Laps of Sandycove Island

Sandycove Island, for those who don't know by now, is an island close to shore just outside the mouth of Kinsale harbour in Cork.  It is about 18 acres in size, is inhabited by goats and one or two small trees, and is circumnavigated fastidiously like a school of hungry sharks by the Sandycove Swimmers, triathletes and of course English Channel aspirants (ahem..).

A swim around the island is a mile in duration and a lot of people swim around the island a lot of times.  Some even count the number of times they do so.  In recognition of the dedication of these people and their swimming stamina a list is kept of life-time achievement counts of 100 laps ('C' in roman numerals), 500 laps (D) and 1,000 laps (M).  Yesterday, however, the list had to be updated.

Here's a group photo of the early swimmers on the slipway (there were plenty more swimmers later on). Carmel, Alan, SleepSwim, Finbarr, Riana, Lisa and Catherine.  We started early because we wanted to do a long swim.  The sun was out, but so too was a rapier north-easterly wind, which whipped up huge swells at the back of the island, and all the way down the inside too.  Water temperature ranged from about 10C outside the island, to a truly tropical 12C at the beach on the island.

Here's Fin enjoying the sunshine at the slip.  In the end Carmel did 5 laps - a new best for her this season, Alan did his first 2012 lap, myself and Cat swam for nearly 3 hours, and Fin and Lisa stayed in for an astonishing 6 hours.  They both clocked up their 100th laps of the year, with Lisa completing her 500th lap, and Fin passing the Red House for the 1,000th time.  Well done to both.