A chilly swimming event to raise money for Fraserburgh’s RNLI crew today has been called off, amid concerns about Covid safety.
The Boxing Day Sink or Swim has raised more than £80,000 for the north-east lifeboat over the 13 years it has taken place.
Billed as an opportunity to “burn off the turkey dinner”, the event involves people swimming the 52 metres across the freezing harbour basin in front of the lifeboat station.
Participants would enter the water beside the boat itself, before exiting using the stairs at the opposite end of Fraserburgh harbour.
According to the Facebook event page, 33 people had already signed up this year.
Each of them received a message saying: “After considering the updated guidance given by the Government on the Covid-19 pandemic, and reviewing our own RNLI guidance and policy, the safety of the swimmers, supporters and our volunteer crew must come first.
“The decision has been made to postpone the swim on the 26th December until a later date in 2022.
“We will review all new guidelines and policies as and when announcements are made to keep you all up to date as to when the swim will take place.”
Almost 50 swimmers took part in the most recent event, which took place in 2019.
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