Tralee Bay Swimming Club are proud to announce details of The 68th Annual Christmas Day Swim in Fenit . Once again the collection will be in aid of RNLI Fenit Lifeboats . The swim will take place at 12 noon. The swim will begin with The traditional singing of Jingle Bells and then Santa will sound the bell for the first of 3 dashes into the water . The winter swimmers will enjoy a longer swim . The Fenit Christmas swim is one of the oldest in the country and is the largest in Kerry . There will be c 800 swimmers on the day with c2000 family members cheering them on . It’s a great start to the festivities for the day , so come along and enjoy the fun. The Lifeboat crews will be there collecting and will have loads of hot teas , coffees and soup available so please give generously . They will also be in the water for your safety . We would ask that you arrive early and park sensibly . Parking will be at a premium and you may have to walk a small bit . Please follow these safety guidelines
Arrive in plenty of time
Wear your swimwear under your clothes .
Stay dressed and warm until the last minute .
It is advisable to wear footwear to avoid cutting your feet on any stones .
Do NOT dive directly into the water . Wet your face first and gradually lower yourself in .
When the swim is over , get dried off and put on layers of warm clothes and a hat as quickly as possible and get a hot drink of tea , coffee , chocolate or soup .
Avoid alcohol completely before the swim and afterwards for at least a half an hour until you are warm . Alcohol will interfere with the warming up process and can react badly to cold shock
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Have a GREAT time and enjoy the atmosphere and craic !
12 Swims Of Christmas
We will begin our 4th year of swimming 12 days over Christmas on Saturday the 21st Dec and continue up to Saturday 4th January in Fenit . This is a great challenge and great craic ! The First Swim will be at 11 am . This idea was first brought up by the late Brian Stynes to the regular Tralee Bay Winter Swimmers but was never really adhered to until 4 years ago when a structure was put to it . The first year , we had 4 completing the challenge and last year we had 18 completing . Some days there were up to 50 attending ! Come along for 1 or do them all !!
By Kevin Williams