All language subtitles for unsinkable.2022.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_2

My dad was a passionate guy,
quite strong minded and determined.

I obviously saw that when he
recovered

from a stroke in 2011,
where he just went from being

in a hospital bed to grinding away
at it,

getting his independence back.

Same as when I'm swimming, I suppose.

It'll just have to be a kilometre
at a time until I get home.

It was just after Dad's stroke that I
committed to try raise money

for the Irish Hearts Foundation
stroke Awareness pain.

So I ran 35 marathons in 35 days.

I remember going for breakfast
with dad to tell him about it

and he just laughed with surprise.

And then once he calmed down,
he just asked how he could help

and he was always supportive like
that.

My dad died of cancer.

It was just three weeks after being
in hospital from getting diagnosed.

It was a rough time for my family,
of course.

So I'm just trying to raise as much
money

as I can for charity and just
do his memory proud.

My name is Alan Corcoran and I'm
going to swim the length of Ireland.

When I was doing the marathons,
I sort of just threw caution

to the wind and didn't put too much
thought into it.

Just having this relatively large
concept

and just going for it,
really.

Losing dad was obviously hard for us
all

and I wanted to do something to
get me out

of that sort of hard point in life

and give myself something to work
towards.

I had a few pints with friends
and talked about different options.

At the centre of it was being a
fundraiser

event more difficult than
the 35 marathons in 35 days.

We sort of all came to a conclusion
together

that if I was to try swim
the lap

of Ireland, the chances
of success were sort of down.

The length of Ireland was hard
enough,

but not so hard that we were
going to make a total balls of it.

Which we ultimately did.

Myself, my mother and my wife
and daughter,

went up to attempt one from the
Giants Causeway

and were down at the start

and I was sort of excited for him
because of all the work.

This is the culmination of all that
months and months of training,

and I was pretty confident that he
would

finish the first attempt because
of the amount of training that he
did put in.

Giants Causeway to Dunmore
was the first challenge.

Very minimal sea training was maybe
a bit overly confident,

but the second I jumped in off
the Giants Causeway and felt
that North Sea,

the seriousness of it sort of hit me
in the face, as it were.

I remember swimming out to the guys
who were maybe 400 meters offshore

and being absolutely knackered,
just gasping for the air,

but not wanting to let them know
because I didn't want to make

them sort of more nervous than

they already were on their first day.

Thinking, Jesus, has he done
any preparation?!

I had two weeks of crew covered

and thought that if I'd got far
enough

south that I'd get people up from the
southeast,

from the Dublin sailing
clubs.

We made great progress in the first
week or so

and he was flying down and then just
between the weather

and it was only a small rib as well,

so he couldn't go out in any sort of
choppy weather at all.

Even though it was the summer light
was falling,

conditions weren't great.

Concerns had been raised by a member
of the public

about an overdue swimmer

and their support vessel and
immediately I knew it was Alan.

Alan was located within half an hour
just south of Newcastle,

so we got him on board and we towed
the boat back to safety.

He said himself in the first attempt

that he was going to finish it in
six weeks.

After a couple of weeks,

that became evident that that just
wasn't possible at all.

Last year alone, we launched
approximately

950 times across the island
of Ireland.

Despite various attempts by Alan and
his team

and also a couple of local
people from the harbour,

some of the problems
were starting to mount.

The nail in the coffin of the first
challenge was the boat sinking.

When your boat is capsized,

you don't see that there's a way
forward.

He tried for a couple of days,

but you're more reliant on other
people.

I actually got onto a local
fisherman's boat

and managed to actually get another
swim in,

but even with that you're going, how
far can I realistically get?

I was just sort of sat in a BnB on
my own for a few days

and I just went... well, you
don't have the boat,

you don't have the crew.

Just time to pack it in.
So it was a bit of a...

bit of a lonely bus home

from Northern Ireland back down to
Waterford.

He was just so disappointed
and gutted, really.

He expected that he would finish it
and he was he was very down after
that.

But like, we were just trying
to cheer him up a bit like,

that he still raised so much money
for two worthy charities.

Straight away after the first
attempt,

I just sort of drew a line under
it and it ultimately wasn't to be.

I was sort of content at

that being a loss on the record and
just gone back to normal life,

as it were.

I think I had maybe two weeks off or
so

after the first attempt and then
back to the desk job in London.

It's a bit surreal going back to an
office

after doing a challenge like that.

You oddly get used to the chaos of it
all

and being in a wetsuit to the
point where

being in a shirt and trousers,
it just feels a bit alien.

The catalyst for the second
challenge was

an interview I did
with local radio station.

They were doing a documentary on sea
swimming and I was asked,

what did you learn from the first
attempt and would you do it again?

I didn't have a proper answer

for what I'd learned from the first
attempt,

and I said I would do it again
without any sort of thought.

After putting in so much time and
effort into it,

I think it was a bit stupid not

to have sat down and thought about
what went wrong

and if I could rectify it.

When I did take the time after
that interview,

I didn't think it was down to my
lack of swimming ability

or ability to sort of endure the
condition.

It was just more down
to tweaks in the planning.

I could feel that it was always
unfinished in his head.

Going back to his run,

there was a lot of things not in
place a week out,

but it all fell in place
and you become a little bit,

I've managed to solve this, I'm a
problem solver,

so I'll solve this next problem.

And I think he might have rested
on that a little bit now.

Now it just sort of consumed my
thoughts

to a point of just wanting
to just commit to it.

Then once I've committed,

that's sort of that, just have to
follow through with it.

I'm not quite sure what time I'd
told Carolina I was going to do it.

She was looking to do a Niles course,

which is like an adventure
course around the world.

It was sort of like a two week hike
thing,

two week kayaking kind of thing.

Ultimately, she couldn't afford it,

and then a few months later,
I sort of got the idea, well,

if you wanted to do a kayak
adventure,

I've got the one for you.

So excited.

We're here at the Royal Docklands

in London and we're going to have our
first attempt at swimming together as

a team, so hopefully we won't
kill each other in the water.

We might support... a lovely
support kayaker here.

If she said no, I would have had to
get

another person that would have
kayaked,

and I think it would have been fairly

impossible to get somebody that would
stay the course of the challenge.

She sort of hopped on board straight
away without too much thought.

First session down on water together
went really well and no arguments.

Okay, one argument, but it'll be
fine.

I had done enough training on the
first challenge,

so I spent a lot of time trying to
get sponsorship to try help

with the cost of all of it and looked
into the courses involved to try up

the safety element and improve
the logistics.

On the second attempt,

I was confident in the training plan

that I had from the first attempt,
so the map was drawn,

I just had to follow and do what
I was told on the piece of paper.

So that was just getting into the
pool as often as I could really.

But there was also the aspect of the
cold

which I had learned a hard
lesson as a first challenge.

Swimming in the pool is a different
kettle of fish

compared to swimming in the sea.

Hi Heather.
Nice to meet you.

Hi, nice to meet you.
...support crew.

Come this way.

I've popped into Portsmouth
University,

to get some expert advice there
and get chucked into a cold tank.

I was extremely nervous because it
was two years since being in a cold
tank.

When you're initially immersed in
cold water,

what happens is you get a big
reduction in skin

temperature which stimulates an
increase in heart rate,

an increase in breathing rate and
also an increase in blood pressure.

And so what we need to do to ensure
Alan is okay

is to make sure that he is well
adapted to that cold shock response.

And he does that by repeatedly going
into cold water

and dulling down that breathing
hyperventilation

and by that way he should be able to
get in

and out of the water more
easily.

I was expected to swim for 45 odd
minutes

and I just about got up
to that sort of time in a pool.

That was a panic sort of stations
moment

flashbacks of the first challenge
of having the air just taken from you

and the panic of it and trying to
deal with that

in your head and trying to relax

and trying to just sort of say
you've been through this before.

If you try and swim while you're
experiencing the cold shock
response,

you're likely to fatigue very
rapidly.

If you're swimming you need a
controlled

breathing pattern which cold
shock response doesn't provide.

And so Alan needs to make sure that
he spends a couple of minutes

getting rid of that elevated heart
rate and breathing

pattern so that he can control his
breathing before starting to swim.

Subsequent from that then I was
ending up getting

into the Serpentine Lake
in London,

just trying to get rid of the cold
shock response.

The pain is beginning to kick in now
in the hands,

so once a week I have
to do this, twice if I can,

to try make those first few weeks of
the swim

a bit easier on the system
and a bit more comfortable.

Portsmouth was maybe set at around
10, 12 degrees,

the Serpentine was maybe four or
five degrees,

so that was certainly a shock to the
system.

Once you'd survived that,

you felt that bit stronger then
getting into the Irish Sea

during the summer.

You look like you're lobster.

The main lesson obviously from the
first attempt was getting the
support boat,

so I knew I had to get something
bigger and that came with a big bill.

So that sort of got the ball
rolling on trying for a sponsor.

Ultimately they all said no, which
left me with the only option

if I wanted to do this and if I was
serious about this,

was to go for a bank loan.

I had luckily, and thankfully got
New Ross

and Wexford County Council to sponsor
a mooring, which left me

with the challenge of how the
feck, not being a sailor,

Do I get this sailboat From Bristol
in the UK,

across the Irish Sea?
It didn't go to plan.

It got fairly choppy out there,
up to 15 foot wave,

so it was an experience for a first
sailing trip, to say the least.

35 hours.

And we had to bail and abort
and pull into Wales.

And then that left me with having to
hire somebody to take it across to
New Ross.

An expensive and steep learning
curve with owning a sailboat.
(chuckles)

Leaving the office was the start
of the adventure, the challenge.

It was grand living with Mam.

I think she was always happy to have
me company back home

and she was happy to give me the car
to go train and doing
everything

she could and making sure that I had
what I needed to have in place.

Obviously she has that fear,

but she's going to support me in the
end.

It was sort of full time, then,
swimming four weeks off before

the challenge, so that was
sort of squeaky bum time.

I certainly felt more confident
having done the courses, the
safety courses,

and knowing what things
were this time around.

It had made me appreciate maybe more
the risks that were involved in the
first

attempt and the lack of safety
preparation that I really had.

About a month or two out, Alan
decided,

right, well, I better get
in the water at night.

So I said, Grand, I have a kayak,
I'll come with you.

It was my first time on the water in
pitch dark, and what was a little

unnerving about that is as a trawler
roared out of the harbour.

Well, you're like, if I can't
see anything, they can't see me.

It was maybe a little bit easier for
him,

being oblivious to what was
going on above the water.

How was it?

Cold and dark?

# (music)

That's the kayak fucked.
(laughs) Yeah.

Custom flag for the boat?

Up the Deise.

After getting all the pieces of
equipment home

and seeing it all laid out
and you're going, Jesus,

I didn't really have any of this on
the first challenge.

And then it was just a matter of,
yeah, just get it on the boat.

Loading up the kayak today, getting
it

on the sailboat, and I have three
sailors

coming down now to sail it up
to Ballycastle.

Wasn't without the struggle.

She got stuck in the muck,

so we had to give her a bit
of a push, but finally gone.

It's my last full day at home today
before

making my two day transport
up to Ballycastle.

I haven't even started yet and I'm
already

putting the steps in place to invite
people to swim the last day with me.

If anything, it's probably going to
give me a big incentive

to want to get home that bit more and
have this big event

because it's going to raise around
4,000 euro for the Irish Heart
Foundation

and the Solas Cancer Support Centre

if everyone signs up into the 300
places.

# (music)

So we arrived last night to the boat.

We had our first night's sleep,
which was shite,

but that was the point in coming up
to the boat a week

beforehand that we can try get used
to the confined space,

get used to the noises on the boat
and the movement of it at night.

Third or fourth day on the boat
after arriving to Ireland

and I'm not feeling too well,
feeling actually pretty shit.

Am I allowed to say shit?

I feel like I've got a flu, my
joints are aching so much.

You'll be ready for the start of the
swim in two days, three days.

I don't think I'll be ready,

but I got to do it, so I don't
really have a choice.

My parents always encouraged me into
sport.

I was swimming between maybe five and
10, and athletics,

and when I was around six dad took
me out

to Tramore Football Club
where I played for ten years.

So training and sports has
been a major part of my life.

I was an attempted sprinter but
didn't

make the cut sort of as I progressed
into junior and senior level.

But I was always good,

I felt at just trying and pushing
myself,

keeping up and I was always good at
showing

up and putting in the work,
just didn't make the grade,

speed wise.

A challenge like this,
speed isn't essential,

it's just being bit gritty and
determined and stubborn.

It started with me... my dad dying,
so it's, em...just been...

something to focus and work towards
since then and... (clears throat)

it's just been, it's been positive
focus for me last sort of two, three
years.

So it's, yeah, be, it'd be a huge
thing

if I can finish it and do what I said
I would do and hopefully raise

a lot of money for the Solas Centre
and the Irish Heart Foundation.

My dad had the stroke,

which was the catalyst for doing
the marathons and then obviously

with cancer so being able to
fundraise for those charities, it
means a lot.

It means a lot more than
just doing the swim.

Swim is starting tomorrow.

In my head I just want to jump in.

It means a lot for me considering
it's his second attempt

and I really wanted to do my best
to help him achieve it because

I know it it means a lot to him
for many different reasons.

# (music)

I sort of made a note to myself
to enjoy it as much as I could.

I think it was a lot more emotionally
fueled the first time around.

It was a lot more raw and there was
a lot more fear.

It was literally up until being on
the Giant's Causeway

that you could nearly.... just take a
breath,

The logistics is done and you can
actually

just sort of take a moment
to take it all in.

Before jumping in.

# (music)

It was amazing swimming out to
Carolina,

we just sort of took a moment and
waved

back to everyone and just sort of had
that moment between us of just sort

of smiling and saying,
we're actually doing this now.

So she hadn't much sea
experience prior to that either.

She'd done all her prep in the
docklands in London,

so we got her onto the sea
a little bit the week before,

but sure, she had that excitement,
too,

of saying, Christ, we're actually out
into deep water now

and this is what we're going
to be at for the next few weeks.

# (music)

It was fine for the first hour.
It felt really great

and then sort of panicked a little
bit with the coldness.

But again, I was just sort of put
my mind at ease

and telling myself I'd been there
before and I'd survived.

So it was just sort of get on with
it.

It wasn't until I looked at the
tracker

that I was like, Shit,
what happened there?

I had in my mind that everything on
this attempt

was to be better than
the first attempt,

but we had made a third of the
distance that I'd made on day one

of the first attempt,
but I'd swam for an extra hour.

We had just timed the tides wrong.

There's no point swimming against
the tide

up here so strong you're
going to go nowhere.

And that's sort of what happened.

We're all a bit frustrated,

but I'm hopeful for the lessons
learned.

Just seeing Chris and Noel working

to figure out how do we correct this,
I really felt I was in capable hands.

# (music)

Forecasters coming on.

So day two, Chris and Noel asked me
up to the deck

and sort of looked out at the waves
and sort of looked back at me

and said, have you ever swam in
anything like this?

I was like, Nope.

And he said, Are you
going to give it a go?

We've come this far, so,
yeah, let's go first.

The wind is due to come up much
later to a not nice situation.

Okay.

Because day one had sort of not gone
to plan,

we felt we sort of had to give it a
go somewhat on day two.

We didn't have Carolina
on the water.

The conditions didn't allow for it,

wasn't sensible to put her onto a
kayak.

How far do you think you could see
us?

With the waves topping up?

I probably won't have
much visibility on you.

I'll probably be able to see that.

Lovely Waterford flag up there.

Yeah, the best thing to do is if you
go

too far ahead and you're not
comfortable, just put your hand.

Ah no, I'll be comfortable.

I'll be grand.

Heading off here then, yeah?

Okay guys, see ya later.
See you in a while. Best of luck.

Carolina, you're the spotter right
now. Okay?

So you're the one watching him for a
few minutes

and then we'll all take
turns then.

# (music)

Most of the bulk of my training
was done in a pool.

So then when you're getting clobbered

by waves, it is that greatly more
demanding on the body and it's just

something you can't really
prepare for until you're in it.

Talk about sort of being
present in the moment.

You can't really sort of focus on
much else than just getting your
breath

and following that boat and making
sure that you're not getting lost.

How are you feeling?

Waves are coming right in his face.

Alan!

Just for a talk.

Yeah, we've gone too far out.

You've come nearly as far as you
did the whole 4 hours yesterday.

But just we have to go that way from
now.

It's not too dangerous.
It's perfect.

You're covering lots of miles.

I'd taken the tow but he's
determined. Fair play to him.

We're doing some amount of knots,

I tell you,

even if it is in the wrong
route.

We've big winds now. Now that's the
gale that they said.

The only thing is he's really
getting

a lot of miles, so there is a case
to be made for keeping them going.

Look at that swallow, he's flying
up.

Yeah.

(chatter continues)

There was really ominous clouds
and sort of a storm coming in.

We were sort of getting the warnings
across on the radio,

so we had to swim short and bail off
to Rathlin Island.

I'm going to make the call and I'm
going to take him in out of the
water.

That was a surprise to me, I think,
as it was to everyone else.

It just would have been too
dangerous,

really to get across back to
Ballycastle

where we had intended to pull into.

You're some man for going out in
that, I tell you.

But that was a wild, wild experience,

swimming through the Rathlin Sound
out in those conditions.

And it was oddly enjoyable because
you're sort of going,

when else is anyone else really going
to be swimming in this?

If you're swimming a channel swim,

you're not going to get
into conditions like this.

You wouldn't start it because
it would scupper your attempt.

So it was quite a unique sort of
thing to be in those wild waves

that probably a sensible person
shouldn't be swimming in,

but having the confidence in the
crew

to get you out of things that go
wrong.

(chatter)

It's just going to get bouncy for a
second while I come around.

# (music)

Yeah, it's pretty wild today.

We're now rattling around Rathlin
Island

with the wind blowin' the
gale out there literally.

Day three then we were spot
on the money with our start time.

We got spat out of Rathlin Sound.

Didn't have the big choppy over falls
that we got the first time around.

So I thought we were in the clear.

And I just stopped to tell Carolina
or say to Carolina

that this is actually quite great
now, like we're heading south.

And then no sooner had I said that,

I got clobbered overhead with the
crest

of a wave, which I sort of thought
was quite unusual in open water.

So I popped the head up quickly and
looked for Carolina

and then I just saw a wave take her,

just go like, "Pfffft." Like 5, 10
metres away,

just high waves all around us.

We were just stuck in a section
of over fall

so I could just see Chris, going
south, south.

So Carolina started paddling.

So I was like, right,
that's the sign, goggles on.

And we just went, gave it welly for
ten minutes there,

thereabouts and got out of it.

It was the craziest conditions I've
ever

swam in and hopefully we
won't get that again.

But a massive day as well.

30 plus kilometres.

# (music)

We are doing zero knots through the
water

but we're doing 4.7 knots over the
ground

because that's the speed
the tide's going at.

It's absolutely screaming along and
it's really helping them get flying.

So yes, Bob, that's a sun crack.

Last week I just felt like I was
drowning somewhat gracefully

amongst the waves and then today just
felt like swimming.

Carolina was loving it as well.

The sun was shining into Donaghadee
to finish off a good week.

# (music)

Today's swim is being aborted.

bumpy conditions and we're not
feeling the sharpest to say the
least.

We're getting a few waves over the
top.

Hopefully we'll be
in support of Ogie soon.

(Bleep) ..highs and loads of this
shit.

The crew tells me in the morning
it's

going to be really sunny and nice
and you're going to love it today.

2 hours in, it just gets really
windy and suddenly

you're just getting blown away and
you're hating your life

and questioning your choices
that you made in the past.

Aim to the end, aim to the furthest
point of land you can see. Okay.

The fatigue of everything
was sort of building up.

Bit of a falling out with Carolina
and just in terms

of who should be following who and
what happens if we get split up,

it got frustrating and it's not a
place

to be having a discussion or an
argument.

Once you stop, you're freezing.

My sort of mindset nearly switched
from being like boyfriend-girlfriend.

But then once we started I was sort
of I

need to focus on swimming and
recovery and publicising the event,

documenting the event, which I think
she sort of found that dynamic hard,

that maybe I was a bit cold because I
had just all that going on.

It gets miserable, especially when
it's really rainy and windy

and it's just like looking after
Alan,

who's sometimes fairly annoyed
and tired and hungry.

It was difficult certainly,

to try balance up being romantic
partners

and then being nearly business
partners

in the challenge that we
had.

And then there was only two.

We're on our own, waiting for
sailors, hopefully.

Currently walking to the start point

of our swim to try and make up
for the lack of volunteers.

So we've gone off the land
and back onto land.

We've just finished the two
hour swim without sailboat.

This feels more dangerous
than the swimming.

People swinging bloody balls left,
right,

centre, and I'm just
strolling across the course.

Has there been a stranger
sight on the golf course?

The wetsuit man.

Find me way off this shagging golf
course.

Been on for the last 20 minutes or
so.

Trying to get home,
trying to get back to the boat.

Me and Carolina got 7 km done on our
own

yesterday without a sailboat,
but it's not sustainable.

You just can't do it with cliff
sections and across big bays.

Welcome back.
Good to have you back on board.

We're not meant to be here.

So the guys stepped in on short
notice, giving up more of their time.

Salvaging, week three.

Absolutely delighted
they came and progress,

we're swimming 4 hours,

so it's good to get that back
on the board and back moving again.

Whoo!

Loads of cause for celebration today.

I've managed to surpass my 2017
attempt,

so which is a huge moment for myself.

And even more proud of Carolina,

who's after getting her exam results

for her final year first
class degree in neuroscience.

So enjoy the highs after we've got
through

some of the lows.

Still here in Ardglass.

We had a lovely night up in the
Mourne Mountains last night, thanks
to Chris.

Didn't all go to plan.

I was unfortunate enough to fall
down a feckin' stairs like an eejit.

Not even an ounce of alcohol
to take the credit for it.

Just me being tired and half
asleep in the middle of the night.

Coming out one of those
ceiling sort of ladders.

Missed my footing and cracked my shin

and cut my finger and shin open a
bit.

Extremely painful.

Hopefully the wounds will heal up a
bit,

but probably not the best environment
in the wetsuit for open cuts,

especially with peeing in it.

Gav and Tim arrived there Monday
night,

cracked straight into work
up in Ardglass marina.

Had the charts out on the table.

We're into this area of slack water,

so the tide is moving down from the
south

at the same time as the tide is
moving up from the north,

which creates this slack
area of water

where there's no tide pushing me in
either which direction.

So it's really donkey work where I
have to just

work my balls off for every mile.

On the first day out with the guys

yesterday, we moved from Ardglass
Marina into Carlingford Lough.

It was quite evasive on the first
challenge,

so to make it here eventually, it's
just fantastic.

South Carlingford Lough, south of
Dundalk.

Off the coast of the Republic of
Ireland now,

so absolutely delighted with that.

Cheese.
To the Republic.

Day 28 is aborted.

It's just not safe enough to get that
kayak on and off

due to 3 metres swell and as well,

it's just too windy for the guys to
keep

any sort of course and it'd be
miserable

for them to bob around in this for 4
hours.

They'd have to keep circling, keep
circling to try stick with me.

They couldn't go near me because this
could

easily get bashed in on top of
me.

It looks properly scary.
Yeah.

Probably not the best
kayaking condition really.

Ready, ready. Pull, pull, pull.

For me, the main real danger with the
boat

in those wavy, stormy conditions,
I still have to get onto a boat.

You're a man overboard and if it
comes down on you, you're in trouble.

You don't want to get hit by a boat
in the head like that's game over.

Seeing the cries for volunteers and
just

having an absolute love for the
water jumped at the opportunity.

Done my power boat license
so I could help him.

It's very important that you look
after everything you can for him.

He needs to just get up, swim, eat,

go to bed even when he
comes in out of the water.

There's nearly a full day's
work to be done for the crew.

You're looking for people to give up
their free time

and they have to have a particular
set of skills.

Swim number 29 just on there now.

Another 4 hours clocked up on the
board

and we're just in line at the
south point of Dundalk Bay.

Beautiful, flat calm conditions
today.

Nicest conditions we've
had so far, I think.

Stark, stark contrast to the waves we
had yesterday,

which are probably the biggest waves
we've had so far.

We're aiming for here.

If we're going to get our westerly,

we're going to be aiming kind of
towards

shore so we can drift the whole way
down like, you know?

We're just south of Dundalk Bay now

and the plan is to get down to
Dublin.

We have Kieran and Jonathan
coming to help for the week.

Going to put the head down and just
take

advantage of being back
into tides and moving.

Today, we also had loads of lion's
mane jellyfish,

some other funky looking dangerous
jellyfish with a big stinger,

some purple looking jellyfish

and then those sort of more common
Casper ghost

sort of looking ones that I've
swam straight into loads of times.

I think I maybe hit seven jellyfish
today or more,

but I don't like anything touching
me in the water.

# (music)

It's just a quite night here in
Clogherhead. (laughter)

# (music)

Getting to Dublin was monumental.

I'd always felt, even on the first
challenge,

if I got to Dublin and then more so
on the second challenge,

that once I got there,
I'm definitely getting home.

Break some records.

You're how many hundreds kilometres
away from home,

but to me, you're on the homeward
stretch.

Get around...

Felt a big jellyfish on the arm when
I was stroking down.

I think I got a little bit, but...

It's grand. Not as bad as falling
down the stairs. (laughs)

Howth Marina, Howth Marina, Howth
Marina. This is Unsinkable Two.

Unsinkable Two...

Week five!

(cheering)

We're just been held
up here in Dublin Bay.

We've got the Dublin pilot
boat out behind us there.

We had a close call with a ferry.

I hadn't necessarily rang Dublin port
to inform them

I was swimming across the bay.

There was a worry for me when
I saw the pilot boat out there

that they might have told me just to
get

out of the water or, you're not
allowed to go across here.

Luckily, they were very
accommodating.

I just sort of stayed put and watched
this thing just steamroll by.

It came from being a dot to being a
very

big boat in the space
of around two minutes.

There was no getting out of the way
of that if you were anywhere near it.

It was a mad scenario,
a bit of a surreal one.

Remember just laughing at Carolina.

Sort of like, what the we after
getting ourselves into here?

We're out of Dublin now.

Another county ticked off and we're
well on our way through Wicklow.

Time to push things on now
and get this challenge done.

We're edging closer to Waterford.

I'm running out of days to make sure
I make it to the finale,

which I had announced the week
earlier.

There's people registering to swim,
so the pressure is on.

Something goes wrong, we might not
make it.

And then there's all the craic around
the insurance and people coming out

for the event and I don't
want to disappoint them.

Alan was anchored off a small
harbour just

down from Rosslare Europort,

so the only way to get to him was by
sea.

So I paddled out to him about 6
a.m.

We got the boat filled with diesel
and headed off for the day.

Gavin came in that day and allowed

us to get far enough south to
give Carolina a point

that she can get access
to the sea off a safe entry point.

We're down on Carne beach in Wexford.

We're just about to get into the
water

and go around Carnsore Point
to become the first ever Czech lady.

Well, we think we don't know.
I assume so.

To kayak the length of Ireland and
I'll finally

swim the length of Ireland
and then we start heading west.

Just because I'm a bit
of a romantic wanting to swim home.

So the challenge isn't done
at the length of Ireland.

I have another three or four swims
to get home to Tramore,

where I'm hoping we'll have a good
turnout for the finale.

Carnsore Point behind us, we got
Carolina,

some woman for one woman up over the
first Czech person,

we think, to kayak the length of
Ireland

and Alan Corcoran, the first
person to swim the length of Ireland.

Up ya boyyo, ya.

Baby, we did it.

Pretty epic moment to share with
Carolina.

I'm so proud of you.

We took a few minutes, took it in,
enjoyed it,

celebrated and then it was like,
right, we have to get to Tramore

for next Sunday.

And we are now on the way

to nearest vehicular access
point.

Try to meet my mam.

We're going to take the kayak down
to Kilmore Quay

where the boat is at the moment.

Hello!

# (music)

A large part of the problem on the
final week

was that we didn't have a specified
two member crew,

so it was just trying to piece
people in as we went.

Once you get involved in these
challenges,

you nearly feel responsible.

I've got them this far,
let's get them home.

I had work commitments,

managed to get out of them again
by the Wednesday,

so we were pushing for home,

maybe out in conditions that were a
little bit rough.

Shit got really serious,
really quick on that one.

I just got into the water,
just starting to the trackers going

and saw the islands and Carolina was
on the kayak.

Then I looked back and she got
flipped over somehow,

so she was in the water.

The waves were just humongous and
took nearly,

I'd say, 15 minutes to fish me out

of the water because it was just
really tough,

both for the sailors and for
me because

I was just having my first cold
water shock,

so that was interesting.

Today is Wednesday,

I'm supposed to be in Tramore
for

Sunday, so I guess it's these
deadline that I set

myself that possibly put
ourselves into that situation.

I was pissed off that we didn't get
that swim in

and you're going, well, now we're
not going to make it.

Like, we needed that swim to get
completed,

but then you're going
like,

that could have been that could
have been fatal, really.

So you just have to bring it back to
that.

There's more important things than
finishing

the challenge and that's
always

finishing the challenge
alive, essentially.

The fear was sort of subsiding a bit

and Gavin was just gung-ho as ever
to say, what can I do to help?

He paddled out of the marina,

I climbed down the marina
wall and we went from there.

We still managed to rescue a few
hours of swimming that day,

although we were getting absolutely
hammered along the beach.

It was risky, it was unpleasant, it
was wild,

probably stupid, but we just wanted
to make the finish line.

For that last week,

there were so many moments where
we felt the challenge is gone.

We were just getting more and more
errors

and more and more scary
situations

as we got closer.

I'd say the final week is probably

the most difficult one for me
because as the end

of the swim is approaching there's
quite a lot of pressure both on Alan

and me to sort of support
him as much as I can.

We've got gusts of 30
knots forecast for Friday.

I've got the same then gusts
of up to 30 knots on Sunday.

It's looking like the swim could
be called off if it's 30 knot winds

They're coming from
the south,

which means it's blowing
directly into Tramore Bay.

There was no point thrown in the
towel at that stage

though because we felt we
were doing

just enough that we might actually
get away with this.

That's sort of what it was at there,
that, yeah,

it was coming down to kilometres
or

to minutes nearly just that the
finish line was getting that close.

We were on the way to Hookhead,

which is the start point and we're
trying to still make Tramore

and then possibly another few hours
then at p.m.

to try and keep going to the finish
line.

Just looking forward
to getting finished now.

Absolutely exhausted last
night of this shitty boat.

I think I would have really panicked
on the first challenge getting

into the water at time,
but I felt hardened from the whole

challenge and from how far I
had made it at that point.

So it nearly didn't affect me
getting into the dark and the cold.

It was just like, I need to do this.

We got to the final day,
the boat had made it to Dunmore.

Alan was just around the corner.

Final bit of swimming.

The original plan was to have 100
swimmers

or more swim back in with Alan
for the last 400 metres.

They were going to go out, meet him
at a buoy,

everyone swim in together.

Just en route to the finale now.

Unfortunately, Carolina couldn't
stay

on the boat because he's going
to be up to, I think, a force 8.

She's gone by land to join the other
safety kayakers from the pier in
Tramore.

And I'll have to swim the last
little leg to Tramore on my own.

And just hoping, hoping,
hoping nothing goes tits up.

We had just about made it.

So I taught by the skin of
my teeth,

just about got that progress.

Where the finish line was within
reach.

Made it all of five minutes out of
Dunmore East Harbour towards the
last mile.

2 miles, maybe an hour's worth
of swimming and sailors called it
off.

There was a lifeboat towing in
another

sailboat and big waves and a few
sailors didn't like the look of it.

That's just the way it is.

The only big question mark on
whether even

tonight's 100 swimmers
can get in the water.

If I'm not getting in the water,
em...

but bit of a disaster, I don't know
what's going to happen.

At that point,

then it was sort of damage
control, damage limitation.

The insurance was paid off,
the guys were out.

After having people signed up,

registered, the day was going ahead.
At that point,

then, it was just, what can
we salvage from the day?

We're just on the way to the finale
swim, not the way we want it to be.

We're driving, as you can see,
which means I have to go back and do

the last mile or two or whatever
I've left to do someday later in the
week.

we went out to Tramore, had a look
down at the beach.

The red flag was up and it was just
all

sort of unraveling as the day went
on and we were running out of time.

With red flags gusting 32 knots,

nobody wants to take responsibility
for that, which is fair enough.

So no safety kayakers or
support boats at this stage.

And obviously the red
flag means lifeguards

don't want anyone in the water
either,

so I just have to cancel the swim.

The public aspect of it. I told
people I'd be there for 6 o'clock,

so I'm just heading in on my own now

from the pier over to the lifeguard
hut.

See you.
See you.

See ya, Gavin.

What time is it now?

17:25.
What?

5:25.
5:25.

All right, tell them if I'm not

there in 20... 35 minutes, just wait
longer.

Alan's just headed off,

so we're going to go watch him from
top of Galway Hill for the last
kilometre.

Carolina and Gavin were on the cliff

trying to keep an eye on me,
but it was impossible.

Tramore's a surfing beach, so it was
just breaking wave,

breaking wave over the head.

Couldn't see the finish line and I
couldn't see anyone on the beach.

This isn't sort of the
finish line planned.

Kept on swimming closer
until the pink hats came visible.

The guys who'd signed up to join

in the swim with me actually had come
down and stood on the shoreline.

Since they couldn't come into the
water.

That definitely was an emotional
moment, seeing that.

That moment where he came to that
waist

deep water, the electricity
was just amazing.

No matter what he had felt earlier
that day

about how the weather might
have ruined it,

I think that was just completely
washed away by the enormous

support that just almost makes

the hairs in the back of your neck
stand.

Absolute roller coaster.

I don't think I've experienced so
many emotions in one day from the
start

of the day, thinking everything's
perfect

and we've made it to the red
flag going up

and the safety kayakers pulling out,

finally seeing your family and
embracing

them and having that joyous
moment on the end of the beach.

As soon as he got in the water
at the start,

I was confident that he was going
to finish it.

It was just such an achievement
and we're so proud of him.

Not only did Alan swim the length
of Ireland,

but Carolina paddled the length of
Ireland.

If you can spend six weeks at sea

together, I think you can just
about get through anything.

I think it would have been fairly
impossible to get somebody,

especially somebody that would stay
the course

of the challenge and somebody

that would be able to support
me as much as she did.

I think you have to just appreciate
the enormity of the challenge

he's undertaking, and to be a part
of that is incredible.

Spending that amount of time in
those

close quarters definitely
bring it closer together.

And that's part of the reason you
want to go back and help him so
much,

help him with his last and his next
mad adventure as they come along.

I think that last week at a
challenge and the final day really

epitomised it all. Just cancer
killing dad and the relentless

stormy sea of emotions just
battering you day after day.

At times it was a battle finding
a way

forward through the waves,
too.

Just the fact that everything went
so wrong

on that first attempt and then just
getting those challenges

right up to the finish line on the
second attempt,

it just made it more
meaningful to overcome.

Just a truer testimonial to the man

that my dad was and even the man
that he raised me to be.

I think he would have been proud.

(laughs) Pat wants it over and done
with quick.

# (music)

I'm done! Officially done now.

Thanks very much.

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