The Gwineas

As the story goes, during a freezing February gale in 1838 a ship named the Almond, hit the Gwinges. Almond was loaded with brandies from Charente, (southwest France), and she burst to pieces in five minutes, but her stern and cargo were quickly washed to the beach, where – according the West Briton newspaper – ‘a regular scramble ensued’. This wasn’t surprising, for Gorran Haven’s tiny population were suddenly confronted by 300 to 400 casks of brandy. The paper reported that order was restored once the coastguard showed up, but it was a bit vague about the final number of casks that were eventually rolled into safekeeping. So to commemorate this story this each winner will be given a bottle of Brandy. Starting on the beach at Gorran Haven and heading 1.9km straight out to see and around the Gwineas rocks before swimming back to Gorran Haven. We've run this event three times now and in the first year conditions were epic with only 15 of the 120 competitors getting around the rock and 94 rescues. The second year we had fog so bad you could hardly see the rock but we went for it and most people got around lol. 2022 was a bit boring and almost everyone got around the rock. What will 2023 have in store for you? Hopefully you'll be rewarded with a clear flat calm turquoise sea and lots of ocean wildlife en route but don't count on it. As always a massive swim-five from the Mad Hatter crew will await every competitor at the finish from 1st to last. What's not to like? Each competitor will receive a coloured swim hat and a special commemorative medal. Male and Female prizes for overall 1st, 2nd, 3rd and age category winners.