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Hi folks – and thanks for taking the time to read this. I’ll try to be as brief as possible. When we were kids, we were lucky enough to have a small caravan which, every summer, was parked in the sand dunes behind Barleycove Beach in West Cork. As anybody who knows that beautiful part of t...
Hi folks – and thanks for taking the time to read this. I’ll try to be as brief as possible. When we were kids, we were lucky enough to have a small caravan which, every summer, was parked in the sand dunes behind Barleycove Beach in West Cork. As anybody who knows that beautiful part of the world will tell you, the Fastnet Rock lighthouse is probably the outstanding landmark in the region and, since the first (and since replaced) light was placed on the rock in 1853, it has been guiding sailors and saving lives ever since. I have vivid memories of being tucked up in a bunk in our little caravan, and falling asleep to the comforting sweep of its great light as it kept watch in all weather. My family were there in early August 1979, in the middle of a terrible storm which tore through the Atlantic and Irish coast. My father was dispatched in the middle of the night to scour the dunes for people who were washed out of their tents – and the caravan soon filled with bewildered Irish and foreign tourists who were glad of a flimsy roof over their heads. We woke the next morning to the terrible news that 18 sailors had lost their lives in the Fastnet Disaster, when the famous yacht race which takes place every year had run into the storm. More on that a little later. The Fastnet Rock, or in Irish: An Carraig Aonair, meaning ‘lonely rock’ – or The Teardrop of Ireland as it was the last piece of land Irish emigrants departing for America would see – has always loomed large in my life. I return many times each year and as soon as I round a bend near Goleen, where you can see the rock for the first time, I know I am home. As some of you know, I caught the open water swimming bug a few years ago and, while some of you were kind enough to sponsor my swim across Galway Bay two years ago, I’ve only ever really had one target in my head. I want to swim from Fastnet Rock to Crookhaven, walk up the steps of the pier, into O’Sullivan’s Bar and have a pint. Simple! After a lot of training and fair deal of planning, I’m ready to make my attempt. I’m heading to West Cork on Saturday, August 18th and I have a week-long window when, hopefully, the weather and tides will cooperate for long enough to allow me to attempt what should be a (roughly) 13k swim. I am very fortunate that the people who organise the Fastnet to Baltimore Swim http://www.fastnetswim.com/ have agreed to pilot my attempt and, if the weather gods cooperate, I know they will do everything in their power to make it happen. I’ve decided to put the hand out for this one and try and raise some funds for a very worthy, and I think appropriate, cause – the RNLI. Many, many people were involved in the rescue mission on the night of that terrible storm in 1979. It’s often described as the largest ever peace-time search and rescue mission. And nobody did more – or risked more – than the brave crews of the RNLI, many of whom grew up under the Fastnet light. These RNLI lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in 60-knot (110 km/h) winds[13] · Baltimore Lifeboat, County Cork · RNLB Mary Stanford, Ballycotton, County Cork · Courtmacsherry, County Cork · Dunmore East, County Waterford · Lifeboat Solomon Browne[14] · RNLB Guy and Claire Hunter, St Mary's Lifeboat, Isles of Scilly Any and all funds donated go straight to the RNLI. So that’s it lads. Cliona and the girls have been very patient with my long hours of training and endless swimming talk and I really appreciate that – and if you could find a few quid to donate to the wonderful RNLI, that would be very much appreciated. See you in O’Sullivans and the drinks are on you ‘coz you can’t put a wallet in a togs. Ken.
Fastnet to Crook haven Solo Swim For RNLI
Great achievement, well done.
Great swim Ken. Well done!
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The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a registered charity that saves lives at sea. It provides a 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service to 100 nautical miles out from the coast of the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The RNLI, which provides nine out of ten sea rescue launches, continues to rely on voluntary contributions and legacies for its income. The RNLI in Ireland has 43 lifeboat stations operating 55 lifeboats in order to provide a ring of safety around the Irish c
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