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this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
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Asklemmy
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Surprisingly, many Irish don't know how to swim, even though it's an island.
Never been to Ireland so apologies if this is stupid and wrong and dumb - I was under the impression that a large amount of the seaside was mountainous / cliff faces? If someone learned to swim under those conditions I'd say they'd likely be adopted by Poseidon himself.
It's fecking cold!
Can confirm. Went swimming in Ireland in the summer once, my friend who lived there gave me a wetsuit to wear. Some other locals wore them, others didnt.
It's not that cold. It's the Gulf Stream, which flows south-north from a tropical origin so it's warmer than the water on the US west coast, for example, which flows north-south from the Bering Sea on the Alaska Current.
The Gulf Stream is also why northwestern Europe is as temperate as it is while being at the same latitudes as southeastern Alaska and northern British Columbia which have heavily glaciated coastlines.
If the Norwegian fjotds were in Alaska, for example, they would be the mouths of giant glaciers, but they aren't, again because of the warming influence of the Gulf Stream.
Not sure if that makes sense, but anyway.
I stayed dry and fully clothed while building a sandcastle and watched the locals go swimming in wetsuits. Can't remember where, somewhere on the coast of Claire or Galway.
I was staying in Doolan, so it must have been Bishops quater beach. It was in 2004, so I could be wrong.
So are Irish conditions different from conditions over the sea in Wales, or...?
There are plenty of beaches and people often travel to thembfor the sake of enjoying the beach. The main issue is that for 11-12 months of the year, the water is fucking freezing. If people learn to swim, it's often in heated swimming pools as kids.
I can relate to this.