The Atlantic Lifeboat Swim takes place on Saturday, July 1st at Rinville Pier in Oranmore with all the proceeds going to the RNLI Galway Lifeboat Station and Oranmore Maree Coastal Search Unit.
There will be two swims on the day. A 400m Try an Open Water Swim for newbies to sea swimming and the main competitive 2km swim with some top swimmers in the country battling it out.
It’s the only swim on the Western seaboard for the lifeboat.
Fergal Madden is no stranger to open water swimming having completed the legendary triple crown of swimming the English Channel, the Catalina Channel in California and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim.
He is one of the organisers of the event and he spoke to John Mulligan about it starting with the background to the swim.