Circumnavigation of Cape Clear: The Swim Itself

Ready for the start – a foggy morning too…

We reached Cape just before midday. I took off my clothes and put on my togs, swimming cap and goggles. I wasn’t too cold at all standing out in the air, but I know that this wouldn’t be the case once I was in the water! I gave one look into the cold, dark water and jumped in. I went straight towards the slipway for the start, but didn’t exit the water onto it (John told me that this wouldn’t be too safe as the slipway would be very slippery indeed with the tide out). After placing my hand on the slipway, I was started!

I have to admit that I really felt the cold of the water, this made a little bit nervous about the swim and it was no help to me that the water was so dark at the same time. But I did my best to put these concerns to the back of my mind! While swimming around the first corner of the Island, Cooslahan Point, there were flocks of birds (guillemots, razorbills and so on) flying around me. However, the view underneath me was not so pleasant! Jellyfish of all kinds were coming into my view, including some that were entirely new to me… I’ve neglected to mention until now – we were going around the Island in a clockwise direction.

Swimming south-west at Cooslahan Point.

Waves breaking over Carriglure, I’m in there somewhere!

The next way-marker was Carriglure, a large rock situated just below the surface of the water a few metres from the bottom of the cliffs. The waves were breaking over the top of the rock that day and I didn’t want to swim between it and the cliff at all, but John told me that it would make much more sense if I did. So, I did it, undoubtedly with great hesitation, but the way through was a lot shorter than it would have been had I swum on the outside of it. After meeting up with the boat I had my first feed. What is in the feed is a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein formula with some warm water – High5 is the name of my feed of choice.

Crossing the mouth of the South Harbour, no sign of the seals or dolphins…

It wasn’t long before we had reached Pointanbullig and were just about to cross the South Harbour. I’m told that there were seals and dolphins swimming around me at this point but, unfortunately, I didn’t see any of them myself! I didn’t take us very long to cross the South Harbour but as we were progressing the waves were getting bigger. Having reached Blananarragaun, the most southerly point on the Island, there was a heavy swell. From time to time, I could see the Fastnet Rock, Carraig Aonair in Irish, over the tops of the waves. This song kept coming into my head whenever I saw the famous rock.

Looking out to the Fastnet, often alluded to as the Teardrop of Ireland, it is hard not to think about the many people who lost their lives in the seas around it over the last hundred years or so. After a while, we were at the imposing Bill of Cape! I was very happy having reached this point because it meant that I had more than half of the swim done. There was a lot of foam on the water at this point due to the action of the Atlantic swells on the rocks, but this didn’t bother me too much as I have plenty of experience with foam and the like from swimming at Sandycove in Kinsale.

Swimming through the foam at the Bill of Cape.

We left the Bill of Cape behind us and began heading north-east again. It wasn’t long before Dún an Óir Castle (the castle of the O’Driscoll Clan) came into view. Before long, we were at the North Harbour, where the Cape Clear ferry comes ashore. It was here that we began to get some shelter from the waves, but the downside to this was that the jellies were taking relief here also and I got a few fine stings from them! The swim began much easier after this as we were in the lee of the Island and the tidal currents were giving us some assistance…

Swimming a few hundred metres out from Dún an Óir, the sun comes out at last!

Coming around the last corner of the swim, the current was like a river flowing through the Gascanane Sound! After spending 3 hours 47 minutes 32 seconds in the water, I landed back at the slipway in Comillane. Until now, no one had told me the temperature of the water – 11.5ºC – I was very glad that I didn’t know that before the swim! Once I was dressed again, a few of the men that were on the boat went diving for a short while and Tom swam into a sea cave while we were waiting! All that done, we headed back to Baltimore after a very successful day.