Swimming in the Irish Sea – for the fool-hardy & the brow-beaten
Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 09:02 AM
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Swimming in the Irish Sea is not for the fainthearted. I should know because I'm fainthearted and the Irish Sea is cold - really cold.How cold? I don't know, but someone I know who has sampled both the waters off Maine and the Irish Sea says the two are about the same. What I do know is it sure ain't summer at Jones Beach or the Jersey Shore.
I don't have a temperature for the water at Greystones, County Wicklow, but it's so cold it hurts. Oh yeah, I go in the water, but resignedly, never happily. It's my family's fault.
We go through the same routine annually. The weather 'heats up' - hits 70F or so - and next thing, "Let's go for a swim" is being uttered enthusiastically. I run through a series of protests until my wife shoots me that 'for the children' look and I cave. Off I go towards my rendezvous with destiny all the while thinking dark thoughts about how those same children eat me out of house and home.
That was the situation yesterday. It was warm, the warmest day of our summer so far. I suspected I might hear the dreaded words, but the fact that two of our three children are away had me hopeful. I was wrong. Just when I should have been eating dinner I was making my way to the sea.
Once I get to the water's edge it always takes me a while to get in. Like I said, it's so cold it hurts, but this time even my wife thought it was cold, probably due to the fact that June was absolutely freezing. Yesterday took me longer than normal.
Bit by bit I got myself in. After each step along the way to submersion I waited til the pain gave way to numbness. Eventually my entire body was numb at which point I started to enjoy myself.
After a few minutes swimming and playing I exited the water only to realize that the sea breeze I'd noted on the walk down suddenly felt pretty sharp. The air temperature was around 65F. It was warm enough to defrost me so I could feel the pain again, but not warm enough to prevent the teeth-chattering, knee-knocking, shivering that lasts about 20 minutes.
On the plus side, the water is clean (far as I can tell). I mean, what self‑respecting germ or contaminant would be caught dead in such cold water? When the heat eventually makes its way back into your body you start to feel good about the swim, like you've accomplished something and you've experienced some form of natural beauty.
That thought keeps you going right up til the next warm day, when the dread sets in again. Is there no chance of rain today?
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jamieLM | Jul 15, 2011, 10:21 AM EDT
The Yank. 58F is quite chilly and I always worry about the possibility of arrhythmia, especially in kids and older adults. It's true that people vary greatly in their tolerance to extreme heat and cold. Everyone should pay attention to the limits of what they can safely tolerate. Adults can choose to swim in cold water if they want to, but cold water is never a good idea for small children. We, in the ER, once tried to revive a 5 yr. old boy whose sick-o father killed him by putting him in a bathtub filled with cold TAP water as a punishment. I wish I could forget how that child looked and others like him who died from hypothermia. Enjoy your swimming, but just know when it's time to head for the beach. I enjoy reading your columns, so take care.
For Trealach - it's not a matter of being a wimp, it's about common sense. Plenty of Americans endure the coldest winters (10-20F below zero with wind chill factors making it feel like 50F below zero) and the hottest summers (95-110 F), with high suffocating humidity, year after year. I remember the Irish and the English telling me how they were "sweltering" at 80F on one of my European trips. What??? Want to know what cold and snow is like in the winter? I'd like to see Trealach living through a winter in Buffalo, NY or in North Dakota or in northern Minnesota. He should try living in Las Vegas in the summertime. Many Americans are hardly wimps when it comes to living and working through extreme heat and cold.
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maloney | Jul 14, 2011, 08:36 PM EDT
When young I belonged on a swim team. When practicing sometimes we broke a thin layer of ice. Hard nips all around.
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JBRAFTREE | Jul 14, 2011, 07:17 PM EDT
Yank: Good read!! Reminds me of myself a bit over 50 summers ago, and the lot of us going down to "The Lake", that's Lake Michigan at "the Point" at Fullerton in early June. Chicago was good then & probably still is, but I'm not.
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cillowen | Jul 14, 2011, 06:52 PM EDT
water not for sissies that's a given polar bear stuff
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TheYank | Jul 14, 2011, 12:15 PM EDT
Trealach
That's how I used to react to those Irish people who insisted they were 'bakin' when the temperature hit a sizzling 24C (75C). And, let's not forget that all of Ireland was brought to a halt by about 12" of snow spread out over 10 days.
We all have our weaknesses.
That's how I used to react to those Irish people who insisted they were 'bakin' when the temperature hit a sizzling 24C (75C). And, let's not forget that all of Ireland was brought to a halt by about 12" of snow spread out over 10 days.
We all have our weaknesses.
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TheYank | Jul 14, 2011, 12:13 PM EDT
antoman
"Radiation" - nice one. Maybe that's why my wife insists that swimming gives you a nice glow?
"Radiation" - nice one. Maybe that's why my wife insists that swimming gives you a nice glow?
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antoman | Jul 14, 2011, 12:04 PM EDT
@TheYank-"I wasn't worried about him because of the cold, but because of the other dangers that the sea presents".There are not many dangers present in the Irish sea apart from Irish people and radiation.
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Trealach | Jul 14, 2011, 12:00 PM EDT
....and to think that Yanks 'think' they're tough -roflmao .... WIMPS!!!
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TheYank | Jul 14, 2011, 11:48 AM EDT
Fran Connor
Now, now, that sort of talk is for when the children are abed and the women folk have retired to the parlor, but point taken.
Now, now, that sort of talk is for when the children are abed and the women folk have retired to the parlor, but point taken.
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aoibhinn | Jul 14, 2011, 11:12 AM EDT
That's me! I went in all the way in a short wetsuit in the middle of that decent summer we had a few years ago and was still screaming it was so cold. People thought I was drowning (after they thought I was completely mental for wearing a wetsuit) I got in up to the bottom of my calves yesterday. Will pull out JamieLM's comment next time DH makes fun of me for not going in.
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Fran Connor | Jul 14, 2011, 10:39 AM EDT
As a Yank you should know better than to swim in water that cold. Think of the shrinkage!
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TheYank | Jul 14, 2011, 10:31 AM EDT
jamieLM,
I don't want to alarm you, which I may well have, but the water's not actually "icy." Feels that way to me, but it's probably 58F or so. And, there are many, many people who live around here who swim year round - even when the air and water temperatures are much colder.
I had to drag my son out yesterday. He was having a lot of fun, but I was done. I wasn't worried about him because of the cold, but because of the other dangers that the sea presents.
I don't want to alarm you, which I may well have, but the water's not actually "icy." Feels that way to me, but it's probably 58F or so. And, there are many, many people who live around here who swim year round - even when the air and water temperatures are much colder.
I had to drag my son out yesterday. He was having a lot of fun, but I was done. I wasn't worried about him because of the cold, but because of the other dangers that the sea presents.
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jamieLM | Jul 14, 2011, 10:20 AM EDT
When working as an RN in the ER of a large Trauma Center in the U.S., I've seen healthy adults and children die due to cardiac arrest from hypothermia from being in icy cold water for only a very short time when their core body temp. dropped just a few degrees. There's nothing good or healthy about the complete numbing of the body. Shivering is a sign that the body is in distress and trying to warm itself. Not only would I never enter such cold water, I'd never in a million years allow my children to do so. I know adults go into freezing water in the U.S. in contests and other rituals, but it's still risky behavior and for children, it's extremely dangerous. The fact that entering the water "hurts" should be a sign that this isn't good for your body. Where I live in the Midwest, summer temps. can reach between 90F - 100F in July and Aug. with high humidity. Entering icy cold water is still not an option for cooling off. Please take care.
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antoman | Jul 14, 2011, 09:15 AM EDT
Mmmm..this article has me thinking.If I set up a little booth or just a table on the beach at the waters edge.Could I charge people to enter the water?How many gullible people could I snag?Methinks the price of a few pints could be made.
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