I tend to avoid the touchy subject, but sur fuck it here goes.
I'm not even going to touch on the TI/Ironman liability debacle - that's an absolute minefield. I wasn't there on the day and have only seen the same videos so as for whether it should/shouldn't have gone ahead I can't say. I will say that I have swam in triathlons in worse sea conditions that that, but the swim started within the confines of a harbour (Barna in Galway for anybody familiar) so we didn't have the breaking waves to contend with - just the swell. For weaker swimmers (if you can call people who have trained for 3.8k weak!) - that would have been quite challenging.
At the end of the day, every single person who got in the water that day had a choice not to. We all have responsibility for our own actions, and one persons easy swim in the swell is anothers 'nope, absolutely the fuck not'.
I'd also question why anybody would enter the ironman in youghal - has it ever run the full course without some major rain/storm affecting it - the course was shortened a few years back if I recall as well. If I was going to do an Ironman - I'd be damn sure picking a location where the weather is somewhat more predictable - if I'm going to do it, it's going to be the full course or bust. I'm sorry folks, but if you've finished an Ironman on a shortened course, then you haven't done an Ironman. Nobody in Youghal finished an Ironman distance race this year - the poor fuckers![]()
I agree with a lot of your points.
Tbf.. Covid did hamper it.
First year the swim was cancelled... It went on and on.