Sandycove Swimmers

These details are taken from the Munster Open Water Calendar 2015 that has been online for a while now, but as time is getting closer to the events, I will try and post the important details of the swim online for you. In most cases there is more information about the swim when you click on the entry link I have attached. These are links to the Cork swims for now, until I gather more detail for the rest of the Munster OW events.

2 points to note:

• The Majority events require you to register online BEFORE the swim, don’t assume you can turn up on the day, read the details of the event or email the organiser if you have a question.
• If you don’t want to enter an event or are unable to swim on the day, the organisers will always take people to help out, these events are all run by swimmers who have taken the time to put on the event, so the ask is always there, if you are not swimming on the day, can you volunteer, to kayak, Check-in, timekeep, bake! or anything else that a swim event may need assistance with. Let’s share the load out among us all, don’t leave it to the same people all the time, and it’s a great way to suss out an event for next year, if you are unsure about entering this year!.

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EVENT:                                      Myrtleville to Churchbay (Cork)

DATE:                                         Saturday 4^th July @ 6:00pm

DISTANCE:                              2KM (Min requirement: to enter is 1.5k in 2015)

BRIEF:                                        An A->B Swim in Cork Harbour, along the exposed Coast from Myrtleville to Churchbay (next bay to the left of Myrtleville)

OPEN TO:                                 Everyone (not restricted to Swim Irl members). Skins & Wetsuits.

COST:                                         €15 for Crosshaven RNLI

QUERIES:                                 Damian: myrtlevilleswimmers@gmail.com

REGISTRATION:                    Compulsory online BEFORE the event (pay on the day)

http://myrtlevilleswimmers.com/myrtleville-church-bay-2015-entry-form/

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EVENT:                                      Lough Allua (Inchigeelagh, Co Cork)

DATE:                                         Saturday 4^th July @ 3:30pm

DISTANCE:                              7-8 KM (Min requirement: 5k within last year)

BRIEF:                                        Lough Allua is an A->B Swim from Ballingeary to Inchigeelagh. I’m saying 7-8k, if you find the right line, it’ll be 7k, if you take the scenic turns it’ll be 8k! That should prompt you, it’s a bit twisty and windy around parts!. Post Swim Soup is included with this swim.!

OPEN TO:                                 Everyone (not restricted to Swim Irl members). Skins & Wetsuits.

COST:                                         €35 for Bishopstown Lions Club

QUERIES:                                 Diarmuid: herlihydiarmuid@gmail.com

REGISTRATION:                    Compulsory online BEFORE the event via Link, limited Entries.

http://register.sportstiming.ie/ps/event/LochAlleu8kmlakeswim

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EVENT:                                      LEE Swim (Cork City)

DATE:                                         Saturday 11^th July @ 3:00pm

DISTANCE:                              2KM (Min requirement: none, must complete 2km in 90mins)

BRIEF:                                        An A->B Swim through Cork City Centre, under 7 bridges and finishing outside the Clarion Hotel / City Hall. Huge Numbers (600) enter this annual event, with mighty craic afterwards on the Boardwalk. Swimmers set off in waves of 30, based on your estimated swim time for 2k.

OPEN TO:                                 Everyone (not restricted to Swim Irl members). Skins & Wetsuits.

COST:                                         €45 for Cork Lions Club (Chip Timed event).

QUERIES:                                 Joe: lee_swim@corkmasters.ie

REGISTRATION:                    Compulsory online BEFORE the event. Entries will close when full.

http://register.sportstiming.ie/ps/event/Leeswim

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EVENT:                                      Beginish (Valentia, Co Kerry)

DATE:                                         Saturday 18^th July @ 11:45pm

DISTANCE:                              6-7 KM (Min requirement: 5k within last year + 3k this year)

BRIEF:                                        This is a 6-7km Open Water swim is anticlockwise around Beginish Island, a small uninhabited island lying immediately to the north Valentia Island, Co. Kerry. As it is so exposed, the qualifying criteria is important. Read the Entry link for full details.

OPEN TO:                                 Swim Irl Club members ONLY. Skins & Wetsuits.

COST:                                         €50 for Charity

QUERIES:                                 Tim: tim@jakera.com

REGISTRATION:                    Compulsory online BEFORE the event via Link, limited Entries.

http://register.sportstiming.ie/ps/event/BeginishIslandSwim

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EVENT:                                      Courtmacsherry (West Cork)

DATE:                                         Saturday 25^th July @ 12:00noon

DISTANCE:                              1.5 / 3 KM (Min requirement: none, must complete 3km in 60mins)

BRIEF:                                        A Beach start from Blind Strand (outside Courtmac). The Course is 1.5k, the 3k swimmers do a double lap. It is an anticlockwise swim around 2 marker bouys, and back to beach (repeat if a 3k entrant).

OPEN TO:                                 Everyone (not restricted to Swim Irl members). Skins & Wetsuits.

COST:                                         €15 for Courtmacsherry RNLI.

QUERIES:                                 Ray: raymcardle@yahoo.com

REGISTRATION:                    Best to enter online BEFORE the event. Limited Entries allowed on the day.

http://www.active.com/courtmacsherry-cork/water-sports/swimming-races/courtmacsherry-lifeboat-swim-2015

More swim details to follow, but the full list can be found HERE on our website.

An early start didn’t deter 50 swimmers for taking part in the first Darkness into Light Swim (a twist on the Darkness into Light walk/runs), all for Pieta House.

We met at Myrtleville from 4:30am, signed in to get a number on our hands (safety reasons for counting in/out), had a quick safety briefing at 4:55am and were in the water by 5:00am. Rule was to swim towards Fennels Bay (on left, just before Dutchman Rock), and no one to stay in more than 30mins (so we can count everyone out). With Rob Bohane and Kevin Murphy as chief land crew, everything went to plan. We had swimmers strategically placed amongst the groups, watching, encouraging, laughing!. Riana took some super shots of the morning, and I’ve seen plenty more appear on social media taken from mobile phones etc. We were so lucky with the weather, very slight swell in the water, sea temp 10deg, air temp 8deg, and the clouds cleared to see a wonderful sunrise from behind Roches Point. With plenty of money raised for Pieta House, thanks to everyone who turned up to swim, help, take photos & bake! It was definitely one not to have missed.

Here are few of the great photos taken for the morning:

Darkness into Light Swim 2015

The Glowing Before Shot

Our Youngest Swimmers of the morning, Well Done SAM 🙂

Great Photo of 50 glowing swimmers.

Sun creeping up from behind Roches Point

YEAH – 50 swimmers now WIDE AWAKE at 5am in the morning… WIDE awake!

Huge thanks to Rob & Kevin for checking everyone in & out. #safetyfirst

It all started with a phone call from Angela to me – “Hey, we should do a DIL swim instead of a run”… and so we made it happen. 🙂

Saturday 9^th May 2015. Darkness in Light SWIM.

To coincide with the Pieta House Darkness into Light Events, (See their page here) we are suggesting a Darkness into Light Swim at Myrtleville (as an alternative to the 80 runs being planned that morning!).

Meet by 4:45am & Swim at 5:00am on Sat 9^th May (Twilight is at 05:10, Sunrise is at 05:50).

Some Notes on the Swim:

• There will be a donation Bucket for contributions to Pieta House.
• Meet by 4:45am
• Safety Briefing at 4:55am (and we will number everyones hands for check-in/check-out)
• TITW (Toes in the Water!) by 5:00am
• Swim a Max of 30mins (for safety reasons, please adhere). Whatever your speed, turn back after 10-15mins. 5mins is also an acceptable swim time.
• DO NOT swim on your own, swim in 2s/3s, stick with your swim buddy so you can talk to them to check in with each other, don’t swim in huge groups, you’d be calling names all the time and your voices will travel over the water!. There will be less stop/starting with smaller groups.
• Respect the time of day, arrive quietly, avoid shouting, slamming doors etc, common sense really, just be mindful of the sleeping residents.
• We will meet at the bottom of the steps at 4:45, away for the houses to make sure we are all glowing.
• As the colour of Pieta House is yellow, if you have a yellow hat, or a hat with yellow in it, wear it, it’ll be our nod to the Cause.
• Remember it’s only May, expect the air to be cool at that hour. Have the layers of clothes ready for after the swim, and of course the Hot Flask for a cuppa!.
• Bring a Flash light, you’d be surprised what you can’t find in the dark in the car!
• After you get changed, and have your cuppa, and are wrapped up warm, enjoy the Sunrise J

As this is a night swim (to start), swimmers must have glow sticks on their hats and togs/wetsuits.

The reusable night lights for your goggle straps are Called ‘Guardian Adventure lights’ (they can be bought in Centra Crosshaven or CH Marine, Cork). If you want to buy them online, just Click!.

There is a link below to show you what the disposable single use glow sticks are like. These are an ideal alternative to the pricier reusable light (but that does have hundreds of hours light on it). It’s worth it to buy a batch of the snap&glow sticks if you will be doing more night swims over the next year or so.!

There are cheap jewellery disposable versions in EuroGiant/Dealz etc, but these are not very bright out at sea and they tend to not stay in place too easily (they are not really made for sea swimming!). These should only be used as fun top-ups to the better stronger glow sticks. Plan ahead, do some research online, pair up with someone to share the costs of buying the glow sticks (share shipping costs etc).

Check these out on Amazon as an example of what you are looking for, for one time use, glow sticks.

There is also an Irish Website that sells them.

• Finally, I shouldn’t have to remind you, but as always, this swim is weather dependent. J

• And Really this is a Finally, If anyone is willing to help out and stay on the beach while we swim and count us in/out, we’d love to have you, and also, anyone willing to kayak, we’d love to have you there too.. We’ll feed you coffee and cake (well maybe not cake at 5am, but the offer stands!).

HI All –

To welcome the change of season to Spring and daylight saving, we are proposing a mini series of swims over Easter Weekend. The Idea is similar to the Turkey Swims, it’s all about the craic (and Cake)!. No payment, No prizes, just times to add to your Diaries that we can have groups swimming. The Sandycove times are from the schedule and Myrtleville swim 08:15 every Sat and 18:00 every Monday (from Easter).

In BOLD I have ‘Bunny Times’ where we will try and get a good group to swim together and have a chat (maybe no cake on Friday!, but other days will be fine) I have also listed other times if people can’t make a Bunny Swim Time. (There is a good chance to catch the sunrise on Good Friday @ 7am!.)

So pick what suits you, hopefully weather will behave and it’ll be inviting enough to get people back in the sea after winter hibernation, and the seasoned winter swimmers will have company for a change.

Remember, if this is your first weekend back, be smart, don’t stay in too long, swim with someone for company, and wrap up warm afterwards. This weekend schedule is all about starting to reacclimatise and the social catch-up!

For a cold wintery month, plenty has been going on so far.

1 – A group of swimmers set off to tackle the Ice Mile (a mile in less than 5deg water).. madness I know, but there is a bunch of them mad together. Well done to those brave enough to even take on the challenge in what sounds like a well organised event.

2 – We had some local winners at the annual ILDSA (Irish Long Distance Swimming Association) Awards. Well Done to Finbarr Hedderman, Ciaran Byrne, Munster Mermaids and to Myrtleville swimmers on their achievements.

3 – The first Masters Gala of the year took place in Douglas, plenty of first timers joining some seasoned pool swimmers to show the growing popularity of masters swimming. Sandycove Island were well represented as a club, picking up plenty of medals including some strong relays and a BIG win with the cannon relay at the end of the day.! Again well done to those who stepped up for the first time, for first time in years, or out to set down their marker for the year.

4 – Check your emails for a message from our Secretary, Angela, on news of the upcoming spring Dinner (Sat 21st March).

5 – Note to Open Water Event Organisers, make sure you have given Finbarr your date for your 2015 Swim Event, he wants to get the calendar out soon. Thanks.

6 – There is a Swim Ireland masters Clinic on in UL on Sat 28th February, on Nutrition, diving, turns etc. details to sign up are HERE.

7 – Details of the Kingdom Masters Gala in Tralee on Saturday March 28th have been emailed, but can be found HERE if needed again. If you are available to swim on a relay in the morning/afternoon session, please let Carol know. thanks.

8 – Finally, if you still need to sign up for your 2015 Membership, please do so through this link, you must be a Club member to swim in masters galas, and in some of the OW events during the summer. (Any Swim Irl Club will do, this is the link to Sandycove Island Membership).

See you soon for the March News update 🙂

Anyone who is a paid up Sandycove member for 2015, and willing to swim on a Relay at Sundays Well Masters (Sat 14/02) or at Limerick Masters (Sat 07/03) can you let me know please.

The Club are covering the cost of the relay entries, and I need to get lists together for Teams. No previous experience needed, we’ll let you know what to do. Tumble Turns / Diving off starting blocks is not essential. Turning with a touch will be fine as is diving off the side of the deck. These are not international competitions!..

Masters Relays are based on the age of the 4 swimmers combined, so anyone over the age of 19 is eligible with no upper limit.!. We add the ages together and that’s the age group the relay competes in. That is why we need to know names beforehand, we have to pre-enter the team in the correct age bracket.

At Sundays Well, We will aim to enter the 4 x 50m Freestyle relays and Medley Relays (if we have people to cover all 4 strokes). They Have Male and Female relays, as well as 4 x 50 mixed relays – 2 male / 2 female 🙂 Relays are on late in afternoon – about 4pm.

The Limerick Relays are 4 x 100m (male/Female/Mixed, Free and Medley). Limerick is a Long Course competition (50m). Relays are on at lunchtime and later in day about 5pm.

To be included on relays for either or both galas  Let me know before Friday 30th Jan. (via Sandycove FB page or email – or via Angela if stuck!)

Reminder – The Limerick Masters Individual Entries are due in by this Friday 30^th Jan, and the Sundays Well Entries are due in by Fri 6^th Feb.

Entry Forms:

http://limerickmasters.com/?page_id=35

http://www.sundayswellsc.com/MastersEvents.htm

The Next Date for a Masters gala will be the Kingdom Masters in Tralee on Sat March 28th (information not yet out!) but we will have relays again 🙂

Happy Winter Training.

CAROL

If you really want to see what our little Sandycove Island looks like, have a look at these super shots, taken by Gordon Adair with Alex at the helm….

they are on Facebook – Click here to see them all..

The Exposed outside of the Island.

Seeing the full shape of the Island from the Air.

8 down, 2 to go. Turkey Series 2014 has flown by!.

Next weekend 20th/21st are the last 2 Turkey Swims. Both days are 3pm, with Saturday at Myrtleville and Sunday in Sandycove.

As we have had such a great turnout this year, we have good funds for prizes, so the ‘Turkey Committee’ have decided to donate your money from the last weekend of swimming to the local RNLIs. So bring your €2 as usual, and on Saturday the money collected will go to Crosshaven RNLI and on Sunday the collected money will be given to Kinsale RNLI. If you are still swimming in the sea, you are aware of the chilly, lumpy, changeable conditions, so these volunteers keeping people safe at sea are braver souls than us, any little bit we can give the RNLI will be gratefully received.

In the meantime we have bought what we need for the Spot Prizes (Butcher Vouchers, The Edge Vouchers, Wine, Beer, Chocolate, Furry Socks etc.) and as we have a lot of prizes we are going to evenly split the draw over 2 days so we don’t take forever on the Sunday going though prizes. Everyone who has signed in for the first 8 Turkey Swims are in the draw, we did come up with a maximum of 3 prizes per person though, in the season of good spirit and all that, sharing is caring etc!. After the 3pm Swim (about 4pm) we will draw names, if you are not there you will have until the end January to claim them from Carol or Angela. After that period, there is no guarantee that the drink or chocolates will be intact! 🙂

We hope to see many of you next weekend for a bit of swimming craic, break out the christmas swim suits, bring your warm drinks, and don’t forget some tasty nibbles to share afterwards, and most of all swim smart & stay safe 🙂

Festive Swimming 🙂

Turkey Swim no5 done and dusted.. We have been so lucky with weather for the swims this year, our numbers are much bigger than normal = better / bigger Turkey Draw prizes! 🙂 Another great day in Myrtleville this time, nearly 60 in the water.

Some of the ~60 swimmers enjoying a Sunday swim… in cloudless skies and 11deg sea temps 🙂

Just beware of temps, water was 11deg today, and only 8deg air (with really cold sand after overnight frost), the cold is setting in with lots of shakes about the place afterwards. Bring flipflops to save you walking on the cold ground, get changed quick, chat later with a warm cuppa of choice. Any clothing that keeps you warm is fine!, layer up, wear whatever gets the heat back to the core of the body, these are the people you can be whacky about – sure aren’t we swimming in the sea in the winter, wearing what we want must go hand in hand!

It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas…

For lots more photos, keep an eye on the Sandycove Group Facebook page, Siobhan and Gordon and always lurking with cameras and are getting some super shots of the Turkey Swims this year 🙂

5 more Turkey swims to go… next Sunday (30th) is #6 Sandycove at 12:00 noon.

#7 – Sun 7th Dec – Myrtleville – 11:00

#8 – Sat 13th Dec – Sandycove – 10:30

#9 – Sat 20th Dec – Myrtleville – 15:00 (half the Draw will take place)

#10 – Sun 21st Dec – Sandycove – 15:00 (other half of Draw will take place)

Sunday 2nd Nov saw the first of the 10 ‘Turkey Swims’, and what a start. Over 50 swimmers out for a Sunday dip, in watery sunshine and with the sea temps holding at 13 degrees it made for a great start to the ‘winter swim series’.

Roll on next Saturday (8th), Swim is at 9:30am in Myrtleville, sign in with Angela to be included for the ‘Turkey’ Draw in December. Plenty of photos from today are on social media… beware, there are always cameras about! 🙂

The 2 lappers… setting out first!

The Crowd starts to gather… plenty of first timers to Sandycove.. that’s what it’s all about.

Cameras… everywhere… in and out of the water!

and plenty of opportunities to ‘photobomb’.!

See you all next weekend for Turkey 2 🙂

It’s that time of year again, mark your Calendars for the Turkey Swim Dates 2014! Details & Dates below…

It’s that time of year again. Membership renewal time..

Swim Ireland Membership runs Oct-Oct, so any 2013-14 members – you are about to expire!.

In order for you to keep your Swim Ireland membership number and compete at any pool competitions or Open Water Events between 31Oct 2014 – 30Oct 2015 you will need to re-apply and pay €50 for the Annual Membership to Sandycove Island Swimming Club.

Please do so now, before you forget! HERE  is the link to apply for membership online via Active.

Notice to all Paid Members 2013-2014-2015:

Annual AGM is on Saturday 2nd November at 2pm in Hamlets in Kinsale.

More details to follow soon.

Regards

Angela Harris

SISC Club Secretary 2013-14