First open water sea swim of the year

Saturday morning last - Dunmore East in Waterford was the location for my first open water sea swim of the year, my brother Declan had his first swim the previous week in Kilkee. The distance was 3.8km, over a two lap course. About 300m of the swim was in the relative shelter of the small bay and the remainder was out into the channel. After turning past the first boy the water had quite a swell and a good size chop to it. A drop in the sea temperature also was fun! On the second lap the sea got a bit more confusing to swim in because of the bigger waves and this made sighting the buoys a lot more difficult. Because the buoys were so small, it was difficult to see or even to see other swimmers around you. Eventually the swim back to the start was managed even though we were swimming through a tough cross current emphasizing the need for bilateral breathing. I still can only breathe to my left side! The swim had all the ingredients of a demanding open water event. A large temperature variation and large surface condition variation. Result - Pearse 1hr 22 mins Declan Reggie 1 hr 38 mins. Both of us very pleased with the swim and are looking forward to the next one.