text: Project Copper – reflections and debrief | LoneSwimmer
  LoneSwimmer / August 31, 2011
  You Are Now Leaving The Copper Coast - Safe Home
  Reflections on Project Copper.
  I've swam about 54,000 metres to cover the 25 kilometre coast, which were swum as a series of out and back swims, so every metre of coast was swam twice.
  With the experience I've gained of the various currents on this stretch of coast, I now know there are longer swims that could be done unsupported, and still allow a decent safety margin (by my standards anyway). But I had to do it the way I did in order to learn that.
  I've passed what must be literally hundreds of caves along the whole coast, many small, some big, a few huge, some rarely exposed to the sea, and many, usually the biggest, only visible from swimming out at sea. I've swam around every large rock on the coast and found the names of places and rocks I've always wondered about. Apparent synchronicity is usually an emergent feature of deeper interest.
  I've walked miles of occasionally precarious cliffs photographing places I'd swam or planned to swim and I've climbed over hedges, walls and hopped many an electric fence and ditch, visited historical sites, and walked across what's left of a few neolithic promontory forts. I've taken hundreds of photos for your edification and enjoyment (and have shown you the best ones) and written thousands of words, which has often taken longer than the actual swimming.
  Sea Ivory above Garrarus
  I've seen emerald samphire and orange crocosmia, blue grass and vivid red poppies and verdant ferns, actinic sea-holly festooned with beautiful metallic six-spot burnet moths, and heathers and daisies and daisy-like flowers, grey sea-ivory and a few faded remaining sea-thrift all along the cliffs and come to appreciate even humble lichen, Verrucarria maura, and particularly Xanthoria parietina, which adds so much colour to this coast.
  I've seen almost every kind of local bird including Cormorants, Guillemots, Shags, Swifts and Swallows, Herring and Greater Black-Backed gulls. I think I saw some Kittiwakes, a few Gannets, lots of Fulmars, occasional Terns and Sanderlings and other small birds I don't recognise nor can separate. Herons, two Kestrels, a curlew and two groups of my new favourites, shy cliff-top Choughs and I was dive-bombed by fifty of so gulls off Gull island at the eastern edge of the coast, and I swam right off Google Earth's current high-resolution map range.
  Choughs on the cliff edge
  I've seen, of course, all the local jellyfish, sprats, crabs large and small, and an occasional larger fish emerge from the green, usually only visible on northerly winds and around reefs, bass and mackerel hunting on the reefs and I've seen starfish and anemones and a seal, though less fish that you might expect, since I suppose they think of me as a particularly splashy seal.
  I've talked with kayakers, lifeguards, fishermen (haven't met any fisherwomen), divers, surfers, spearfishers, Paula from the Copper Coast Geopark office, (who introduced me to a great new book on the Waterford Coast which helped me identify various plants and fauna and place names), Ryan the 4th year UCC Geology Major who had a headache from all the different rocks in tiny Ballvooney cove, tourists and locals, children and adults and dogs.
  I swam in calm and rough, chop, wind and groundswell, sun, rain and cloud, onshore and offshore and no wind and all tides. I've been scared and exhilarated and excited and delighted and entertained. I've swum through tunnels big and small, and sea-arches, around islands of every size on this coast, and into and across caves, coves, estuaries and bays.
  I've started to think about geology more, and recognise both the transient and permanent natures of our coasts more than I ever did as a surfer, and seen the damage the Copper Coast is suffering from coastal erosion (up to 2 metres per year, in some places).
  I haven't seen a stretch of coast that doesn't have some item of rubbish on it. I had the wits frightened out me by a large plastic bag floating (neutrally-buoyant) upside-down in the sea, and I contributed to the pollution by losing my own nalgene bottle on one swim.
  I actually finished Project Copper a week ago, but it takes time to write all this up. I didn't set out to do a swim every day. One day was lost due to fog, another due to Carol's Ballycotton swim.
  Doing it in this incremental fashion gave me all these experiences and awareness and knowledge that a normal marathon swim wouldn't have unveiled, and it's been a pleasure to share as much of them as I could with you all.
  I've seen all the colours of open water swimming. I've confirmed my long-held belief that Waterford's Copper Coast is one of the most beautiful and under-rated stretches of coast in Ireland.
  Ronan's Bay and Illaunglas from Great Newtown Head - large panorama
  What did I learn? You can find adventure anywhere. You don't have to swim the English Channel or cross the Antarctic or spend a fortune. There are plenty of Firsts out there if you want to seek them out.
  Go to the sea. It's waiting, always, always waiting for you.
  Swimming in front of Brown's Island, Kilfarassey
  The Project Copper Idea. Criteria and range.
  The ten swim expeditions
  Guillamene to Sheep Island: Exposed. No exit from Guillamene to Garrarus. Westerly current. Higher marine traffic. About 9.5 kilometres.
  Kilmurrin to Boatstrand. Various strong and often contrary currents. Water can be very rough when not rough elsewhere on coast. Interim exit possible only on west side of Dunabrattin head. About 4 kilometres.
  Kilmurrin to Tankardstown. Strong westerly currents. Water can be rough when not rough elsewhere on coast. Exposed, no exit, scary. About 4 kilometres.
  Bunmahon to Tankardstown. Can be rips on Bunmahon beach. About 4 kilometres. Interim exit possible at Stage Cove.
  Annestown to Kilfarassey. Along long beach, easy exit from water almost entire length but a long walk along beach which is cut off on high tide. Watch for hidden reefs along surf line. About 5+ kilometres.
  Annestown to Boatstrand. Can pick up and amplify swell when nowhere else does at Boatstrand end. Safe exits. Lots of pots and lines and some fishing boats and possible seals near Boatstrand fishing harbour. About 6+ kilometres.
  Kilfarassey. Above mid tide only. Lots of hidden reefs. Easterly current between Sheep Island and Brown's Island. Surging waves on beach above mid tide. About 6+ kilometres. Possible exits on about 70% of length.
  Bunmahon to Ballydowane Cove. Exposed and hidden from rest of coast. Westerly currents. Hidden reefs. About 5+ kilometres. Possible exits but no way to walk back, except first kilometer on low tide.
  Ballydowane to Ballyvooney. Westerly currents at Ballyvooney end, easterly current at Ballydowane end, reaching St. John's Island . No exits. About 6 kilometres.
  Ballyvooney to Stradbally. Very strong westerly current between Gull island and Stradbally. No exits. About 4.7 kilometres.
  All swims marked on the same (large) map below.
  The Project Copper Map - completed
  August 31, 2011 in Uncategorized. Tags: Annestown, Ballyvooney, Boatstrand, Bunmahon, Copper Coast, Dunabrattin Head, Dungarvan, Dungarvan Bay, Guillamenes & Newtown, Kilfarassey, Kilmurrin, Locations, Project Copper, Stradbally, Swim Reports, Tankardstown, The Sea, Tramore
  ← Ballyvooney to Stradbally – the last Project Copper swim
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  2 thoughts on "Project Copper – reflections and debrief"
  bunmahon says:
  If you would like to learn more about the geology just let us know, Copper Coast Geopark run geology courses 051 292828