Battling biting cold, jellyfish stings, dolphin encounters and extreme exhaustion have all been in a day's work since I took up long distance swimming in 2022.
This week I will attempt to swim a lap of New York City's Manhattan Island and become the first Irish marathon swimmer to hold the three Triple Crowns of open water swimming: The Irish Triple Crown, The Original Triple Crown and the Triple Crown.
In September this year, at the age of 48, I completed the Irish Triple Crown - the gruelling task of swimming 19km from the Fastnet Lighthouse to Baltimore in Cork, the 21km of the Galway Bay two-way swim and the punishing swim from Ireland to Scotland across the North Channel, a 34km challenge that few complete.
Now, as I prepare to swim around Manhattan Island on Tuesday 17 October, covering a challenging distance of 48km, I find myself on the verge of completing the Triple Crown of swimming. This feat includes the Manhattan swim, which is the last piece of the puzzle, along with the Catalina Channel in Los Angeles (32km) and the English Channel (32km).
These swims are known for their difficulty due to the unpredictable conditions of the open sea and cold waters.
Should I be successful the feat will be added to the already completed Original Triple Crown, which includes the English Channel (32km), the Bristol Channel (29km), and the North Channel (34km). These swims are iconic in the world of open-water swimming and are considered a significant achievement for any swimmer.
To date I have completed 17 ratified swims. This means swimming under both Channel and Irish long-distance swimming rules: No neoprene/wetsuit, one hat, goggles, togs and no electronic devices can be worn. Once the swim starts you cannot touch another person or object that will support you in the water until the swim is over.
The distance is always longer than the official point to point measurement. For example, the English Channel is 32km in a direct line but I swam 42km because of tides. The Bristol Channel is 29km but I swam 38km.
All easier said than done when the cold bites and fatigue sets in and you must battle the tide not knowing how long the last few kilometres is going to take.
None of this was intentional, I just started swimming long distance last year and one swim lead into the next. This year I did plan my swims but in 2022 I had no clue as to what my body could take so everything was a bit random. I have no coach and no nutritionist. I just swim and pick up bits along the way.
For 20 odd years after I left school, I didn't do any sports or exercise but when I turned 40 I did basic gym stuff and some lengths of the pool for a few years until Covid hit. Then sea dipping became sea swimming. I really got into it and in 2021 set myself a challenge of swimming a million meters in Irish open waters (19km a week). This meant no pools, and no wet suits, and I didn't miss a day.
But 404 days of continuous sea swimming was ended in 2021 by a bout of Covid with my introduction to long-distance swimming only coming in January 2022 after swimming the North Channel (Ireland to Scotland) as a relay team member. It was an achievement to have swum this in January but somehow, I felt I wasn’t tested.
It was a good experience and we raised over €50,000 for charity but I needed a solo goal. So I went online, made a few calls, secured a few swims and later in 2022 completed my first long-distance solo swim - Fastnet to Baltimore in Co Cork which is part of the Irish Triple Crown.
I had never swum over 10km in the sea before this swim. Fastnet was 20km and the water was a chilly 11 degrees but I did it in under seven hours. I think looking back I wasted more energy on nervousness than I did during that swim.
Later that month I had a family holiday booked in the USA and managed to squeeze in the Catalina Channel. It's a 32km swim from Catalina Island to LA and that took me just over 12 hours. The rest of that year I just swam depending on how I felt. Galway Bay two way (21km) and I did three different Kish Lighthouse swims in Dublin that summer, one to Greystones 20km, Seapoint 15km, and Lambay Island 20km.
To finish 2022, I swam the English Channel, from England to France and it's that English Channel swim that impresses people the most. It was a challenge as it took 12 hours 35 minutes but I finished it and asked myself, it that it? Looking back it was the end of the season and my fitness had peaked.
This winter I planned my swim, three big ones - North Channel, Bristol, and now, Manhattan. I had a list of Irish swims too. I trained hard in winter, I stayed out of the sea from November to March and worked on speed in the pool. I also did some big weeks. One week I did 8km in one set per day rounding off the week at 50km in the pool. It was mind-numbingly boring but that’s training.
The start of the season went well, with a few local swims and a lovely Dingle Bay swim. One day after heavy rains I swam from Kish Lighthouse into Bray Harbour. As soon as I got to the harbour I knew something was wrong. The water was horrible and it stank.
Later that month I was swimming the North Channel but, in the build-up, I ignored my sore throat and stomach issues. I swam 34km of the 38km before my body shut down. I had breathing issues and water was getting into my lungs. I was sick for weeks after, random days I was wrecked. No energy and I was watching my summer go by with no swims.
After numerous doctor visits, it came back that I had salmonella poisoning. I was actually delighted as now I could address it and move on.
In August this year while on holiday I managed to fit in the Gibraltar Strait swim (Tarife, Spain to Morocco). In doing so I now hold the joint Irish record for this swim of 3hrs 12min for the 15km. A week later I swam the 29km of the Bristol Channel in 10 hours. Two weeks after that I completed the North Channel from Ireland to Scotland in 12hrs 34mins.
The North Channel is known as the hardest swim of the Seven Oceans. As I had failed earlier that summer on this swim the extra pressure of overthinking things was an extra obstacle to get over. The boat swim company Infinity Channel swimming were brilliant, full of positive messages and extremely professional. They remarked 'a failure is only a failure if you walk away from it’.
Infinity understood my disappointment on the first attempt and gave me a second slot. Their mindset on the day was like mine. Don’t overthink it, keep the pace down for the first two or three hours and see how the body responds.
I loved that swim, the challenge of cold-ish water, the distance and wondering if my body would deliver. My plan was to take it easy for the first three hours knowing the cold would make it slightly uncomfortable. Then speed up slowly after that and have something left in the tank for the difficult tidal parts. At the start there were three other swimmers and I found it hard not to compete and race off.
I kept my stroke rate at 51 (normally around 60) embraced the water and tried to ignore the other boats/swimmers. Then the fog came down and I lost sight of them all and zoned out. Halfway through the swim I had a small pod of dolphins buzz me. Three of them swam beneath me a few times and was a fun distraction. The other distraction was the Rugby World Cup game between Ireland and Romania which my crew were watching on the boat!
After the last North Channel swim attempt, I knew I could park the jellyfish pain. I did this again until the last 5km where I kept getting hit by lion's manes, one after another. Luckily, I only got one bad sting in the face and another really bad one squashed under my arm pit while my feet were on fire too.
The rest were just annoying stings. After 12 hours 30min I swam into Portpatrick harbour in Scotland. At the end of the swim, I felt I had loads left in the tank, I wasn't cold and felt good. To me that is the sign of a stress-free swim but it was a rough night of twitches with the jellyfish stings.
After that North Channel I was delighted to be back. I knew I wasn’t burnt out, I was sick and got over it. Doing three-channel swims in three weeks was a great feeling. I had got most of my list done but Irish weather wasn't playing ball for my Irish swims.
In the build up to Manhattan I swam from Kish Lighthouse to Rush (25km) and last weekend the Cliffs of Moher (12km from Mullaghroe South to Doolin pier) completing ten marathon swims this swim season. Now it's all eyes on a swim around Manhattan Island on 17 October to finish off the season and become the first Irish swimmer to complete the three Triple Crowns.
Dave is nominated in the Irish Long Distance Swim awards which take place on 18 November. For more information go to Irish Long Distance Swimming Association.
