wild swimming safety

[torpidcrystals]

We love to go kayaking or out on the SUP and have our regular places we go to but recently they have been places with people swimming.

We've been at one of our favourite places for kayaking this morning and two/three families were there when we got back but with no regard for safety as the parents were on the bank in picnic chairs reading or chatting and about 10 children were in the water. That spot is full of reeds under the water and the children called out to each other about it getting deep and it being full of weeds but the parents were taking no notice. We do go wild swimming ourselves but not in this spot because it does suddenly get deep (chest height for an adult in unexpected places) and there are a lot of weeds. It's got a sign on the noticeboard about not being safe to swim because of weeds.

Surely the main problem with the people you saw was that the parents were a bit crap?
We swim wherever we get the opportunity- the kids and DH wear wetsuits and buoyancy aids (I don't because I can't find one that fits me well enough not to restrict my swimming) and we have a first aid kit/ mobile phones/ check the area first etc etc etc.
It's an awesome activity and we all feel better for it. We also make sure we get in with the kids rather than sitting on the bank chatting.
Yes anyone can get into trouble in water at any time but I think if anything people should just be encouraged to be safety conscious rather than discouraged from doing it entirely.

We SUP/Canoe/Kayak most weekends and some evenings through the whole year and see people doing stupid and dangerous things in their boats but I wouldn't say that it should be banned entirely.

@drspouse

I swim in a local quarry which is a proper diving centre and has a swimming section, a diving section, and a requirement to take a spotter if you are swimming. I have taken DS who can swim well and he's only allowed to swim with a float. There are no tides/currents. We also swim in the sea but from well populated beaches and usually with DH on the land and me in the water with one DC (DD is not a strong swimmer and I'd only take her in if I had hands on her).

Nevertheless DS tried to grab me not the float at the quarry and someone had to help him get back on the float (the friend we were with). So we will continue to swim (with friends) but we know the dangers.

I used to swim at a local quarry which did open water swimming, sadly they have stopped it for the last two years and there is no sign of it opening again any time soon . There was an issue about having to wear wetsuits in winter, I know another quarry which doesn't insist on them in winter but's too far for us to travel to regularly.

Yes anyone can get into trouble in water at any time but I think if anything people should just be encouraged to be safety conscious rather than discouraged from doing it entirely.

Yes! That was my point, people were letting children swim without taking into account the dangers/risks and not bothering to supervise them properly. Wild swimming can be great fun but the people we saw this morning are the ones you read of drowning.

I hate that such a simple pleasure has become “marketed”.
Rather than “use common sense and think of what the dangers could be” suddenly there’s all this stuff about “proper wild swimming”. I bet you can even buy a magazine somewhere!
It was a real joy of my childhood to swim in open water or in a river pool. Obviously we didn’t take risks and felt the weight of being trusted. Now it’s all 1mm wetsuits (How would they help???) and terror of cold water shock in waist deep pools.
I get that accidents happen (mostly by people doing something daft). But reasonable precautions not this fear generated by marketeers.

I wonder if part of it is the greater tendency to travel. My mother and her cousin used to go off on their own and swim, in the nearby river, hang around the locks, lie on top of the weir and let the water run over them. They knew the place well, what was OK and what was not OK. Nowadays we have people getting into trouble because they're doing an activity they've done only a few times before, or swimming on a beach they've never been to before.

Saz12 YES!!!!!