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.

still sea swimming average 3x a week some weeks more depends on work/tides & kids. After a few murky weeks we’ve had beautiful clear water this week so lovely to swim head in and see the bottom. I’m away at the moment & just visited a sea pool which I’d really been looking forward to but didn’t really enjoy as SO busy with screaming children. I’ll stick to local beaches here instead I think. Fab weather though. Hope everyone else’s gets a cold water fix this long weekend. 🧜‍♀️

The water is lurvely!

Been for some river and lake swims this week and the dragonflies are out.

Unfortunately yesterday the swans were also out and marauding around my exit point in the river so I decided to battle with nettles on the other side instead. I'm not playing with swans while treading water!

I did a river swim event last weekend, it was awesome. I’m kinda missing the cold now though. 😂 never thought I’d say that.

Glad you’re all enjoying your swims! I managed a dip on both hot days this week. In a river after a paddle outing on Thursday and in the usual lake Friday. Plenty of dragonflies and also swooping swallows. Even spotted some carp in the lake in the shallows this week!! 24.6° in the lake. Agree Billy I’m missing my cold water fix now too!!!

Going skins for the first time has felt pretty cool. I started last year in a shortie wetsuit that I already had.
I like the warm muscles, cool skin, warm air feeling. Not missing stabby-glass-face 😂 I struggle to swim far with my face out and it pulls my back easily.

I know what you mean I almost don’t enjoy sea swimming in August as it’s too warm, murky, seaweediee & jelly fish - mid-Sept it gets better again 😄I’m blessed though I can choose when to swim year round. I’m in costume now but still boots & gloves as bit nippy with no gloves.

I swam here, yesterday, 4 falls trail in Brecon Beacons. There was a group going past canyoning and one of the leaders said it was between 5 and 7, he was very wrong as no stabby cold face feeling, but I reckon around 12, so cold enough to get a cold fix, warm enough to feel ok.

I laughed at your thermometer description 😆yep at 7c it’s like stabby face icecream headache where as 12c is far more comfortable 😁looks like a lovely place to dip

I think it was 13⁰C where the cold set in, began limiting my swim time and I bought a full wetsuit, I don't get stabby face until under 10⁰C.

5⁰C is my coldest so far and I chose milder, calm days, but I do like at least 20-25 mins swimming. For travel to somewhere suitable (especially if paying) I want to last longer than 5-10 mins dipping.

Yes I do think as winter comes in there is a compromise between the quick cold dip and looking like a neoprene Eskimo to get some decent length in.

It's been warm water swimming this week 24⁰C 😂
The temperature difference of 15+⁰C has brought back a bit of "ooh" before realising that the water is actually like a tepid bath!

Get changed ready, drive to swim, get in and swim, come out an hour later, sit on towel and drive home. Faff free 🤣
It's taken about an hour less than my winter swims!

It’s stupidly warm isn’t it 😂I had no booties/ gloves just my pool cossie this morning left my bra on so cycled home in just t-shirt n shorts wet bra still wasn’t cold. No gloves, hat, thermals felt too warm tbh 😂

I've got tiny hands so I still use my webbed gloves. I've got some new neoprene booties, size 33/34! They're not the thickest being children's surf ones, but at the moment, they're good for getting in through the silty bit. When it goes cold, I might layer my thick but huge (allegedly S) ones over them. They gained so much spare water that must affect their insulation and my feet struggled with circulation last winter.

I’ve just been reading this thread since the start, and now I can join in - I did my first lake swim last night! Went with some friends and we bobbed around until it was almost dark. It was amazing, and now I’m eyeing up wetsuits (they have them in the middle of Aldi) as we’re seriously talking about making it a regular all year round thing 😱 I am a total wuss about cold water but I’m up for trying…!

Hello @Spudlet I had a lovely lake swim yesterday too.

An Aldi wetsuit is a perfect starting point, I’m nervous and excited for winter swimming it will be my second season. Last year we started in the summer with wetsuits, usually doing between 1k and 1.5k then taking the wetsuit off for a dip and a chatty lap. It got much quieter by the end of October by which point we were no longer doing the skins dip at the end, by the end of November we’d bought gloves and socks, by Christmas I had a ridiculous orange winter swim hat which made me look like a traffic cone. By February we were mainly doing breaststroke and bird watching as it was tough putting our faces in.

My aim this year is to get through October without wetsuit. By the end of April this year we were in skins.

I think though with cold water there are two different activities: getting in, in skins and facing the cold or getting in with wetsuit and accessories and swimming some distance. Both are fun and valid so maybe I’ll aim for twice a week and do one of each. 🥶

oh and I’m still a total wus and I stand there for ages before I have the courage to get in. I’d like to think I’m getting better but I’m really not.

I’m similar to @Billybagpuss started last year. I am breast stroke all year round.

I have to say I don’t enjoy the warmer months half as much as the colder months. Our lake has been as warm as 26’c and it just encourages weed and swimmers itch. I am hoping to swim skins until about 16’c but we shall see!

Re the wetsuit. I think you’ll find the Aldi wetsuit may rub when swimming any distance so it could be false economy……

Rocket science are a brand new to the UK and do a breast stroke swimming wetsuit. Not a bad price and some good reviews.

In colder months a lot of people swear by Zone 3 heat tech gloves and boots. They make such a difference!

I have to say I don’t enjoy the warmer months half as much as the colder months. Our lake has been as warm as 26’c and it just encourages weed and swimmers itch. I am hoping to swim skins until about 16’c but we shall see

and I’ll add swimmers to the list, I do enjoy an empty car park and not having to wait in line for my cuppa and bacon butty 😂

Hmmm, yes, I’m taking the Aldi suit back. I bought it to try on but it’s too short in the body (I’m tall) so it’s baggy under the arms and over my back. I don’t expect it to be perfect for the price, but it’s a bit too far off for comfort, I think. Going to keep an eye on Sport Pursuit for the next few weeks to see if they get any in my size. The trouble seems to be that as you get taller the manufacturers assume you must be broader as well - I’m not skinny but I’m quite flat chested so I have a feeling that the bigger ones will be too baggy.

Try a jacket @Spudlet i swim in winter in wetsuit jacket only from “two bare feet”despite having a swim specific wetsuit that costed 8x the jacket 😂 I bought a mens as needed a larger chest then sewed up the back to get the fit right on a normal sewing machine. Along with booties & hat in winter that’s fine with gloves.

They also sell various bottom separates if you want that to go with jacket

I got one of these for £25 in sale and trimmed the neck line to fit and shortened the arms just cut with scissors it’s been perfect through two winters www.amazon.co.uk/Two-Bare-Feet-Heritage-Watersports/dp/B077YPSQ45/ref=mp_s_a_1_36?m=A3SA14MQHYE305&qid=1659694617&s=merchant-items&sr=1-36

Thanks! I’m watching a couple of secondhand ones on eBay too 😊

I got a second hand blue seventy one from eBay, that came with a lovely message from the seller saying how she’d used it for iron man. If she’s on here it’s been well used and loved.

blue seventy are good as they really cater for the more curvy lady

I got one! I have a DHB Hydron on the way to try - I found a good review of it in a magazine online that reckoned it was a good entry-level suit, and the reviews on Wiggle were generally good too. So I bought what I think must be an ex-hire one (it’s from a triathlon equipment seller) and it’s on the way, and as they’re a shop I can send it back if it doesn’t fit. I’ve also joined the local Bluetits and found a few people
up for swimming in a river ten minutes from home after the summer holidays are done (the lake where we went last week is gorgeous, but it’s a 30 minute drive in each direction and that’s a lot of petrol at these prices). Hoping to go to the lake again this week though 😊

Yay well done @Spudlet

don’t forget there is zero way of getting into a wetsuit and looking dignified. I tend to put mine on at home rather than look a complete prat on the side of the lake 😂