Thanks for your efforts, Viv. I wonder when it became a regular event? Perhaps once it had been 'cracked' everyone wanted a go! I'm guessing that it might have first been done in the late 1800s or very early 1900s, presumably by someone with money and leisure enough to set themselves relatively pointless physical challenges - I imagine hobbies in general, or leisure activities involving revealing and very specific outfits were not the territory of your average fisherman/farmer. Sorry, I'm fixated on the idea that swimming the Bay was at some time a new occurrence and, hopefully, worthy of record.