Up steps Fergal Somerville, a self-confessed "mad bollix from Dublin" who spends his summers on Inis Meáin, but is also a Guinness World Record-breaking open water swimmer.
To celebrate 175 years of a lifeboat station on the Aran Islands, Somerville is embarking on the 35km swim around Inis Mór to raise funds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute which itself is celebrating 200 years in 2024.
Somerville has swam the English Channel, the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, and the Bristol Channel. His first solo marathon swim in Galway was from Inis Meáin to Rosaveel in 2009, followed by a circumnavigation of Inis Meáin in 2014, and Inis Oirr in 2020.
His swims have, to date, raised more than €50,000 for a number of charities, including over €12,500 for the Aran Lifeboat and RNLI.
The 60-year-old intends to swim a circuit of Inis Mór next week - weather depending, on a day between Monday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 17. Half of the swim's distance is in the tidal waters of Galway Bay, the other half is in the Atlantic Ocean, and the overall distance is further than the English Channel.
Contributions can be made via www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/FergalSomerville3
