and Jane O’Connell all set for the Myrtleville to Church Bay RNLI Sea Swim 2010 (pic Howard Crowdy)

This is great, isn’t it?  Pictures of Bernard in a wetsuit!  Whooda Thunkit?

Get swimming and entering for the 2015 event.  Not to be missed.

Paddle in the Park 2015 tomorrow – Friday 7pm: Lee Fields

Online entries close tonight but Finbarr Hedderman will take entries on the night.

Forecast is good so, get your entries in now.  There are 1km and 2km options.

Entry is just €12, for Cork Lions Club. 

Get out there tomorrow night to get the Open Water Season started, support a great cause AND get your qualifying swim done for the RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay Swim!

RNLI Myrtleville-Church Bay: July 4, 2015: Seven weeks to go

Seven weeks to go.  Don’t miss this event.  Get swimming and entering.

In 2011, the swim was moved to Camden, due to unfavourable weather at Myrtleville.  Judging on the picture below, they bashed down the metal fences to get in there – although that could have been done by Micky, Kenneth or Roy, I suppose.

Then a mad fella in a wetsuit sent them forth into the sea.  Plenty of them looked dubious about it.  Good to see Moz had used a few bottles of fake tan and had waxed for the day.

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

RNLI Myrtleville-Church Bay Swim 2011 Safety briefing (pic Howard Crowdy).

To be fair, it must have been bad if even No. 55 was biting his nails in anticipation.

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

ECHO SPORT – Event organiser Bernard Lynch shows some of the competitors the route prior to the start of the 2nd annual RNLI 2k Open Water Swim at Fort Camden, Crosshaven (pic Howard Crowdy)

Get swimming and entering for the 2015 event.  Not to be missed.

RNLI Myrtleville – Church Bay: July 4, 2015

Entries are coming in steadily for this fantastic swim.  Get yours in here.

This is the sixth running of the event and I thought a few blasts from the past would be appropriate.  With thanks to Howard Crowdy.

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

Pictured at the first Myrtleville to Church Bay RNLI Sea Swim 2010 were well known swimmers Imelda Lynch, Diarmuid Herlihy, Billy Campion, Finbarr Hedderman, Ossi Schmidt, Ned Denison and Lisa Cummins  (pic Howard Crowdy)

Seriously, look at de baba at the back.  Ah, Finbarr….were you about 15?

Ossi is smiling in that one but, at times, he has been know to be a bit….precise or maybe Germanic, shall we say.  Apparently on the day of this first swim it was scheduled to start at 2.30pm.  There was no way that Ossi was going to begin until the appointed time.  As for the rest of the entrants….they were a bit more on the Irish side.

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

Ossi Schmidt pictured appears to be giving the swimmers a head start during the Myrtleville to Church Bay RNLI Sea Swim 2010  (pic Howard Crowdy)

Don’t miss the sixth running of this great swim.  Enter here.

RNLI Myrtleville – Church Bay swim 2015: 8 weeks to go!

The RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay (entrance to Cork Harbour) 2km open water sea swim takes place on Saturday 4th July at 6.00pm on an incoming tide. Entry fee is €15, payable on the evening and donated to Crosshaven RNLI, but you must have submitted your entry online.

All participants must be able to verify a minimum of one 1,500m open water swim in 2015. We strongly recommend you have done a longer distance – or several 1,500m swims. This is a fantastic, but challenging swim and not to be attempted without proper preparation.

If you want to practice, come to Myrtleville any Monday night at 6pm or Saturdays at 08.15. For information, email us – myrtlevilleswimmers@gmail.com, tweet @MyrtlevilleS or follow this website for updates.

Open water swimming in Cork, Ireland.

Start of the first swim in 2010.

Courtmacsherry Lifeboat Swim – July 25th, 2015 at 12 noon.

Courtmacsherry Lifeboat swim

From Ray McArdle:

The 5th Annual Courtmacsherry Lifeboat Swim takes place at Blind Strand, near the picturesque fishing village of Courtmacsherry at noon on Saturday, July 25th.

All proceeds from the swim go to the Courtmacsherry Lifeboat and Swim Ireland membership is not required.

Registration this year is via Active and closes on Thursday, July 23rd.

For more details, download the PDF here. 5th Annual Courtmacsherry Lifeboat swim.

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ILDSA Awards – D’Alternative View.

There’s always a few sub-plots going on at any event.  You just have to look carefully.

All the top athletes know that it’s important to take a break from training every now and then.  I think we can all safely assume Denis decided it was time for a break on Saturday night.  I’m not 100% sure what Anne is reacting to, but I can’t see Denis’ other hand either.

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

Mr. Cregan-Condon – on a break.

In fairness to him, he still has all the moves, though – once he puts on that jacket, there’s no stopping him – irresistible charm.

Denis and Anne

 Finbarr Hedderman won an award for his North Channel swim.  People were amazed when he went up to collect it.  I can see why.  Honestly, I’ve never seem him looking so good.

The best Finbarr has ever looked.  Ever.

Finbarr went all out to prepare for the night.

Finbarr went all out to prepare for the night.

The night went on, as they tend to do.  One of the organisers thought the Myrtleville table was getting unruly so he tried to remove the source of celebration.

Ger Kennedy tries to take it back but Siobhan has both hands on the award.

Ger Kennedy tries to take it back but Siobhan has both hands on the award.

Kieran Murphy soon won him round to our point of view.Kieran Murphy and Ger Kennedy.I just hope Ger didn’t see what Kieran was doing with the hat just before he put it on…I hear Tea Tree shampoo is very effective, Ger.

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And so to the morning after the night before.  Lots of big talk about the swim at 12.00.  How many of our crowd showed up?

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

Must have been a good night. Two of them managed to make it to the swim. Two!

Still, the two who made it soon had reason to think the others might have got it right.

Sea swimming in Bray, Co. Wicklow.

Delicate as a butterfly, practicing how to slide and glide in the waves in Bray.

A night to remember.  Just to be fair, here’s some really nice pictures of everyone in their finery – Mermaids et al.

Ger Kennedy, Siobhan Russell, Billy Wallace and Marie Watson. 10917419_1065437636815456_5803047124041037027_n 10014672_1065437770148776_4017756323650982511_n

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

Siobhan gets the speech done – with support.

Diarmuid and award-winning Rian Herlihy.

Diarmuid and award-winning Rian Herlihy.

Carmel Collins & Coleen Mallon.

Carmel Collins & Coleen Mallon.

Good luck, Pat!

Pat Lowry has been a great addition to Myrtleville Swimmers all year, preparing for his Ironman in Mallorca next Saturday.  Best of luck, Pat, from everyone in Myrtleville.  You’re already a lead candidate for “pose of the year” so keep up that level of effort and attention to detail on Saturday.

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

You could meet anyone around Myrtleville. Look who broke out of the cage.

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

Pat “Mr. Pink” Lowry in one of the designs for the new hat Rob Bohane has commissioned.

Open water, sea swimming in Cork, Ireland.

Pat Lowry on his last Saturday morning swim before his Ironman on Saturday, September 27 in Mallorca. Gary Frost indicates expected position out of the water.

Gougane Barra Swim results 2014

From Tadhg Harrington:

Thanks to all who participated in last Saturday’s swim, and those who helped.

The general consensus was that it was longer than usual. One lap between 2.75-3km. Two over 5km?

When the shore monitors reported back they said everyone, bar one (me) had at some point or other ,stood up and walked during the swim. Therefore according to the rules of International Open Water Swimming, everyone (except me), is disqualified. Bog snorkeling can be incorporated in an open water swim without prior notice. When you encountered shallow water, you should have bog snorkled.    LOL. Only joking. Thanks to Mags and Paul for timekeeping. And Isolda and Tim for registration.

Gougane Barra Results 2014 One Lap

Gougane Barra Swim Results 2014 Two Laps

Courtmacsherry Lifeboat Swim Report

From Ray McArdle:

On Saturday, August 23rd at 4.00pm, 93 swimmers took to the water for the 4th annual Courtmacsherry Lifeboat swim.  53 of these completed the longer 3K swim with the other 40 completing 1.5K.

The swim was supported by 9 kayakers, 3 support boats and the Lifeboat.  We also had volunteers assist with registration, time keeping, photographs, markers, liaising with the Lifeboat poeple and parking.  Thanks to everyone who volunteered.  The swim could not happen without them.

All 960 photos are available here.

The full PDF swim report and results can be downloaded here: 4th Annual Courtmacsherry Lifeboat swim.

Well done to all involved.