A team of six is hoping to make history by swimming in relay around the Irish coastline.
Plans for what will be known as the Round Ireland Swim Expedition are now well under way, even though the team won't be taking to the water until Sunday, July 2nd, 2006.
They hope to raise about €100,000 for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's crew training programme.
Expedition leader Dr Henry O'Donnell said the event must be planned meticulously, with everything from tides to currents, and from water temperatures to maritime law and support crews, having to be arranged.
In a specially staged event yesterday as part of their training and safety exercises the six swimmers took part in a mock rescue.
This involved a swimmer getting entangled in a fishing net while others sustained a variety of injuries. The Arranmore lifeboat and rescue support crews took part. Plans to use a helicopter were abandoned due to difficult weather conditions.
The swimmers will embark on the journey of over 1,336km (830 miles) from the blue flag beach near Dr O'Donnell's home at Carrickfinn in west Donegal.
They will swim clockwise around the coast and the expedition will take around two months.
Also on the team will be a Donegal brother and sister, Ryan and Anne-Marie Ward (who was the first woman to swim from Tory to the mainland).
Kerry businesswoman Nuala Moore and sports management director Tom Watters, from Meath, are also on the team. The sixth member has yet to be named.
"The idea first came to me back in 1994 when I was training with a group of swimmers in the Bray area as part of my preparations for a swim from Tory Island to the Donegal mainland," Dr O'Donnell says.
Initially he planned to go solo, but was discouraged following medical advice.
He then decided to bring together an experienced team to attempt the relay.
The expedition will be run through Irish and English, with support from Raidió na Gaelteachta.