High temperatures lure out Christmas swimmers

The highest December temperatures for years attracted more swimmers than usual to an annual Christmas Day dip in the Irish Sea.

Diving into the Forty Foot, a once male-only swim preserve, has been a seasonal tradition dating back decades at Sandycove, on the southern edge of Dublin.

The event, which is watched by hundreds of well-clad spectators, normally lures only the hardiest of bathers, some of whom go swimming in the sea every day anyway.

Two years ago the swim had to be switched to a nearby more sheltered bay when gale-force winds whipped across the area.

This year, though, things were different.

Swimmers began entering the water not long after breakfast time, and hours later dozens of others were still venturing in – some diving or jumping, other more cautiously wading.

The difference was down to the weather.

Last Christmas’s icy temperatures were replaced by a balmy figures nowhere near freezing point.

The swimmers even had the benefit of warm sunshine on their backs as they went through their strokes, encouraged by a large crowd of onlookers and people taking Christmas Day strolls