The morning was overcast with a slight NW breeze blowing which was against the swimmers as they left the beach at Aughinish. This meant that the solo and the first relay swimmers were swimming into the waves making sighting difficult. The wind then backed Westerly and increased to a Force 4+ ( 12 – 16 Knots) for the duration of the swim. High tide (4.5 m) in Aughinish was at 8.30am with peak tidal flow from 10.30am – 12.30pm creating wind against tide conditions during the swim as the tide dropped. This along with a spring tide (3.2 metre tidal range) resulted in very challenging conditions and greater than 1 metre wave heights in the middle of the bay. Swim times were therefore slower than recent years due to the challenging conditions during this year’s swim.
144 swimmers crossed Galway Bay, (49 solo swimmers, 31 relay teams (95 relay team swimmers) – a new record! This included one swimmer who swam from from Galway to Clare and back!
- Date: July 20th, 2019
- Swim Start Time: 8.30am (Wave 1), 9.00am (Wave 2), 09.30am (Wave 3), 10.00am (Wave 4)
- Wind Direction: NW until approx 9.30am and then backed Westerly for the duration of the swim.
- Wind Speed: 12 – 16 Knots (Force 4) for the duration of the swim – strongest from 10.30am onwards.
- Wave Height: 1.0 – 1.5 Metres
- Air Temperature: 17C – 20C
- Sea Temperature: 17C
- Rain – None at sea but a passing shower visible over Galway.
- High Tide: 08.06am (4.5m)
- Low Tide: 02:00pm (1.3m)
- Tidal Range: 3.2m (Note tidal range in 2018 was 2.4m)
- Wind and Wave Height, Air and Sea Water Temperature from Irish Lights Spiddal wave buoy (https://www.digitalocean.ie/Dashboard/Galway)