The Warrior of the Sea 2011 took place on Sat. the 25th of June on an overcast and dull but not too cold day. And again Sligo Kayak Club were only to happy to help out with the safety on the day.
The warrior of the sea is a 6km open water swim race thruogh strong surf, currents and winds. Starting at the Sligo Yacht Club in Rosses Point and finishing on the beach in Strandhill.
We had a quick breifing and a Good warm up before hitting the water.
Once out past Coney Island winds picked up a little but visibilty became very bad and the main land reference for the swimmers, The Ox Mountains, could not be seen. Also the small swell made it impossible to see the yellow markers from the waters surface and swimmres started going a fair distance of coarse and large gaps were widening between the swimmers which made it very hard to keep an eye on all of them.
The end was finally in sight after an hour for some but 3 hours swimming for others.
Emer keeping a close eye on Anthony. ( Just before he got sick on her kayak )
The final swimmer finally makes it around the last marker. It was astrong wind by this time blowing against the swimmers.
A great morning in the sea providing safety to the triathlon club And another great turnout from Sligo Kayak Club with 9 of us on the day plus another 4or5 sit on tops, several boats from civil defence, Rnli and private owners and Gary from Outerpoint surf shop.
Till next year.
