[Closed] Open Water Swimming

Only used full wetsuit for swimming, but after the initial water down the back its fine. Enjoy!

Normally she swims with her friends, but obviously can’t at the moment, so I have been walking along the shore while she swims. These sunny evenings and views across the loch were enough for me to weaken enough to agree to it 😀

You do get used to it, but take it carefully at first - don't even think about diving in from a quay or whatever, cold shock response is a real risk (where you take an involuntary breath underwater due to the cold). Go in from the side, get some cold water splashed on your face, and maybe stick to breaststroke at the start.

Yeah that cold water shock sounds a bit nasty!

There’s a general rule of the number of minutes in = degrees in C of the water if you’re swimming skins. Wetsuit takes the edge off, reducing shock and temperature drop, but definitely enter water slowly and acclimatise rather than jumping in. You might also stay cold for a long time afterwards. If you have a look at the Outdoor Swimming Society website, they have a good section on ‘how to’

My missus was swimming (well - dipping) all through the winter in swimsuit - no wetsuit.  Gloves and socks are important. get proper swimming ones as they have a much closer fit and seal better (Lomo do good gloves, Zone 3 are also good).

I was supposed to be joining her but we've not been out due to lockdown.

PS - she is also a "heating on all the time" type.

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It's very likely that Loch Morlich was colder than Loch Linnhe 🙂

The first few open water swims I did I had a proper panic attack: heart rate shot up, shortness of breath, total panic and a real urge to get out of the water RIGHT NOW. Managed to pull myself together and not make a complete fool of myself, but it took at least 5 minutes of breaststroke to get used to the cold and start swimming crawl properly.

Not the best start to my first triathlon, must be said 😀

You should taser the wife and buy an Xbox instead.

While she’s swimming maybe?

I’ll check that site OSS site out, thanks.

Aye I would think so Colin, apparently it’s quite balmy here just now!

Yeah I’m planning on a crowd of no more than one mogrim 😀

My missus was swimming (well – dipping) all through the winter in swimsuit – no wetsuit.

Same here, MrsIHN loves it and is really missing it through lockdown.

Yeah I’m planning on a crowd of no more than one mogrim

Yeah but it's worse: it's your wife and you'll never live it down.

By that point she’ll have watched me get into a wetsuit. Anything after that will be tame by comparison.

There's more to it than just "cold shock response". There's what's called hydrocution here.

The blood near the surface cools quickly and the body fails to deal with it. It goes something like:

blood near surface cools quickly so teh extremities are shut down and blood directed to the core. Blood pressure rises as a result. As a response to the high blood pressure the heart slows down and the breain is less well supplied with oxygen and there's a loss of consciousness which results in drowning.

So even if you want to get into the water quickly to save someone you have to get in the water slowly unless you are feeling cold already or the water is warm.

There are many deaths in France every year, very often multiple deaths because people try to save others and suffer hydrocution themselves. Never dive in if you are hot, always take time to acclimatise. My rule is that I walk out slowly and when I start shivering it's time to swim.

I love open water swimming but do quite a lot of thinking before each swim.

Swam through the winter here too.
it isn't that bad if you go regularly, the cold still shocks you a bit but it is fun.
just make sure you are careful as it is easy to stay in too long.
you do get comedy shakes though.
River swimming is the one thing apart from seeing family that I have found myself missing the most

My wife swims in the rivers too but says they’re much colder. I suppose here it’s just snow melt!

Thanks Edukator, interesting read.

Tried it in October last year with a local club, water was about 15c I think. Acclimatised pretty quick and got my face in the water. It wasn’t too bad, but I did not like the restricted feeling of breathing with a wetsuit on.

My mate stuart runs this open water swimming coaching centre in pitsford northampton if anyones interested

https://theswimcube.com

Normally she swims with her friends, but obviously can’t at the moment, so I have been walking along the shore while she swims. These sunny evenings and views across the loch were enough for me to weaken enough to agree to it 😀

You what now? How is that viewed north of the boarder at the moment? V frowned upon down here amongst the swimming types. Friendships being permanently broken for those (very few) electing to continue vs those that say it is irresponsible. Or is this in a well out of the way spot?

Moving north in a matter of weeks and my wife especially is really missing her swimming. Am hoping that by the time we get to move swimming will be a thing again.

Haven’t heard any grumbles - and anyone who’s seen us knows who we are. I’ve not seen anything that says daily exercise can’t be swimming? Has there been?

She’s encountered less people in the water (none) than I have walking along the shore (occasionally someone is within yelling hello distance). Our village is on the side of a sea loch. Not seen anyone who doesn’t live here for four or five weeks.

Haven’t heard any grumbles – and anyone who’s seen us knows who we are. I’ve not seen anything that says daily exercise can’t be swimming? She’s encountered less people in the water (none) than I have walking along the shore (occasionally someone is within yelling hello distance).

All the swimming orgs (like the the OSS mentioned above) are asking swimmers and members not to. As are the rescue orgs. Same reasons all kayak clubs etc (inc the ones I know in Scotland) are telling members not to kayak. And its not cycling, walking or running. It's a combination of not wanting to encourage folk to flock to the standard spots and not wanting to put rescue crews into a position to not social distance if the worst were to happen for the sake of a spot of exercise.

I can see the other side - when I'm up in Scotland and I swim it's normally somewhere with literally no one for miles and miles and so far beyond rescue as to be irrelevant. But no, I'll not be swimming whilst the good folk like the OSS working for swimmer's rights don't want me to.

Yeah we do a fair bit of outdoor swimming (well either swimming or paddle boarding which usually ends up with an involuntary swim of some sort) been missing it in this glorious weather.

I doubt she’s seen any of that, I’ve never seen her on any of those websites. I’ll mention it.

At the moment she is swimming about five or six metres off the shoreline, where it’s shallow enough that she can stand up or I can wade in and drag her out. None of the usual stuff where they swim out to islands or from one side to the other. 10-15 minutes in the water.

I'm sure she is absolutely fine doing it - Not doing so in her position would be more about being seen to be doing the right thing and being in solidarity with broader 'collective' rather than increasing any sort of risk in any meaningful way. I've got a friend furloughed in Aviemore who from his Instagram feed is only out of the water (splashing about rather than swimming) when he is on his bike and gets nothing but envious comments.

I totally get where you’re coming from, it just never crossed my mind. And yes, others perceptions are important, perhaps more so when everyone knows each other!

As long as nobody tells the Polis!

Aye, they spoil everyone’s fun 🙂

Some areas have specifically prohibited swimming, specifically Dorset I think. Some areas have not. We have had police on the shore when when we’ve been in the water- all we got was a cheery ‘is it cold’ and left to crack on. Obs don’t post it on social media, then it never happened, and you don’t rub up those in the community here and abroad who don’t have access to water atm

My wife overheard a policeman on the shoreline muttering ‘FFS hurry up’ when she was swimming the other day. She wanted to make a complaint but I told her nobody would be interested.

That sounds like police harassment.

I hope he was disciplined.

He didn’t get any pudding.

River swimming is the one thing apart from seeing family that I have found myself missing the most

Seconded 🙁 have swum cold water skins (usually river) every month since January 2016 until now. Husband and I had to wade through a river on our bike ride yesterday under my navigation, marked as "ford" on the map I hadn't considered the reality of what that meant. It was thigh high and absolutely lovely... but has made me miss it even more!

Used to swim on hols in the Avon (Dartmoor) and also in the Dovey (Wales)

Tried swimming in recent years a few times in the Clun. Just in shorts in the summer. I take the inch-by-inch immersion approach and after 5 mins bobbing around it feels fine. Nothing better.

Downside - I noticed the river of course swells following rain over the Welsh uplands. At these times I also notice eyes stinging, and some weird foam floating by. Probably farm chemicals leaching or wotnot.

Shame really. Worth putting in the effort to know the water quality, IMO.

I've been watching the thread expecting to see some advice on managing risks or links to such. As there haven't been any I thought I'd try Googling in English and all I get are tips relating to race/triathlon/ actual swimming. So here's a few tips from a local perspective (SW France).

Currents. Currents can be bad news. Do some research about tides, tidal flows, river currents and wave action currents related to sand banks (Baïne in French). Throw a stick in before you get in and watch where it goes. If the current is faster than walking pace you won't be able to swim against it. The general rule when you find yourself in a current is to tread water to find where it's taking you and then swim at 90° to the current towards land.

Waves. Swim under them on the way out, you may have to do the same on the way back in - being dumped into the sea bed can be painful, ask any surfer. If waves are dumping on steep sand or shingle you may have trouble getting out as your feet get whipped from under you when you try to stand up. Swim until you're beached before trying to stand up. I watched a colleague trying to get out of the water during a storm in St tropez (the Med so not particularly big waves), it took him a long time to understand our shouts.

Water quality. I worked on Welsh Water's blue flag beach sampling. Water quality is sometimes lousy. The worst cases are Summer storms which carry all the shit that's accumulated in the sewers during low flow to the sewage works which are overloaded and dump the lot into the sea/river via overflows. Yuk, bacti/virus counts in very big numbers. Rivers draining agricultural land also get filthy following storms. Avoid swimming near river mouths or sewage outfalls at any time and especially after storms. One of the worst swims I've had was down the Adour in Bayonne triathlon in 1995 IIRC, the water was rank. It was also my second best ever triathlon swim, I just wanted to get out.

Avoid the sea, humans do not belong there.

Honestly I didn't even think about tips as not swimming at the moment.
the best place for tips is the oss website. Avoid the Facebook page as it is annoying

perchypanther: You should taser the wife and buy an Xbox instead.

Can we make this a STW sticky, it seems sensible advice?? 🙂

Whilst a shortie is a bit easier to get into and out of, ime, what matters more is how well a wetsuit fits you! A decently fitted modern full suit is easy to get on and off, and will keep you hugely warmer.

Warm of course is relative, some people (like skinny minny me) really feel the cold, some people don't seem too feel it nearly as much. Without wishing to be fatest, the biggger the person you are, the more fat you have, the less cold you'll feel, due to simple physics.

Being warm during a swim really does change it from a "how soon can i get out" to a "wonder what's round the bend / over in the next bay / down that little stream" kind if thing.

The only reason to take a thinner or smaller wetsuit is because you are walking miles to get to your swim imo.......

the more fat you have, the less cold you’ll feel, due to simple physics.

I may be a fat knacker - but that doesn’t translate to ‘fat knackers‘

Oof! #prunetime

Whilst a shortie is a bit easier to get into and out of, ime, what matters more is how well a wetsuit fits you! A decently fitted modern full suit is easy to get on and off, and will keep you hugely warmer.

I did think about this, but in the end decided that £50 spent (it’s c-skins so should still be reasonably decent according to herself) is not a disaster if I don’t like it.

If I do like it and am going to continue doing it, a full length one can be bought in the winter.

In either case, this one can be passed to my oldest boy for general beach/sea arseing about as he’s nearly the same size as me.

sea arseing

Wait what?

Sounds moderately offensive?

Probably is. He’s a teenage boy, so spends all day arseing around. His behaviour doesn’t change just because he’s at the beach. Regrettably.

Covid swim gossip from north of the border.

Apparently a group of swimmers have been meeting up on Nairn's east beach early in the mornings. Clearly someone dobbed them in or they were stupid enough to pu it on social media. Anyway, police were waiting for them yesterday morning and they all got fined. Not sure if it was for the swimming or the gathering. Assuming the gathering.

Border.

It's border.

There. You've finally broken me,

Soz - will go the back of the class....and stealth edit.

Not sure if it was for the swimming or the gathering. Assuming the gathering.

I’ll see if I can find out 🙂

No one's mentioned the cold shower technique?
I've heard it mentioned a lot - eg have cold showers at home to help get used to shock of the cold/breathing etc.

I've not had chance to test it out yet - any views on if it makes a difference or not?

It's certainly refreshing anyways!

Cold shower actually feels much colder than the river to new, got down to just under 6 degrees this winter and would far rather do 20 mins in that than a 5 minute cold shower

I only dabble in open water, I'm normally a pool swimmer but in the absence of other options open water will have to do.

One of our local open water venues has opened up (pre-book only) so I've swum a couple of times now. Ditched the wetsuit last time as I realise how much I hate swimming in it. Hopefully this should keep me sane until pools open again. Only issue now is swimmer's itch

Our first swim in nearly 3 months today. Along the bay and back in St Jean de Luz. Lots of people doing the same, surfers, paddles, aqua joggers... . Perfect weather, water warm for the time of year, perfect.

the more fat you have, the less cold you’ll feel, due to simple physics.

You have your physics and biology wrong. Fat is inactive material that effectively stores temperature, whether hot or cold. When you first get in to the water it may take longer to get down to the waters temperature, but it will do so, and once there it cold inside your body close to organs. And once you get out it takes longer to warm back up normal body tempreture.

But the biggest danger for us fatties when swimming outdoors in wetsuits, is when trying to get out after the swim, to have Greenpeace turn up and throw us back in.

I was wondering why I had seen lots of seals at the river recently

Fat is a good insulator not just a store, that's why sea mamals have lots of it. I don't and need water over 20°C to swim safely for more than a km. When I was down to race weight for duathlons (65kg 1m74) I had to swim flat out to stay warm in a pool at 25°C. At my usual 67-68 kg I'm happy in pools over 25°C but below that it's the cold that will eventually drive me out of the water rather than running out of swimming strength.

I hated triathlons without the wet suit especially in fresh water. Way back when the French Olympic distance championship had a 1500m swim down the Dordogne. They measured the temperature and declared it no wet suits declaring the water to be 18°C IIRC (nobody believed them, it was too convenient to have the minimum temperature for a no wet suit swim at the time). They had us treading water for about 5-10 minutes before firing the gun by which time I (and many others ) were gibbering and shouting at the officials, the most miserable triathlon swim of my life, I crashed into one of the kayaks there to guide us which din't help.

Swimmerists, open water wetsuit advice please. Any brands to look at over others? Are they all odd sizes c/w eg surfing wetsuits? Are they daft tight and thus should go up sizes? Clearly at the moment trying on is not possible as places are either miles away or closed.

Size guides from manufacturers are usually spot on in terms of height and weight ranges. I’ve got a couple of Speedo suits which for the money I can’t fault, seem robust and quick enough through the water. Done me well in open water events from a mile to 5km.

Couldn’t justify a Huub or similar top end suit as not that competitive.

Avoid non-swimming specific suits as are rubbish to swim in, buoyancy in all the wrong places and cut around the shoulder is all wrong for effective swim stroke.

Cheers, my height : weight range ratio doesn't quite fit most manufacturers charts, will try and contact some more and have a chat through their options.

Don't write off getting a second hand suit off ebay or similar! You can get some good quality stuff, perhaps with the odd nick or two (easily fixed with some wetsuit glue + Patch) and if you are not using it that often, save a lot of money compared to the new RRP!

Ok, sizing is obvs. a bit more of a gamble, but ime you can fairly easily sell any suit you buy on for what you got it for if it doesn't fit (just don't get into bidding wars and pay over the top for it and try to buy the odd auctions that finish at 11.37pm on a thursday eve rather than the weekend ending stuff !

Anyone been managing to keep up their swimming through the winter? It's been a bit of a challenge here at 60N, more so due to the usual winter winds and seas, but I've managed atleast one or two on a weekend.

The last couple of weeks we've had unusually still cold weather for here which has been great for chalmers seas and easier changing.

Heres on of my recent swims, only about 10mins in speedos and water temp between 5-6c at the moment...
Skellister swimbles

5-6C??  Lightweight.  😉

We ended up with cut legs after this one. With numb skin, we didn't realise we were bumping up against sharp chunks of ice when getting out of the loch.

Really loved the river swim. getting in and out without having to chop a channel is much more pleasant.

Looks nice and suitably cold.
Never swam at the part of the Feshie will, rectify that next time I'm up there though.
I've seen a few of Alice's pictures on Insta of her dips at Loch Insch!

[img] [/img]
Thats the 2nd of January - managing once a week so far this winter, but i'm at the point where id like to be able to actually swim a bit instead of bobbing about in ice holes trying not to get cut. Its actually hard work breaking inch thick ice when you cant touch the bottom!

I’ve seen a few of Alice’s pictures on Insta of her dips at Loch Insch!

Yeah, unfortunately I don't have a sledgehammer 🙂

Never swam at the part of the Feshie will, rectify that next time I’m up there though.

Easy entry and exit. Water level was very low last week but even then it was tough swimming towards the bridge. There are some very shallow "rapids" downstream so it's not like you could get swept away at current levels.

I'm going to head up to the pony bridge for a couple of dips this year. Possibly run up and back.

Excellent, great to see 😁

We've got lots of frozen lochs up here at the moment and even some part frozen View which is fairly unusual.

Surprising how much ice cuts isn't it? I remember really cutting my hands up years ago kayaking in a frozen lake. We didn't expect it to be frozen when. We left for it.

Yeah been swimming through. It got down to 3° on the great ouse down here a few weeks back.
Sadly no ice breaking and the rivers have been a bit stupid recently. No upstream swimming possible.

Nice outdoor swim today. 50m pool at 27°C.