would you be a speedos man in a place like the Mediterranean?
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Speedos (not budgie smugglers) everywhere bar Galway bay swim. I can do an hour, but I get cold to the bones. Any longer and 
Have you tried the North Atlantic yet, east cost UK? I hear that’s the sea that sorts the men from the boys.
I haven’t. I can imagine it does.
I’ve swum off Aran in Scotland in April. It was absolutely freezing.
I swam in blackrock that really cold Christmas (2013 maybe??) When there was ice on the sea. They were trying to break the record for a Christmas swim but only 200 went in. You felt like you could die in there. I went from the far steps to the near steps of the boards, got out, ran round, and did it again, so about 30m swimming I’d say. Brutal.
Went to Vico baths this evening for a dip with a few pals but couldn’t get in as the water was very choppy. Some poor fucker had to be rescued by a fellow swimmer with the ring and bashed himself off the rocks and was waiting for ambulance to arrive.
Went to forty foot instead, much calmer, water was great and all going grand on the harbor side until I felt this slimy thing nibbling at my feet. A seal had swam in behind me and I fair shit myself to the hilarity of onlookers.
@artfoley is this a common occurrence down there?
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Seals?
They’d be common enough around the 40 ft and bulloch harbour. They’ve been known to nose around swimmers toes and scare the bejaysus out of them
Sorry, wrong article. This is the one I meant to post
U.L. pool closed until November at the earliest. 
Opening here at the end of the month in some form 🤷
I wonder how many of these decisions are financial.
Why is that? Pools in Dublin are open
U.L. sports arena has been colonised behind the scenes by smartly dressed women. Medics standing guard over an empty sports hall made out as a hospital. No one manning reception, not a tracksuit to be seen. After I waited for a couple of minutes at reception a cleaning lady spotted me and went inside the hall and told someone I was at reception. A lovely lady came out to explain that the place was closed to the public until November at least. Finest facility in the land and it’s sitting empty hoping for death to come our way.
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Is that the one that was purposely built just short of 50m?
That’ a myth.
That was the old one there in the '80s and as far as I know it was in fact true and built that way so that it couldn’t host competitions.
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I thought that was a post Atlanta controversy. So there is a 50m there. I didn’t know was it ever built
It is 50m long but it can’t hold competitions. Something to do when touch pads were put at the end of each lane it was marginally shorter than the 50m.