Solo swimmer Daragh Morgan’s circumnavigation of Ireland is the subject of a book just published by the athlete, whose achievement was verified earlier this year by the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association.
Morgan, then 27 and from Dunmore East, Co Waterford, became the first person to swim solo without fins around the entire coastline of Ireland last year.
The tidal-assisted stage swim took more than five months. The expedition was initially reported as covering over 1,500km; the association subsequently verified a route distance of 1,396.05km and a swim time of 338 hours and 35 minutes.
It came three years after the late Army Ranger Henry O’Donnell completed a finswim around the island of Ireland.
As Afloat reported when Morgan completed the swim, he was provided with key support by skipper Dara Bailey and crew on the Naomh Crónán, provided by Bádóirí an Cladaigh.
Morgan’s Galway homecoming was celebrated by a welcoming flotilla, with a photo gallery by Joe O’Shaughnessy documenting the occasion. He subsequently paid tribute to the volunteers and communities who had helped the expedition.
The book explores “the struggles and obsessive nature of a highly driven young person growing up in Ireland”.
“It was the Irish landscape, chance encounters and the coastline that shaped Daragh into the adventurer who could complete this historic swim,” the publishers state.
It is described as “a story of connection, endurance, culture and, importantly, hope”.
Swim Éire by Daragh Morgan is published independently and is available in paperback for €17.54 on Amazon Ireland.
