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.

I’ve never tried this before. You’re all so brave! Well done to everyone getting out there in the water!

Fab swim this morning lowish tide& super calm just before the wind starts to build and expect it to be too rough all weekend. Even got my head back in for some FC and didn’t get ‘ice cream’ headache & numb face from the cold

Face in? Wow you are brave! I had a lovely early dip today too. The forecast for the weekend is ludicrously high seas so I don't think I'll get in again this week.

I’ve been pool swimming again @Barmbraic which has helped my FC confidence again and it felt lovely to be actually gliding along head in again. Took me 9 mins to get out to our swim Buoy Breaststroke head out and 3min to get back again doing FC loved it.

Lucky you, our pools aren't open til next month. I'm.hoping my stupid shoulder will be sufficiently improved to do some front crawl then. My aim for the summer is to get round a bouy that's approx 200m out. And back to 1k in the pool.

I had a gorgeous swim yesterday. I bumped into a friend and we were saying the water seems much more hospitable in the last week, even though the water is still hovering around 10c. Was hoping to get in today but the weather is miserable so I'm not. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. I might even brave putting my face in!

@Barmbraic sounds lovely I’ve not managed to get in this week at all felt quite poorly post covid vaccine and now this weekend there’s quite a swell/poor weather & a recent big sewage spill 😕so I’m avoiding until Tues/Wed now.

Oh no, sewage spill is gross. We get them mainly in the summer when there's unexpected heavy rain (it's Ireland, how is heavy rain unexpected, ever ). I think there were some gastro related hospital admissions last year because of them. I was in today and for 20mins! It was gorgeous, beautiful sunshine and a bit of a bobbing swell. The water felt colder than it did on Friday, definitely more of a shock getting in.

Nipped out for a quick early dip it was lovely after not being in for 8d I’d really missed it. The water was murky so I wasn’t too keen on much head in swimming. But a good start ahead of a busy day.

Looking for kit recommendations. I swim in our local river in the summer.

I’d like to be able to walk up river bank and swim back so want shorts or something that I can swim in, either on top of a swimsuit or with a short sleeved rash vest or tankini top or something?

Something I could also use doing things like paddle boarding maybe although the swimming is most important.

I want to be able to walk past the walkers and dogs without wobbling along in my swimsuit if that makes sense?

Of course ai could swim hard upstream and then back down instead.

Two bare feet do wetsuit separates or can you just throw a cheap towel poncho over the top? I got a £20 quick dry from amazon

You could Use a tow float dry bag to
Stow you tow poncho in if walking back after a swim.

Thank you SSwim. I have a tow float so a poncho could do the trick.

Will check out two bare feet.

Managed to find a sliver in the wet n windy weather for a dip this morning, still a murky sea.

Well done Biking. Glad you found a window. It’s a bit wild.

I'm jealous, SSwim. After a lot of rain here fince Thursday the powers that be are saying not to get in the water for a minimum of 48 hours so I'll probably leave it until Wednesday to be sure (there was a pretty bad smell when I cycled along the sea front earlier not envy)

I had a glorious swim this morning. The water had a bit of movement but much less murky than in recent weeks and Mediterranean blue skies. I really enjoyed it.

Torrential rain forecast for the next day at least so I snuck for a lovely swim earlier. The water was getting choppier even as I was in, apparently it was paddle boarding quiet just a couple of hours earlier.

I’ve been super lucky to swim the last two mornings at 7am lovely and calm and lots of folk out. After such a turbulent wet May it’s great to have calm conditions but I think by Monday more swell is forecast. I almost took my jacket it off I’ve not been in just my cossie since November but by June I will be I think

Made it five sea swims in a row this morning and second one in just costume, boots & hat definitely warming up now. Good to go early as beach was really getting busy and the main road in was gridlock most of the day. I’m lucky I can cycle down early and avoid the crowds.

That sounds lovely Biking. What part of the world do you swim? I have the fear of getting stuck in a wetsuit and flapping around wildly, unable to free myself as people watch on, so i don't use one . But the water is definitely getting warmer, I can stay in longer much more easily than even a couple of weeks ago. The rain wasn't as bad as forecast so I actually got in for a swim on Saturday. The water was very churned up though after being so clear recently. Hoping I'll get down tomorrow again.

I’m in Devon @Barmbraic so we gets lots of holiday makers. I’ve swam mostly since January with a wetsuit jacket which has been really good but it’s fab to ditch it again now. I’ve got a proper swim wetsuit but only use it for longer swims as it’s so buoyant in the hips I have to do face in front crawl or it hurts my lower back.

Had a wild swim yesterday we had to hike half hour up a remote hill to a hidden small quarry lake. It was fun to swim somewhere different on a hot sunny day.