# Open water swimming



## steve292 (16 Dec 2015)

Hi,
I am looking for open water swimming groups in North Somerset or South Bristol & they seem to be thin on the ground......anybody know of any?


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## DaveReading (16 Dec 2015)

http://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/


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## Sharky (17 Dec 2015)

Was having a coffee in a cafe overlooking Dover Bay on Monday and spotted a swimmer going up and down the bay. Looked really cold, but really impressive. More than I could do.


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## jay clock (17 Dec 2015)

This time of year will be quiet. My tri club has 2 out of 100+ who do OW over the winter.

Look for a tri club would be my suggestion


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## Gert Lush (30 Dec 2015)

steve292 said:


> Hi,
> I am looking for open water swimming groups in North Somerset or South Bristol & they seem to be thin on the ground......anybody know of any?



Do you train in Marine Lake by any chance? I see a lot of swimmers out there.


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## steve292 (31 Dec 2015)

Gert Lush said:


> Do you train in Marine Lake by any chance? I see a lot of swimmers out there.


No........& I won't be at this time of year either I am looking for a group really.
I can swim in water that I know well in pembrokeshire in the spring, but ideally I am looking for a local group.
Weston AC has a tri group within it, I was talking to one of them at hutton moor recently.
It won't be an issue until the spring, I'm staying in the pool until then.


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## Gert Lush (1 Jan 2016)

steve292 said:


> No........& I won't be at this time of year either I am looking for a group really.
> I can swim in water that I know well in pembrokeshire in the spring, but ideally I am looking for a local group.
> Weston AC has a tri group within it, I was talking to one of them at hutton moor recently.
> It won't be an issue until the spring, I'm staying in the pool until then.



Oh I didn't mean at this time of the year! That would be madness! 

I was just curious really because I see a lot of swimmers in there because it is tidal so I was guessing that it would be good practice for open water swimming.

Weston AC is good, I actually work with one of the people who runs it. Definitely the biggest club in weston so should have plenty of people in it who want the same thing as you. Enjoy


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## Ian A (9 Mar 2016)

If you facebook you could try the Outdoor swimming society group. Members should be able to point you in the direction of local groups if there are any where you live.

Swimming in winter is not madness! It is a bit more specialist but what stemmed from curiosity is now a hobby for me. I'm a wuss swimming in a wetsuit, good hat, gloves, boots etc. It's the swimmers in normal swimming costumes who are the hardy ones.


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## Stephenite (12 Mar 2016)

I was chatting with a chap at the (indoor) pool the other day. Now, i very much like swimming and having a splash about in the sea and lakes, but i can get nervous sometimes - you know the feeling, perhaps, when you wonder what it is that is below you in the deep and the dark. He said he's been swimming in small tarns in the mountains, here in Norway, and come across skeletons of deer (with horns), and so on. I'm glad he shared that with me.


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## LocalLad (12 Mar 2016)

I think I should be good at open water swimming...I've enough blubber, in practically a seal


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## Tin Pot (12 Mar 2016)

Stephenite said:


> I was chatting with a chap at the (indoor) pool the other day. Now, i very much like swimming and having a splash about in the sea and lakes, but i can get nervous sometimes - you know the feeling, perhaps, when you wonder what it is that is below you in the deep and the dark. He said he's been swimming in small tarns in the mountains, here in Norway, and come across skeletons of deer (with horns), and so on. And glad he shared that with me.



Yeah, not to put you off but a guy died during a triathlon in my local lake last year. And it seems it took them a while to find him.

It will be playing on my mind come April, but honestly a lake swim with the sun shining, rising or setting is amazing. It's like suddenly being on holiday for an hour or so.


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## screenman (12 Mar 2016)

Tin Pot said:


> Yeah, not to put you off but a guy died during a triathlon in my local lake last year. And it seems it took them a while to find him.
> 
> It will be playing on my mind come April, but honestly a lake swim with the sun shining, rising or setting is amazing. It's like suddenly being on holiday for an hour or so.



I swim open water at 30c from May onwards, early mornings are magic.


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## Stephenite (13 Mar 2016)

screenman said:


> I swim open water at 30c from May onwards, early mornings are magic.



Below is my fave/local saltwater swimming spot. We are going to have to wait until a bit later in the year.


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## slowmotion (13 Mar 2016)

Stephenite said:


> Below is my fave/local saltwater swimming spot. We are going to have to wait until a bit later in the year.


I always thought that thrashing yourself with birch twigs made conditions like that seem positively tropical.


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## Stephenite (13 Mar 2016)

slowmotion said:


> I always thought that thrashing yourself with birch twigs made conditions like that seem positively tropical.


Meet our friend Mr Eckhoff


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## Tin Pot (14 Mar 2016)

Stephenite said:


> Meet our friend Mr Eckhoff



Is he ill?


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## Ian A (14 Mar 2016)

Stephenite said:


> I was chatting with a chap at the (indoor) pool the other day. Now, i very much like swimming and having a splash about in the sea and lakes, but i can get nervous sometimes - you know the feeling, perhaps, when you wonder what it is that is below you in the deep and the dark. He said he's been swimming in small tarns in the mountains, here in Norway, and come across skeletons of deer (with horns), and so on. I'm glad he shared that with me.



One of the places I swim is a scuba diving lake. The water quality is excellent and in winter you can see the divers below you. The divers are a friendly bunch so hopefully I won't get grabbed from below as a wind up .


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## Ian A (14 Mar 2016)

This guy is pretty amazing.


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## Tin Pot (14 Mar 2016)

Anyone know of any open water swimming around the M25 J10,9,8?


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## Ian A (17 Mar 2016)

I'd try the outdoor swimming society for this one. Hopefully plenty of people who can recommend something.


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## jay clock (17 Mar 2016)

Tin Pot said:


> Anyone know of any open water swimming around the M25 J10,9,8?


This is a list some of which are vaguely there https://www.nowca.org/LakeDirectory


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## Stephenite (18 Mar 2016)

Anyone been swimming in the great outdoors this year? If not... 

Who's going to be the first?


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## Tin Pot (18 Mar 2016)

Stephenite said:


> Anyone been swimming in the great outdoors this year? If not...
> 
> Who's going to be the first?



I have some scuba gear I could add on, but...I don't think so!


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## Ian A (21 Mar 2016)

Stephenite said:


> Anyone been swimming in the great outdoors this year? If not...
> 
> Who's going to be the first?



Regularly through January and November/December last year. I wore a wetsuit, plenty didn't . Not done any since Feb as I've upped the bike mileage considerably and need my Sunday mornings for that instead..


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## Stephenite (21 Mar 2016)

Kudos @Ian A


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## Dayvo (21 Mar 2016)

Stephenite said:


> Anyone been swimming in the great outdoors this year? If not...
> 
> Who's going to be the first?



Me! 

Winter swimming in the Arabian Sea. Water temperature of 28 degrees, air temp. 35.

https://www.google.no/maps/@14.9774143,74.0373373,4472m/data=!3m1!1e3

From the top of Patnem Beach to the the top of Rajbag Beach most mornings (25-35 mins) and occasionally to the bottom of Rajbag Beach (just over an hour). Have done to the return leg, too, but it takes a long time and my goggles steam up.


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## Stephenite (1 Jun 2016)

I took my first outdoor swim this year this evening. I'm such a wuss! The top few inches of the water was 20 degrees C... and i still used a wetsuit! 

Having said that this was the first time i've used a wetsuit. I was expecting SOME bouyancy but I was surprised that i could just lie there in the water. I swam across the lake (Ulsrudvannet to the cognescenti, about a hundred metres across and 300 long) a couple of times and swam about a bit. I was quite tired (kids are keeping me up at night) so it was a short splash about. Got to get out more often if i'm going to complete the tri i signed up for.

Happy after this evos trip though


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## slowmotion (1 Jun 2016)

Even bass and mackerel bottled out of entering Cornish waters a few weeks ago. Even though we had our wetsuits, we felt the need to express our solidarity.


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## fimm (2 Jun 2016)

I've been in the local reservoir (with a group) a couple of times now. Wetsuits, of course, but it was still quite chilly...

Racing a triathlon in Shropshire at the weekend, a couple of people near me were muttering about the cold water (it was 15 degrees, allegedly). 
"I'm from Edinburgh," said I, "and this is not cold!"
"I'm from the Channel Islands," said someone else, "and it is!"


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## snorri (2 Jun 2016)

UOTE="Tin Pot, post: 4194833, member: 33167"]Is he ill?[/QUOTE]
Maybe, but certainly the best seal impersonator I've seen.


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## Ian A (24 Nov 2016)

Is anyone still swimming open water? I decided to try none wetsuit for as late in the year as possible this winter. Started non wetsuit in the summer and stuck with it. I'm just about hanging on in my swim jammers and single silcone cap. The air temperature makes a big difference. I did 40 min in the water around 10 degrees twice this week but only managed twenty minutes at 5.7 degree water at the weekend with 1 degree air temp and was suffering at the end. It also takes a surprising amount of energy to warm up after. I'm fine swimming then running or cycling normally and have cycled an hour each way to open water swimming in the past. Warming up after a cooler swim takes some effort from your body. Going from a swim to a league XC running race turned out to be a terrible idea .


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## jay clock (24 Nov 2016)

Ian A said:


> Is anyone still swimming open water? I decided to try none wetsuit for as late in the year as possible this winter. Started non wetsuit in the summer and stuck with it. I'm just about hanging on in my swim jammers and single silcone cap. The air temperature makes a big difference. I did 40 min in the water around 10 degrees twice this week but only managed twenty minutes at 5.7 degree water at the weekend with 1 degree air temp and was suffering at the end. It also takes a surprising amount of energy to warm up after. I'm fine swimming then running or cycling normally and have cycled an hour each way to open water swimming in the past. Warming up after a cooler swim takes some effort from your body. Going from a swim to a league XC running race turned out to be a terrible idea .


#nutter
I struggle in trunks under 20 degree water temp!


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## DaveReading (24 Nov 2016)

steve292 said:


> I am looking for open water swimming groups in North Somerset or South Bristol & they seem to be thin on the ground......



But quite bulky in the water, what with wetsuits and so on ...


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## Tin Pot (25 Nov 2016)

Ian A said:


> Is anyone still swimming open water? I decided to try none wetsuit for as late in the year as possible this winter. Started non wetsuit in the summer and stuck with it. I'm just about hanging on in my swim jammers and single silcone cap. The air temperature makes a big difference. I did 40 min in the water around 10 degrees twice this week but only managed twenty minutes at 5.7 degree water at the weekend with 1 degree air temp and was suffering at the end. It also takes a surprising amount of energy to warm up after. I'm fine swimming then running or cycling normally and have cycled an hour each way to open water swimming in the past. Warming up after a cooler swim takes some effort from your body. Going from a swim to a league XC running race turned out to be a terrible idea .



Whilst I admire the bravado I'm not sure these efforts actually improve your swimming..!


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## Ian A (30 Nov 2016)

It's just an exercise in seeing if I can adapt more than anything else while I have the opportunity to try it. In cold water you slow down significantly without cold adaptation and a lot of the triathlons I do have colder swims so it helps from that perspective. I've put on weight on purpose but looking at the swimmers who are better in the cold than I am it wasn't really necessary, more another way to deal with my concerns. I've also found out I'm still in the realms of normality in this type of swimming. The people who can swim a mile in water under 5 degrees (lots of people can and that is apparently nothing special! ) are the ones who are the hardy ones. I don't see me doing that any time soon!


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## Stephenite (23 Dec 2016)

Here's a little video of a bloke who swims long distances. Martin Strel.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLtAsC2smfo


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## Ian A (31 Jan 2017)

Stephenite said:


> Here's a little video of a bloke who swims long distances. Martin Strel.
> 
> 
> View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLtAsC2smfo




That's crazy! Very impressive.

I had a go at some of the events in the big chillswim at LAke Windermere in December and saw Sean Conway there who is another impressive athlete. I kind of expected him to be 10 feet tall but was a normal looking guy who does impressively tough challenges.


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## Stephenite (1 Aug 2020)

Went for a dip yesterday. COLD. It was bearable if you moved about but after 100m of crawl i had to come out. Getting brain freeze.

Fevik, southern Norway


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## jay clock (1 Aug 2020)

Stephenite said:


> Went for a dip yesterday. COLD. It was bearable if you moved about but after 100m of crawl i had to come out. Getting brain freeze.
> 
> Fevik, southern Norway
> 
> View attachment 539154


gorgeous. I swam in a lake at Reading next to the M4 today. Swap you?


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## Stephenite (6 Sep 2020)

My 9 year-old boy has been taking swimming classes the past couple of years. He loves it and i'm so happy.

The classes closed in March because of corona and, now, they've started up again. The thing is there are very few pools open so kiddo's class has been moved to the local fjord! In september!  He isn't looking forward to it at all.

Today, i bought him a towelling dressing gown - as i understand the kids only spend about 15 minutes (of the total 40) in the water.

I am expecting a bit of resistance tomorrow so it's going to have to be hot choco in a flask and, perhaps, bringing the cheapo action cam as bribes. Though i suspect he is going to invoke 'the bond of brothers' - this means if he goes in I go in.


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## clid61 (7 Sep 2020)

Ennerdale water near me


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## screenman (7 Sep 2020)

Just finished an open water swim in the dark, well maybe not quite open water but it was an outdoor pool. Woodall Spa if anyone knows the place.


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## Stephenite (13 Sep 2020)

Stephenite said:


> My 9 year-old boy has been taking swimming classes the past couple of years. He loves it and i'm so happy.
> 
> The classes closed in March because of corona and, now, they've started up again. The thing is there are very few pools open so kiddo's class has been moved to the local fjord! In september!  He isn't looking forward to it at all.
> 
> ...


The outdoor classes are finished now. Due to illness - having a cold one time and the squits the other - of the total three outdoor classes kiddo only managed to attend one and that was today. He was the only kid who turned up from his group. A couple of kids from two other groups were there, and the instructors did a great job. The water temp in the fjord was, probably, 16C. We were in the local lake yesterday and that was a couple of degrees cooler. 2 degrees makes a big difference.

Indoor classes start up in a couple of weeks for the lucky few. The many school pools are not open, but the few public pools are, and it's a first come first served basis. I've managed to get kiddo in at the nearest pool.

The school starts swimming classes this week too. Kiddo is really looking forward to it. I think he's looking forward to showing his schoolmates he is good at sports _too_! Most of his mates are into football but he just doesn't get it and would rather spend his freetime at school playing 'fantasy games'. His mother doesn't want him to show off in case others might feel small but, i say it's OK to show off if you are good at something - enjoy it. Just don't make fun of those who aren't so good. My dad's mates used to call him Mark Spitz so this swimming thing might be in the genes. It just seems to have hopped over me.


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## SWSteve (30 Dec 2020)

steve292 said:


> Hi,
> I am looking for open water swimming groups in North Somerset or South Bristol & they seem to be thin on the ground......anybody know of any?



Did you find any? Going to have to sort some OW swims in/nr wsm in March and April nxt year


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## steve292 (30 Dec 2020)

SWSteve said:


> Did you find any? Going to have to sort some OW swims in/nr wsm in March and April nxt year


Search on FB for these supermares or these Class. I swim in the Marine lake in Clevedon there is also a group called the Mudlarks that are trying to get the Marine lake in Weston back up as a swimming venue.


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## SWSteve (31 Dec 2020)

steve292 said:


> Search on FB for these supermares or these Class. I swim in the Marine lake in Clevedon there is also a group called the Mudlarks that are trying to get the Marine lake in Weston back up as a swimming venue.



cheers


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