Gartan Open Water Swimmers brave the elements to conquer the North Channel

The Gartan Open Water Swimmers swam 38 kilometres from Donaghadee in Northern Ireland to Port Patrick in Scotland last week.

The team consisted of Garvan McCann, Rea Doherty, Mark Loughridge, Karen Crawford, Sinead Diver and Sarah Brennan with Paddy Bond being their support crew on the boat. Their swim took 13 hours 15 minutes and 10 seconds - all with only wearing a swimsuit, a hat and a pair of goggles.

The swim took place in cooler water temperatures (12-15 degrees), changeable weather conditions and abundance of jellyfish. 

On Thursday these intrepid swimmers were blessed with fairly calm conditions for most of the swim and only encountered choppy and rough seas for the final four kilometres close to Scotland.

The swim started just before 7:30am with Garvan entering the water cheered on by local swim groups, and many friends and family on the rocky shores. Each hour another swimmer took over with the changeovers being carefully monitored by the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association observer - so the swim can be ratified as an official channel swim.

Many people followed their endeavours and progress during the day as they watched live video feeds from the boat, and followed the online tracking system where they could pinpoint the exact location of the swimmers.

There were four sets of swimmers seeking to cross the North Channel on Thursday—two relays and two solo swimmers—with just two sets completing the trip, showing the unpredictable and challenging nature of the task. 

The landing at Port Patrick in Scotland was a very special and emotional moment with Rea Doherty powering to the finish line, with the rest of the group following her to the shore. The finish was made even more special by the cheering, flag-waving and applause of locals on the pier, the beach, the cliffs of Port Patrick. Finishing on Port Patrick beach is something of a rarity for channel swimmers since you are at the mercy of tides and currents and often glad to touch any part of Scotland. So an even more special way to finish a giant of a swim.

Infinity Channel Swimming were the boat pilots, and have guided many groups of solo and relay swimmers across this stretch of water. The Gartan Open Water Swimmers are very grateful to them for their professionalism and their expertise in guiding them in such a safe and supportive way, and also having someone on board whose role it was to spot the jellyfish and steer the swimmer away from those lion’s mane and barrel jellyfish which populate the North Channel.

The swimmers have been training hard throughout the winter months building up their tolerance to cold water. The past few weeks have been spent preparing for this channel swim and practising various aspects such as leaving the boat, changeovers and multiple swims in one day. They are very grateful to their families and friends who have supported them over these past few months, and to the many swimmers who trained with them and spurred them on. Anne Marie Ward, Donegal’s great channel swimmer, was a particular inspiration—coming to meet with the swimmers at their final practice swim and giving them her support, wisdom and encouragement.

The group are fundraising for the Samaritans—details can be found on their Facebook page or by contacting any of the swimmers.

And now it’s on to the summer schedule of weekly Crab Crawl events in Portnablagh—an open, fun event for all swimmers with a swim of 1 kilometre. Come down and join the group every Wednesday with the swim starting at 7pm.