{"id":210593,"date":"2025-12-25T18:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T18:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/210593\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T18:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T18:10:11","slug":"christmas-swimmers-brave-the-cold-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/210593\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas swimmers brave the cold \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica Fuller emerged from the water at Sandycove beach in Dublin<\/a> on Christmas<\/a> morning, toasting the occasion with her mother. <\/p>\n

\u201cCheers mam, I love you,\u201d said Ms Fuller (52) as she clinked martini glasses with her mother Elizabeth (81) in the sand.<\/p>\n

\" Elizabeth Fuller (81) from Sandyford enjoys a martini after a Christmas Day Swim with her daughter Jessica at Sandycove in South Co. Dublin. Photo: Bryan O\u2019Brien \/ The Irish Times
\n \" Elizabeth Fuller (right) (81) from Sandyford with her daugher Jessica (Carrick On Shannon) enjoy a martini after their Christmas Day Swim at Sandycove in South Co. Dublin. Photo: Bryan O\u2019Brien \/ The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Ms Fuller, who travelled up from Carrick-on-Shannon to her parents\u2019 home in Sandyford for the festive period, was among dozens of people gathered at the swimming spot early on Thursday. Swimmers took their dips at Sandycove this year as there were high waves at the nearby Forty Foot bathing area.<\/p>\n

Her sister Katharine handed them both the glasses, which were filled with \u201cbreakfast martinis\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo swimmers on their way in the water at Sandycove. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien
\n \"AnAn empty Forty Foot on Christmas morning due to high waves. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing this for the last three years,\u201d said Ms Fuller. \u201cThe water was absolutely perishing. It\u2019s warmer standing here. I started this as I swim in the river Shannon at home and my mum just went for it. She didn\u2019t need any convincing. She\u2019s kick-ass. Her attitude is the tattoo she has on her back, it says \u2018live, love, laugh\u2019. Life is short.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll go home now and shower at mum\u2019s and have dinner later. Dad is at home making sausage rolls at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those also taking the plunge were Amy Alperin (56), from New York, and Shannon Levine (55), from San Francisco. Their families had travelled over to Ireland for the Christmas period, including their sons who are in college at Indiana University.<\/p>\n

\"AmyAmy Alperin (left) and Shannon Levine make a splash in Sandtcove. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just needed a challenge and a refresh,\u201d said Ms Alperin. \u201cThe rocks were the hardest part, they were tougher than the cold. I don\u2019t think the water was nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. It feels like New York in the bay area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf us old ladies can do it, anyone can. It was really fun. Meanwhile our 20-year-old old sons are sleeping in the hotel. We would do it again in a heartbeat. Next time, we\u2019re bringing the boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The friends said they were due to attend mass at St Patrick\u2019s Cathedral but had no plans in terms of Christmas dinner later.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe Chinese food?\u201d added Ms Alperin. \u201cWe\u2019re not sure what\u2019s open so we didn\u2019t plan anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BathersBathers brave the cold waters of Dublin Bay at Sandycove on Christmas morning. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien
\n \"TheThe Quigley and Lane families at Sandycove. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n

Ms Levine, whose ancestors hail from Ireland, said: \u201cWe wanted a new start to the year and figure it\u2019s a refresh. The water was really cold. I can\u2019t feel my toes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alva Quigley, and her extended family from Lucan and Terenure, described the water as \u201cabsolutely freezing\u201d. Ms Quigley was due to host nine people for dinner, along with a dog and a cat at, her home later on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing this for about three years but my sister does it every year and comes down swimming every year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI swim once a year for Christmas, that\u2019s it, that\u2019s my lot. I like to swim just not in this weather. I was a bit apprehensive when I woke up this morning and even getting in. It\u2019s home now, shower and breakfast and get the dinner ready and just relax for the rest of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jessica Fuller emerged from the water at Sandycove beach in Dublin on Christmas morning, toasting the occasion with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9484,615,61,60,43,46532],"class_list":["post-210593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-christmas","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-sandycove"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}