The Art of Wild Swimming Ireland – a one-of-a-kind book launch

Out now: The Art of Wild Swimming Ireland, by Anna Deacon & Vicky Allan

Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan (find them on Instagram @wildswimmingstories) have created the most amazing guide to wild swimming in Ireland, The Art of Wild Swimming Ireland – and I’m in it!

(On St. Patrick’s Day, I took Anna and Vicky for a river dip in the Devil’s Glen, after an unforgettable sunrise swim in Greystones – read all about it here.)

I’m not really one for dressing up but this was a special occasion. A one-of-a-kind book launch.

Besides, Anna and Vicky have the knack for making wild swimmers come out to play. And so my swim friends Joanne, Carole (plus her mini me) and I joined a motley crew of pirate queens, wriggly octopus and green-haired sea banshees, for a dress-up swim at Seapoint, Dublin – quite the sight on an otherwise regular Tuesday lunchtime!

Much hilarity ensued. Oh the craic we had! Our whoops and cackles could be heard all the way to Wales, I’m sure.

The “proper” book launch took place at the Village Bookshop in Greystones. Why Greystones? Because, “If we could copy and paste Greystones everywhere, the world would be a better place. Nowhere else has quite the community that Greystones has” said author Anna Deacon. The Art of Wild Swimming Ireland celebrates swimmers and swim spots from across Ireland, with Greystones and the Greystones Seagirls getting pride of place.

We’re in a book! Some of the Greystones Seagirls at the book launch in Greystones’ Village Bookshop

Anna first heard of Greystones a few years ago through 2018 bestseller I Found My Tribe, by Ruth O’Neill Fitzmaurice. Through 2020 and 2021, the Greystones Seagirls‘ Instagram account carried her through the various covid lockdowns. She and Vicky finally made the trip across the Irish Sea around St. Patrick’s Day, to meet Ireland’s swimmers and swimming groups, starting of course in Greystones. 

The Art of Wild Swimming Ireland

The next morning, after a night of heavy rain that threatened to put paid to our plans, I met Anna, Vicky and Seagirl Joanne, fresh out of beachside sauna Fad Saoil Saunas, for a sunrise swim. It was a wavy, bouncy, seaweedy affair, in a golden sea heaving and rolling with the fierce southwesterlies. More whoops and hilarity ensued as sea photographer extraordinaire Niall Meehan of Sea Studio took portraits of Anna and Vicky.

Post swim smiles with Anna Deacon & Vicky Allan (in the centre)

When the sun finally broke over the fast-moving clouds, it was time for coffee and breakfast treats at Rise At The Cove, before Anna and Vicky went on their way to more press interviews, one last dip, and their flight back home that evening.

Thank you Anna & Vicky for the wonderful book, for bringing together so many swimmers from around Ireland, and for making these 24 hours feel like a party.

I’m still buzzing from it all!

Related

• Double dip of St. Patrick’s Day
• Why I swim – on taking the plunge, finding my pod and feeling alive
• Becoming mermaid – one year of wild swims