Cold water swimmers including sea, lakes and rivers

[TriSkiRun99]

After sea swimming regularly since May I’m hoping to carry on. Is anyone else hoping to carry on open water or sea swimming through the winter? If you fancy supporting each other and sharing hints n tips come join me. I’ve just bought some socks and neoprene hat, I’m hoping to to stay in my cossie as long as possible but I do have a wet suit if I cave.

Had a lovely sunrise swim this morning was a tad cold scraping the car windscreen at -3c but once in the sea it was a lovely - really calm after the storm. Lots out swimming making the most of it.

That sounds lovely. I managed to get down this afternoon. I was the only one in the water but lots of people out walking. The forecast is very cold for the weekend so I'll have to see how brave I am tomorrow!

Lovely afternoon swim in shortie wetsuit so in for nearly 20mins but did feel quite chilled afterwards so may have been in abit too long, plus couldn’t resist a short burst of head in crawl. Flipping frozen face afterwards though cheap bottox

Stunning but very felt cold -3c air temp this morning really needed my shortie wetsuit but still there were ladies just in cossies and no gloves. My hands felt numb even in my gloves today! Reward was a beaut sun rise over the sea 😊I’m so loving my seawater therapy this winter I can’t believe I’ve not done it before.

Oh wow, -3?? What temperature was the water? That's super impressive. I would have loved to go today, it was a gorgeous day but despite there being not a breath of wind near me, there was a small craft warning on the weather forecast so I decided to give it a miss! It would have done me the power of good. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

The water temp has been consistently around 7c but I don’t know what it was yesterday it felt far colder than normal. Or I was definitely feeling it more. The rest of the week looks too windy maybe a chance Sunday sunrise I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

It was 10c warmer air temp than Monday and it felt like a bath 🤣in comparison on a grey gloomie sunrise this morning. Stayed in for 15mins in my new 3mm jacket and cossie. Nice to see several pairs of ladies all ages out swimming again. Needed that head reset as home schooling is not going well this morning with several melt downs from my youngest

I've been meaning to start up. We live about 5 mins from some lovely beaches, and I happily swim sans wetsuit for about 6 months of the year. I love the buzz of the cold, I just need to get motivated and organised, not sure the kids would be up for it. 😂

I take my youngest with me and she just plays on the beach for the 10-15mins I’m swimming. I can see her the whole time and when we go it’s nearly all older ladies some say hello to her on the beach, she’s 9yr though so quite independent. In the summer she comes in the sea too but it’s too cold for her at the moment.

Another sunrise dip this morning my 3rd this week think it must be the full moon effect was 11c air temp so positively balmy..

I seriously need to stop opening this thread, I’m so insanely jealous of you all I haven’t seen the sea for 12 months now.

Sorry billybagpuss to hear that. I’m lucky I live only 1.5m from the sea so it’s super easy for me to get there but I did move 15yrs ago changed jobs/ life from the city to achieve that. I hope you will be able to sniff the salty air this summer.

Couldn't swim last weekend because the river was in flood, just going down nicely and heavy rain last night has put it right back up again. Its not fair I wish I didn't live as far from the sea as it is possible to get

I'm quite envious of those by the sea. Haven't been able to get in the river for a few weeks now due to flooding.

I have been making do with dipping in a spare (cleaned out) wheelie bin. Water temperature has been down to 1.5 degrees.

The cold water wheelie bin is definitely too far for me! I bow to your incredible commitment and the temperature 👏

Weather has been absolutely dreadful here for the last few days (coastal flooding from the very high seas) so far too dangerous to risk a dip. It's been a week now since I was in and I really miss it 😢 a run in the cold, driving rain isn't the same.

I'd like to give open water swimming a try but our lake is closed at the moment due to tier restrictions. I'm going to start as soon as it opens as Ive been reading about open/cold water swimming and I'd really love to try it.

I'm a wuss when it comes to cold so I would like a wet suit but I'm a size 20 and the ones I've seen only go up to a size 12 so not sure where to look.

If you have any advice on wetsuits, or any other aspect of open/cold water swimming then Id really appreciate your thoughts.

TIA

Angbunnyboo you can get separate tops &shorts, look at two bare feet .co.uk they had men’s jackets selling off cheap I got one as I’m large chested and just shortened the sleeves with a normal sewing machine. It’s 3mm so allows me enough movement to do gentle swimming. A true swim wetsuit is normally £100+ min as it’s made differently to allow full movement but I’ve also got a cheap Tesco shortie that was a size 16/18 and does the job fine too. It’s more important you have a hat. Gloves and booties. Try looking on lomo. co.uk or even sports direct. Enjoy its great fun.

Planning to nip down for a sunrise dip if the wind has dropped off enough today.

I went down this morning for an early dip, I was really looking forward to it, but the sea was way too rough to be safe 😔 It's been about 10 days since I got in the water and I'm twitchy without it!

Angbunnyboo, you could also try Mountain Warehouse. They do cheaper end wet suits but my friend uses her shorty for sea swimming and finds it fine for up to 10 mins at the moment. Definitely get gloves and booties (I just use the MW sea shoes and find them fine) though, they make a big difference. And have a hot water bottle and mug of something hot for afterwards too. It's lovely to put on a jumper that's been wrapped around a hot water bottle.

That’s a shame mother, I nipped down this morning too & the sea was getting wilder by the minute with a super high tide so although some went out past the break line we didn’t & just whooped wave jumping which was a fun change to swimming normally it’s flat mostly calm where I swim. We rarely get waves that knock you off your feet but I did today, I’m also a scaredy-cat as I don’t like waves that much. Still it was a balmy 8c this morn air temp, jumping around up to our waists.

That sounds like loads of fun, Tri, I love those big crashey waves.

I got in this morning and I feel like a new woman after it. Water was about 6.5 and the air was about 7 so it was almost comfortable I finally got my Christmas present of a swimming mp3 player working and with me so I ended up staying in for longer than I have recently because I was distracted by what I was listening to.

Had a lovely swim tonight before sunset it was sunny and calm after a rainy grey day. We stayed in 20mins before I realised I was getting quite chilled but it was worth it . May get down again tomorrow at sunrise as the conditions look good before the cold hits again. So excited to still be swimming in February

Glad you music helped mother

I got in today too, Tri, it was lovely. It was short though as it was raining most of the day so I dipped in between showers. I was wet anyway but ds wasn't too impressed at being dragged out to sit on soggy rocks

The forecast storm is about to hit here and the sea was very choppy and crashy today. I enjoyed bouncing around for a bit but as the tide was going out and I was the only person in the water, I kept it very short. I'm not sure the weather will allow a swim again for the next week or so. I hope you managed to get in too, Tri.

I went in this morning it was super calm today as no wind but the strong winds are hitting tomorrow for another unsettled week. I managed 4swims this week and last week it’s been my lifesaver rebalancing from life stress this winter glad you got in mother

We have a marina lake here would that be any good for a total novice come the summer?