Courtesy of Ned Denison in Kinsale, County Cork Ireland.
In late summer 2025, 62-year-old Bill Kelly [shown above left in the middle] was playing golf at his club, The Old Head Golf Links (in Kinsale, County Cork Ireland) when, from far above on the cliff, he saw 10 swimmers.
Being a self-proclaimed former open water swimmer, he was interested. When he learned that the 4.3 km swim included passage through a natural tunnel under the cliff to complete a full circle of The Old Head, interest quickly turned to obsession. The club connected him with members of the Sandycove Island Swim Club.
The Sandycove Swimmers and Bill started negotiating as to how he could get into the 2026 event. But there was a problem: the 2025 event was earmarked for small number of accomplished open water swimmers. Putting it politely, Bill was persistent in his inquiries to the organizers who continued to be a great source of good counsel on the fundamentals of safe swimming in Irish waters for Bill.
While Bill’s preparation included logging heavy weekly yardage – it was all in a warm pool in Arizona. The Cork seas are typically 13-16°C (55-61°F), with no lane lines, no painted lines on the bottom, and are rarely calm. Bill signed up for a journey from warm pool to cold sea – planning to swim in a wetsuit. He travelled to Cork in June and his first dip was a shocker.
The morning brought cool temperatures, rain, and lumpy seas. Despite encouragement, Bill managed only 150 meters out and back before waving the white flag of surrender. It wasn’t the confidence builder that Bill hoped for. Coming home to his wife, Barbie after that first swim, he said to her, “I think I failed my test”.
Nevertheless, Bill hit the water for the next couple weeks, building up his distance and cold-water tolerance, eventually completing his first 1,600-meter lap around Sandycove Island – collecting his Oneturian swim cap – escorted by Alex Jeffers and Steve Fisher (in their 2,000+ lap swim. caps). Bill completed a 3.2 km double lap a
couple weeks later. Then the wait was on to see if the weather would permit the swim.
On August 15th 2026, 15 swimmers, including Bill, were ferried out to the eastern tunnel exit in 7 Ribs – with the RNLI providing overwatch. The safety officer checked the tunnel – which looked ok. The swimmers then motored along the cliffs, past the lighthouse to the western tunnel entrance. Six waves of swimmers started in 5-minute increments. The adverse current in the tunnel was savage and certainly stopped the swimmers from thinking about the section hallway under the lighthouse – with the guaranteed roughest waters.
During the swim, Bill looked up at the place on the cliff edge where he stood the year before. He reported feeling as joyful as he could recall, getting to do this epic swim in such a beautiful place.
All 15 completed the swim safely. At a lovely luncheon afterwards, the bonus news was offered that the event had raised more than €15,000 for the Kinsale RNLI.
Bill and his wife Barbie are immensely grateful for the counsel and encouragement of the organizers, without which, Bill never completes this epic swim.
© 2026 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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