From A to Sea – The Southern Star Sea Swimming Podcast · The Southern Star

Justin Crowley - organiser of the iconic Galley Head 10km swim

·22 min·1 clip

The swim grew from 26 swimmers and €17,000 to over €55,000 in year two.

1. From A to Sea – The Southern Star Sea Swimming Podcast focuses on Justin Crowley and the Galley Head 10km swim from Red Strand past Galley Head lighthouse to Warren Strand. 2. Justin Crowley is a Clannachilty hairdresser and organiser, and Siobhan Cronin hosts the conversation for Southern Star. 3. The episode asks how a West Cork sea swim grew into a fundraiser that now raises six-figure sums for charities. 4. Justin describes growing up in Clannachilty with summer days at Incheon Annie, where the sea was his playground. 5. He says he learned to swim by “just teaching yourself” before later doing pool swimming in Dunmanway. 6. Justin says his four children were all lifeguards at one stage and worked in Incheon Annie and Warren. 7. He argues that children in West Cork are not taught swimming enough and says every town should have a swimming pool. 8. The Galley Head swim started after a November 2018 skiing trip in Austria, following the death of his wife Alice in July of that year. 9. On that trip, Pat Mulcahy of West Cork Search and Rescue explained that the team had been funding itself out of its own pocket, time, and effort. 10. Justin says the Teebán Ham disaster in 2012 led to 30 days of diving and searching before all five bodies were recovered. 11. The fundraiser idea came from the need to support a local rescue service that had kept working after other agencies had pulled out. 12. Justin says he and Geoffrey Richard pushed to run the swim that same year instead of waiting a year and a half. 13. The route was chosen by looking for a 10km swim in West Cork with an iconic landmark, which led them to Galley Head lighthouse. 14. The first event had 26 swimmers and raised about €17,000. 15. The second year raised €55,000 after a target of €35,000, and the money was split between Marymount and West Cork Search and Rescue. 16. Justin says sponsors cover event costs so “every penny raised” goes directly to the charities. 17. He says the event later bought a new boat, compressor, and equipment for Search and Rescue, then moved on to funding other charities. 18. The conversation is informal and practical, with Siobhan asking detailed questions about route, boats, relay teams, safety boats, and cutoff times. 19. People who like sea swimming, charity events, and West Cork community stories would likely enjoy this episode. 20. People looking for a short, purely technical swimming lesson may skip it.

As heard by us

A local swim with real distance, real weather, and real money behind it.

The piece treats Justin Crowley's Galley Head 10km swim as more than a race: it reads like a local fixture with real community pull. The annual route from Red Strand past the lighthouse to Warren Strand, and the nearly half a million euro raised over six years for local…

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Why you'd press play

A coastal charity swim origin story with real local impact.

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