In her best-selling book I Found My Tribe Louth-born writer Ruth Fitzmaurice wrote about how swimming in the open sea helped her cope as she cared for her husband, filmmaker Simon after he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease. The sea is my salvation, she wrote. It shocks my body back to life. My soul is calmer and refreshed and content when I climb back up the steps. The cove is my tribe and the sea saves me.
Perhaps it s this healing power of the sea, it s ability to press re-set on our fears and anxieties which has made wild swimming so popular during this time of pandemic.