The morning was dull and cloudy with a 10 – 15 knot wind from the NE which meant that Wave 1 swimmers had to swim against the wind and a 0.5m swell. The first wave departing at 8.30am faced the most challenging conditions with Waves 2 and particularly Wave 3 benefiting from the wind dropping. Low tide in Aughinish at 11.00am meant a longer walk than normal for the swimmers into deeper water for the start of the swim. Waves 2 and 3 would also have found conditions a little easier as the tidal flow eased. With low tide at 11.00am, the minimal tidal flow was an hour either side from 10.00am to 12 Noon.
The wind then backed North Westerly and dropped to 6 – 8 knots from 11.00am onwards. The second half of the swim was very enjoyable with almost calm conditions. After that, the tidal flow would have increased from the West as high tide was at 5.13pm in Salthill.
125 swimmers crossed Galway Bay (57 Solo, 20 relay teams (68 relay team swimmers).
- Date: July 22nd, 2017
- Swim Start Time: 8.30am (Wave 1), 9.20am (Wave 2), 10.10am (Wave 3)
- Wind Direction: NE up to 10 am, then backed NW.
- Wind Speed: 10 – 15 Knots until 11 am, then dropped to almost calm conditions for the second half of the swim
- Wave Height: 0.44m (Peak at 10 am)
- Air Temperature: 17 C
- Sea Temperature: 16.8 C
- Low Tide: 10:49am (0.8m)
- High Tide: 05.13pm (5.2m)
- Tidal Range: 4.4m
- Wind Data from Met Eireann – Mace Head
- Wave Height, Air and Sea Water Temperature from Spiddal wave buoy (https://www.digitalocean.ie/Dashboard/Galway)