‘Everything was perfectly lined up’: Cork man is first to complete new 39km swim

Fermoy-based record-breaking swimmer, Owen O’Keefe, has never been inside a gym, but has a large aerobic base of fitness, and says his technique in the water makes him an efficient swimmer.

Last month, he swam from Baltimore Harbour, via the Fastnet Lighthouse, to Mizen Head, pioneering a new route. His swim of approximately 39km took ten hours, 55 minutes, and marked the first successful completion of the route.

Owen, 33, who works as an ecologist with an engineering firm, is no stranger to record-breaking swims. He has a few under his belt, starting with his swim across the English Channel in 2009 at the age of just 16. He achieved this feat in a time of ten hours and 19 minutes, making him the youngest Irish person to swim the Channel.

His most recent swim, which has so far raised more than €3,000 for the RNLI, had been attempted before by Ballydehob-based Steve Redmond.

“He was the first person ever to complete the Ocean 7, which is a seven-channel swim around the world,” said Owen. “Steve attempted the Mizen Head swim about four years ago but wasn’t successful because the tide turned towards the end. He couldn’t out-swim it.”

Starting from the pier in Baltimore, the route to Mizen Head involves going straight out towards Sherkin, turning left past the Beacon, going south of Sherkin and past the Gascanane Sound.

“It was still dark at that stage, but I could see lights that had to be on the mainland around Schull and Ballydehob. As these started to disappear, I knew I was progressing.

“About halfway along the back of Cape Clear, it started to get bright, and I could see the flashing of the Fastnet ahead. I had to put in about two hours of fairly hard work to meet the tide at the Fastnet. Once I got to that point (about halfway through the challenge), in my head, it was like I was starting the swim. Mentally, I had to treat it as though the swim was Fastnet to Mizen Head. That was the real swim for me.

“After swimming hard, I was able to drop back a little bit. I could feel the push from the tide and the wind direction as well. Everything was perfectly lined up. I just had to keep swimming steadily.”

A couple of hours later, Owen landed at Mizen. He was “absolutely delighted. I could not believe I did it in the time I did. I was expecting it to take a lot longer.”

There were five crew members on board the Radiance, owned and piloted by Kieran Collins, accompanying Owen. Also present were Anna Maria Mullally, record-breaking Brian Foster (who is only 18, yet swam the Fastnet three ways last year), and Nathan Timmins and Kevin Dennehy, who both acted as official observers from the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association.

As Owen says, you can’t exit onto Mizen Head. “I swam onto the rock and clung onto it. The crew blew the horn on the boat so I knew I had officially finished the swim. There’s no pier or anything, so I went back to the boat, which is very well equipped and has a warm shower on board. You don’t usually get that on boats.

“It was a lovely sunny day. We went back to Baltimore. Everybody was very tired, so we just went up to Jacob’s for a Lucozade and drove home then, stopping in Bandon for a 99. That’s about all I could eat. When you’re in salt water for that length of time, all the inside of your mouth and throat gets very dry and raw. So eating is very uncomfortable. That feeling lasts for two to three days. One of the hardest parts about these swims is the recovery. To eat anything remotely salty is a problem.”

While on his lengthy swims, what goes through Owen’s head?

“I try to keep myself positive. But when you are comfortable, and you get into your rhythm, you start thinking about all kinds of things. You try not to think about your day-to-day worries or work. I try to think about bigger things and just appreciate the beauty of where you are. So often, we’re in amazing places.

“To be fully immersed in the water with the sun coming up on Fastnet Rock, how many people get to experience that? I try to appreciate any wildlife I see. I swam through a shoal of sprat, pilchards and mackerel and they were jumping all over me, which made it hard to swim. It was intense for about ten minutes, and I got nipped a little bit.”

Owen started swimming as a baby, and his grandparents took him to the local pool when he was growing up in Fermoy. He joined the Fermoy Swimming Club. Owen’s late grandfather was an avid swimmer and lived to see him swim the English Channel.

Occasionally, Owen goes for 5km runs, which help to keep him fit. In November, he is going to try to do a swim that he attempted in 2017.

“I have unfinished business. It’s the 34km swim along the coast of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. I also have a family event to go to in Brazil. My husband is from Brazil, and he has a cousin getting married there. If I’m travelling anywhere, I always see if there is a swim I can do.”

There are loads of swimming challenges out there.

“I won’t live long enough to do them all. The big one is the English Channel, which I’ve done. Swimming is a sport for life,” says Owen.

He has plenty more adventures ahead of him.

See: https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/mizenfastnet.