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Backseat Swimmers (Hurlers On The Ditch)
Scene: A work canteen. At a full table sit eight average-looking1 middle-aged-ish men. Six are wearing casual shirts, two are wearing t-shirts. “Did you see that on Facebook Domhnall2? That complete...
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HOWTO – Wild Roses – Understanding The Most Important Open Water Swimming...
In my last post I briefly covered prevailing wind and wind roses. I’d like to expand on those for this post. Prevailing wind is the meteorological and common term for the most commonly occurring wind...
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Real Fears & Risks In Open Water Swimming – Part 2 of 2 – Pragmatic fears...
Following on from the previous post of what so many of you have told me over the years, this post will address what I think are the things open water swimmers should be cautious or wary about, or...
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The Saving Grace of Open Water Swimming
Do you wonder about your favourite food or song or book? Do you ask yourself, what’s my favourite swim? Or do you maybe even tell yourself after most swims, that “that one, that one was my...
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The Deep
Photo by loneswimmer When you look around from wherever you are reading this, whether it’s an office, at home, on a train, you can’t see The Deep. Even if you are sitting at the coast. The words have...
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The Reef
The reef. Should I say it reposes, lurks, or waits there? Whichever, it changes by weather, by season, by my direction, by my desire. It does all these things. Regardless, it posts sentinel beneath the...
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The Open Water Swimming Year: January’s Dark Rituals
“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the Deep”. It’s occasionally struck me that in the second verse or chapter (or whatever these biblical couplets are called)...
View ArticleThe Yellow Sea – A Tale of the Copper Coast
I need you to believe me on these two things. To the best of my knowledge, the only three people who have really seen the Yellow Sea, are Tramore inshore fisherman, skipper of the Little Tern John...
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How To: A Guide to Rough Water Exits in Open Water Swimming – Part I –...
Introduction I haven’t previously tackled the subject of water exits specifically, though I have covered it in general terms in a number of articles. Especially those articles which try to condense the...
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The Ecstasy of Rough Water
I stand and I watch and I look. The sky is blue. The sky is grey. There are clouds, there are no clouds. There is wind. There is always Father Wind, always Mother Ocean. Wind blows onshore, a santoku...
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The Sound of Bells – A Tale of the Copper Coast
Rolling across the water from somewhere in the distance I could hear the sound of bells. Under the water’s surface the luminous dial of my watch showed six PM. So. The Angelus Bells, the Catholic call...
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It Takes An Ocean Not To Break – World Suicide Prevention Day 2016
There have been many searches about open water swimming into LoneSwimmer over the years, from the humourous to the technically inquisitive to the cryptic. I have in the past written articles based on...
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The Wreck of the Sea Horse – a True Tale of The Copper Coast – Part 2
When I left you at the end of the last post, I’d also left the LE Orla, setting out for the water under Doneraile Head and park where I could see the local RNLI and Tramore Inshore RIBs on weekly...
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The Wreck of the Sea Horse – a True Tale of The Copper Coast – Part 1
The weather on Saturday the second of July was horrible. The air was cool, a mere 14 degrees. It had been raining for three weeks, and the early promise of summer, a sly murmur spoken over a mere four...
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How To – Considering personal environmental action to protect the oceans
Amongst the omissions or subjects I have yet to tackle, one of the more obvious has been relatively little coverage of environmental issues. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, they say. I’ve...
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How To: What is Wind Against Sea?
A regular blog reader (hi Gabriel!) left a comment wherein they mentioned wind against sea. My first reaction was that I knew right then that Gabriel was an experienced open water swimmer. My second...
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The Cave of Light and The Cave of Birds – A film of the pure essence of open...
Sam Krohn is an Australian open water swimmer, resident in the south-east of Ireland since his family moved here when he was young, Sam’s a regular swimmer at my own usual location of Tramore’s Newtown...
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A Further Shore – VI – The Further Shore
I can say I saw another sea, but you will not understand. I do not understand. That Sea was not the sea I know. The sea is sacred to me, but this Sea was more than sacred, it was hallowed. Beyond was...
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A Further Shore – V- The Greensward
Swimming is a lot of things to different people at different times, even to me. But what it isn’t, is a method of travel. We may travel long distances while swimming, we may even be swimming to a...
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A Further Shore – IV – The Town
Subconsciously, I’d pulled the goggles from my face, feeling the familiar discomfort around my eyes as the suction released. They dangled weightless from my fingers. Above the seafront buildings rose a...
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