Daragh and Dara did it.
Similar to the exploint of Robert W. Dowling (18, USA, MSF bio here) who completed the first 45.9 km swim around Manhattan Island in 13 hours 45 minutes in 1915, Daragh Morgan (@swimeire) will go down in history as the first person to swim entirely around Ireland.
His Swim Éire was a contiguous, non-continuous tidal-assisted stage swim that started on May 31st this year. Ultimately, under the guidance of local legend Captain Dara Bailey, Morgan swim a total of 1,468 km over 99 different stage swims completed after 91 days. He swam 338.19 cumulative hours. His average daily swim duration was 3 hours 43 minutes in a wetsuit and hoodie (see here).
“I trained all my life for this moment. Mentally, it was so challenging, but that’s what made it so special,” said the 27-year-old during a post-swim television interview on Irish AM. For six years, Daragh Morgan planned a challenge he was not sure would ever happen. But it finallly did.
Dublin-born Daragh has become the first person to swim entirely around Ireland, starting and finishing at Galway Docks.
Weather and conditions frequently pinned him down, but he kept up great moral throughout his 3-month adventure, seemingly always fueled with ham sandwiches (eaten in the water) and fizzy orange – with nettles and jellyfish his frequent companions as well as 12°C unsettled water.
Morgan gave a shout out as he neared the end of his historic swim, “to the best skipper in the game, good owl Captain Dara Bailey, a wizard of the sea, a seventh generation fisherman with knowledge like no other. It’s this man and this man only that is pushing me beyond my limits, bringing out the best in my open water sea swimming ability. When I hit the 20 km mark and he thinks I have another kilometer in me, he lets me know. He says it how it is, and by god does this man have a sense of humour he brightens up my darkest days. Although I’m dying to get to the finish line apart of me doesn’t want this to end, this is a bond that will never be broken.
While everyone went against me and said my dreams was too crazy, telling me I need an army to get around the country. It was Dara Bailey and Dara Bailey only that stood with me, to think for the most part of this swim, it was just the two of us. A two-man team for the most part, two men swimming around a country. I will be forever grateful for this man.”
For more information, visit www.swimeire.ie.
© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“
World Open Water Swimming Federation, a human-powered project