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

Swimming in Schull with triathlon coach Sarah McKnight

·20 min

Sarah McKnight is a Londoner who moved to Skull after meeting a Cork man. She is a swimming teacher, an open water swimming coach, and a level one triathlon coach. She started her swim teaching career on board cruise ships and later moved to the Cayman Islands. The conversation opens in the Harbour Hotel before winding back through the earlier stages of her working life. After college, she worked in leisure centres in the UK and qualified as a swimming teacher, among other things. She had also been traveling in Australia and wanted to keep moving while working. A suggestion about cruise ships gave her a practical way to do that. She applied for jobs on board and went on to start her swimming teaching career there. The episode then returns to the Sunday morning group swim off the slipway at the Fastnet Marine Centre in Skull. That swim sits at the center of her week. The Fastnet Outdoor Marine Education Center gives the group a slipway straight into the harbor and about two kilometers of shoreline to work with. The route stays close to land, so swimmers are never more than a couple of strokes from shore if they need to get out. The little coves along the coast add to the appeal. She has also contributed to The Wild Swimming Book. She says many people outside Skull do not even know the shorefront walk and swim area is there. She also talks about sea swimming classes, which usually begin in April if the weather allows. The pool work has been very successful, and they are busy trying to get children swimming in the pool. Adult teaching takes up a lot of her time as well. Asked about Irish swimmers, she says they are definitely good swimmers. She notes that young, fit hurling GAA players can be the hardest to teach because muscle and low body fat make floating harder. She also sees a lot of women in the sea swimming scene, which gives the work another layer of local energy.

As heard by us

A grounded sea-swim portrait built around coaching, harbor access, and Sunday swims in Skull.

Sarah McKnight's journey from London to Skull gives the profile its clear line of movement, especially once a Cork man enters the story. After teaching in UK leisure centres, then on cruise ships, and later in the Cayman Islands, she now leads Sunday morning swims off the…

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Why you'd press play

For when your idea of a good time includes water, a slipway, and a harbor that makes practical sense.

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