Wild swimming

5 replies

Jaimx86 · 01/09/2017 07:36

Morning all!
I'm go for my first 'wild swim' tomorrow and wondered if anyone had any tips. I'm very excited!

Do you always take warm clothing to wear after? It should be a pretty warm day tomorrow so not sure what to take.
Also, what would be a good snack to eat before? I'm worried that the cold water might use up a lot of energy, but I don't want to feel full in the water.

Any other tips welcome

OP posts:

NeonFlower · 01/09/2017 08:14

Have fun, I would love to do more of this. This is meant as genuine advice due to my own experiences (kayaking) but not to put a dampener on things - Take along some anti bac or something so you can clean your hands properly afterwards, and food that you can eat without touching it if you are eating there. Loads of people get ill Kayaking if they go a lot (some rivers are worse than others) so I presume wild swimmers do too. Occupational hazard.

Original poster

Jaimx86 · 01/09/2017 09:06

That's a really good point! I was going to take face wipes to get any water off my face before travelling but didn't think about how clean my hands would be. Thanks.

OP posts:

waitingforlifetostart · 02/09/2017 18:28

Put some warm water (not hot) into a thermos so you can wash a bit afterwards or hot water in a hot water bottle so it'll cool down a bit while you're swimming. Anti bac for hands. Hot drink for afterwards .

Mrsjones17 · 02/09/2017 19:13

Tell someone where you are going and make sure it's safe (realise this could be sucking eggs sorry!)

Have you swam in open water before? It can be very cold and even more so on a warm day as the temperature drop is more noticeably. Consider wearing a swim hat keep the heat in. Make sure there isn't any strong currents and plenty of warm clothes for after even if it's a hot day. You can always take them off. Include a wholly hat until you have warmed up again. From kayaking days take a flask of hot squash you will probably want a warm drink and squash tastes ok even if it goes cool unlike tea.

Enjoy!!

couchtospecialk · 02/09/2017 19:20

Good for you OP. I've just bought a wetsuit off ebay recently to spur me on. Never swam in the wild before, no clue what I'm doing... Is it an organised event you're going to? Or on your own?

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