Their shared passion for outdoor swimming dates back to the 1950s when lidos were popular gathering spots, particularly for teenagers, and Bob and Dave were very much a part of that scene. Today the two are still keen open water swimmers. And they needed to be. With the lidos on their list stretching from Penzance in Cornwall to Stonehaven in Scotland, their adventure took some serious logistical planning. It was to be a long and winding journey – in Scotland alone they covered 1400 miles.
By comparison the swimming was the easy part. And there was pleasure to be found not only in the water, but also in the architecture, the warmth of welcome they received and the wonderful sense of community that each lido possessed. The pair are urging people to discover their local lido, swim in it and cherish it, and be ready to protect it from council cost cutting exercises. Here’s to the British lido remaining alive and well for today’s teenagers to enjoy in another 50 years time.
Contributions from Bob Holman
February 2009
Usually coming home from a swim, it’s possible to reel off a list of wildlife that’s swum or paddled past… but not everything you encounter in the water is so pleasant. This month, we’re looking at some of the most common causes of water pollution, and what you can do to keep your swimming water clean.
Prevent plastic pollution
Every year, Britons use over 8 million single-use plastic bags. Many of these will end up in landfill – taking hundreds of years to biodegrade – and many more will end up in our rivers and seas. While the average (human) swimmer can easily identify a bag, dolphins, whales and turtles have all been found to mistake them for jellyfish. Sadly, over 100 thousand marine mammals and turtles are estimated to have died after eating or becoming entangled in plastics.
It’s not just bags that are a problem though: plastic bottles and Styrofoam cups have all been found on remote Arctic beaches, having been swept across the seas on strong currents. (http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/trashing-our-oceans/ocean_pollution_animation?12)
Cutting down on plastic use is one huge step you can take to help keep your water clean. Bags for life are readily available from supermarkets, and there are many other ‘eco bags’ to choose from if you want something more stylish (my personal favourite – the ONYA bag http://www.onyabags.co.uk). As for bottled water – save both money and resources by buying and refilling your own bottle.
Save the seas from sanitary waste
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) estimates that around 2 billion sanitary protection items such as condoms, tampons, razors and cotton buds are disposed of in loos each year. This includes 2.5 million tampons, 1.4 million sanitary towels and 0.7 million panty liners that are flushed every day,4 and literally thousands of cotton buds: during an MCS beach clean in 2007, more than 16,000 cotton bud sticks were found on 354 beaches.
When it comes to sanitary waste, the simplest solution is bag it and bin it… if it hasn’t been through you, don’t put it down the loo! If you’d like to cut down on landfill too, biodegradable cotton buds are available, as are re-usable sanitary products such as the Mooncup http://www.mooncup.co.uk and washable pads http://www.femininewear.co.uk.
Ditch detergents
While it’s undeniably nice to have a sparkly-fresh home, some of the products we use for everyday cleaning can have a devastating impact on our waterways. Although most ingredients of chemical cleaners get broken down in sewage plants, others persist and go on pollute our waterways. Phosphates, which are used in detergents to boost washing performance, persist even in treated sewage and when released into watercourses can cause vast blooms of potentially toxic algae. Such blooms not only suffocate fish and poison water fowl, but can be dangerous to humans as well – and who wants to swim in a river of sludge?
It is estimated that dishwashing detergents are responsible for around 25% of phosphate release, so switching to an phosphate-free version, such as Ecover (http://www.ecover.com/gb/en/) could have a significant impact. Laundry powder is another contributor to phosphate discharge, and a number of supermarkets now stock phosphate-free powders. Laundry balls {http://www.nigelsecostore.com/acatalog/eco-balls-wash-kit.html} are another alternative and while their initial cost is relatively high, they last for ages and do manage to clean even the muckiest of sports kits.
Claire Inness
Posted December 2008
References
1. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/polythenes-story-the-accidental-birth-of-plastic-bags-800602.html
2. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex?MM_URL=http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/our-oceans/pollution/trash-vortex#
3. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/trashing-our-oceans/ocean_pollution_animation?12
4. http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/cmenvtra/149/149mem05.htm
5. www.mcsuk.org/newsevents/press_view/236
6. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/chemicals/legislation/detergents/reports/com_2007_234_en.pdf
Since it's inception the OSS has made members aware that to keep enough water in rivers and lakes to keep them healthy (for fish and people) we need to pour less down our drains.
In December 2008 we made water use the focus of our OSS December Dip, publishing the '12 water saving ways of Christmas' with Waterwise (see news below to check what you can do). So we're delighted that this looks to become a major issue for the general public next year: the Environment Agency are about to publish a report that clarifies the state of the problem and looks at measures to protect the natural resource under threat.
According to the report, half of England and Wales now live in areas of water stress, where supply might not keep up with demand, and people are using far too much water - 148 litres each a day. up to 170 in the south-east, compared to the government target of 130.
Over-abstraction of water from rivers and lakes to feed the publics use for water leads to low levels of waterflow in natural environment, threatening wildlife (and challenging swimmers). There are issues with companies and utilities, but the key thing is that most people could get down to target amounts by reducing their water waste today - just little things like not running the tap when brushing your teeth (saves 6 litres), installing a saver flush, filling washing machines full rather than doing half loads and using a dishwasher rather than washing dishes by hand can reduce use to target amounts... before you even get on to less water-wasting ways to wash cars, have a beautiful garden, or lifestyle changes like installing a water meter or taking more showers and less baths.
The EA identifies 10 rivers where summer flows are expected to drop dramatically:
- Thames
- Severn
- Wye
- Mersey
- Medway
- Stour
- Exe
- Humber
- Trent
- Tamar
Read the whole story in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/29/water-shortage-england-wales-meters
Pictured: swimmers enjoying the Thames, the number one river under threat from over abstraction.
Kate Rew, 29th December 2008
- Celebrate and enlarge the beauty of every day possible by going for a nice long outdoor swim.
- Use less water.
- Sign up to some swim events and come and say hello to other OSS people when you’re at them. Swimming outdoors is a curious mixture of the solitary and sociable: you’re both on your own and having your own experience, and doing something that is best shared (for safety and bravery). It’s been so under the radar in recent years we need to share how and where to do it, to increase the type of swims we go on.
- Spread the joy: wherever possible take your socks off, put your cossie on and wade in: in 2009 take people, dogs and children swimming.
- Be expansive: pass on newsletters, take nervous beginners for their first dip and organise a Big Jump (see national swim list) or river picnic. In our experience creating a local group takes time and careful nurturing, you won’t go from you to you plus eight great swimming friends in a weekend, but once you find kindred spirits it’s great - some days you make the plan, other days they’re the ones with the motivation or map saying ‘shall we go swimming?’.
- If you are part of a triathlon club, masters club or other social group, please tell them about the OSS site and newsletters.
- Send in a swim entry to the swim map. If every OSS member took 20 minutes to send in a swim map entry or event, we’d all have another 4000 to choose from next year… There are so many thousands of great places to swim in all weathers, seasons and times of day, that even if you put a swim on the map hoping to be sociable, you’d be unlikely to encounter someone there. Kate has shared her regular swim with about 10 national newspapers, the book, Radio 4 (twice), OSS swimmers and multiple regional radio stations and crowds of new moon swimmers, and has never actually bumped into another swimmer in it she didn’t bring with her. So loosen up. If wild swimming ever did start to ruin itself, it’d probably be about 2040 and we can always take down the map.
- Adding your pictures and videos to OSS Facebook.
by Kate Rew
Posted January 2009
- Project manager for new OSS website. The OSS has expanded and changed beyond the capacity of it’s original website. We have very limited funds and need a savvy website project manager to work out what we need now (technically rather than visually), and oversee either development of the current site to meet new requirements or the switch to a new (perhaps off the peg) CMS. Competent confident problem solver needed to take charge.
- Facebook-website coordinator. Spend a lot of time on Facebook? Happy to spend more? We need someone to post OSS website stories on to Facebook, and keep an eye on discussion threads and write monthly news report for the site. Also, the OSS is a page on Facebook, not a group – the coordinator needs to look at changing the status, or starting again for 2009 to expand the OSS’s reach (we believe it’s harder to find currently and doesn’t show up on people’s pages).
- Picture editor. To create libraries of OSS pics sent in by members, supply images for news stories and update online gallery and header images. Will need ready access to email.
- Head of blogs. We would like a blog area as part of the OSS site, which shows swimmers faces, names and a brief profile (which can be updated by the member to include their recent highlights). Someone needed to design, suggest and implement solution.
Most of us would swim outdoors more often if we knew more great places near us to swim, received more invitations to swim with people who had a plan, and knew more people likely to email saying ‘fancy a swim?’. The OSS is working to make all this a reality, by networking swimmers.
SOCIAL SWIMS: In 2008 we started networking swimmers on Facebook and places on our online swimming map, and members held the first few ‘OSS Social Swims’, which are peer led swims where everyone swims within their own capabilities and at their own risk. Organising a social swim is a bit like holding a party – quite a lot of work creating something people want to do and getting a good mix of people along; more fun for the passengers than the host on the day, but ultimately a great social event that’s self-generating and has it’s own rewards (like receiving more swim invitations yourself).
But every great thing starts small – the Loony Duke swim, which now attracts thousands of swimmers and supporters on New Years Day in the River Firth, Scotland, started 20 years ago with a bet between two blokes in the pub trying to think of something that would make the day special – a ‘I’ll do it if you do it’ situation.
We hope to see a lot more social swims in 2009, like those this year which included:
- The Burgh Island swim, organised by Kate Rew and Kari Furre, with 15 swimmers on the loose around Devon for the weekend. Not everyone made it, but everyone had fun. (See story on the old news pages).
- The OSS Coniston swim, organised by Bryn Edwards and Steve Hall, with 30 swimmers doing up to 5km in the lashing rain in autumn. Again, there were some turners-backers, something to do with giant waves in a boat yard, but deemed a triumph by everyone.
- Thames full moon swims, organised by Michael Worthington and Kate Rew, with numbers reaching 26 swimmers in the dark in September (yes, there were moon shadows)
- The first OSS festive dip on Boxing Day, led by Sarah Tunnicliffe into the North Sea. Sure to become a regular fixture, says Sarah.
- Thurlestone Gap, Devon, New Years Day swim, organised by Sophie Pierce and her band of Devon swimmers. Midday.
How we can help: if you are serious about organising a social swim, we will endeavour to write a rough draft of an information pack on things we’ve learnt doing them ourselves.
SET UP THE FIRST OSS RIVER/LAKE SWIMMING CLUB? In 2009 we hope to see an increase in social swims and warmly encourage some enterprising OSS members to set up the first new river or lake swimming club in decades – there used to be hundreds all around the country, but now only a few are left. (Read the entries on Henleaze, Farleigh and Newnham in Wild Swim to see how special they are).
How we can help: If you’re serious about a river or lake swimming club, the Right to Swim is already on working on drafting blueprint paper work if you have a friendly landowner to approach.
REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES: How great would it be if someone in your county sent you monthly emails with a list of dates, places and times that people were going outdoor swimming? Pretty great, we think, so warmly invite members who have this kind of set up going on with friends already to extend it to other members. We propose that the regional representatives would send either people who subscribe or everyone in our database in their county, an email – but if you want to develop a system and be the first, then lets talk about how to work it. .
London based artist and health-worker Imogen Eastwood, who some of you may have met at the OSS December Dip, has created three beautiful light boxes inspired by a passion for outdoor swimming. The objects are a combination of her own photographic images and three re-claimed hospital x-ray light boxes. They are suitable for any interior and use daylight equivalent bulbs that give out a gentle and atmospheric light. Each light box may be used as a light source when switched on and seen as simply a photograph when switched off.
The perfect present for the dedicated outdoor swimmer………..
Light box dimentions: 74.4cm x 55.5cm x 15.5cm
For sale at £600 each.
Please contact imogen_eastwood@hotmail.com or tel: 07967812347 if you would like to see more images and the light boxes themselves.
“I took these photographs on a visit to the mixed pond at Hampstead Heath. I go there to immerse myself in the brown water and sun, to feel alive and alone. I go there to allow my senses to gorge. I like how my skin becomes dirtied with algae and my hair skims the leaves from the waters surface. I like to pound my way up and down the length of the pond, turning, with lungs about to burst and kicking off against the slimy metal steps of the jetty. Then, as I glide, I open my eyes underwater to look for the shards of mollases light slicing through the soup. And as the water fills my ears and muffles the sounds, the rest of the immediate world retracts. The extreme physical sensations overwhelm and quieten the chatter in my mind and the pond becomes a therapeutic place.”
Imogen Eastwood
Posted December 2008
The OSS December Dip has now happened and was a great success: about 100 swimmers, high spirits, bright sunshine, 4 degree water, a chance to meet and talk to outdoor-water lover and Olympic 10k bronze medallist Cassie Patten, and a large joint plunge.
The water was so cold/rejevenating/ delightful that Cassie Patten commented that she forgot how to swim... she's the one in the foreground of the pictures and youtube video [to come] in the blue goggles not swimming but gasping as chaos happens behind.
As the 100 swimmers lined up on the pool there was a general sense that no one knew why they were but group high spirits had taken over. Well, we did it to celebrate swimming and to get the message across that we should use less water - hear the preamble on BBC London (minute 12).
Here’s the story from Madeline Willis who attended, and a few emails from members:
“On 6 December eighty or so giddy friends of the Outdoor Swimming Society arrived en masse at Parliament Hill Lido to meet Olympic medalist Cassie Patten and freeze their baubles off in the annual December Dip.
Some brave souls were there in the name of discovery and endurance; others in pursuit of outright frivolity. One described it as a bit like going back for seconds of your favourite pudding when you’re already full. You don’t especially want to, and you certainly don’t need to. But you still find yourself doing it, just because you can.
Cassie gave us a mental warm up and stoked the fire in our bellies with her story of claiming bronze in the Beijing 10k open water swim. Like all good coaches she then set us a goal for our swim; to complete a minimum of two widths.
Despite the pool temperature reading just four degrees, it actually looked quite inviting. The bright winter sun was reflecting in the stainless steel lining and, with a bit of imagination, it was possible to transport yourself to a poolside sun lounger in a warm country. Such fantasies were cut short, though, with the realisation that the water was a whopping three degrees colder than the 2007 December Dip last year.
On Cassie’s cue we threw off our clothes, along with our inhibitions and the remains of our sanity, before lining up along the edge of the pool. Then we all chimed in for a three – two – one countdown and promptly flung ourselves into the icy water with squeals of delight for a frantic scramble to the other side.
Just staying afloat was a challenge in the first width while we recovered our breathing after the initial shock! As we found our rhythm in the second width, aches began to set in to our fingers and toes. That was enough for some who, rightly content with having reached their two width goal, hauled themselves out at the first opportunity – chilly, but thoroughly reinvigorated.
The hardier – or more foolish – amongst us stayed in a little longer. This gave the body’s defence mechanism time to kick in, leaving us numb to pretty much everything except for an incredible sense of being alive and refreshed. Feeling alive was one thing but, like reptiles, the cold slowed us and one by one we called it a day.
Getting out and walking on land again felt as it might to have planks of wood for feet. Copious amounts of hot chocolate and home made mince pies restored us to our former selves though. It could have been the sugar rush, or the feeling of being truly cosseted, but whatever it was it worked a treat.
As we thawed out in the sun, a group gathered to hear Cassie regale us with tales of jelly fish, swimming with concussion and having her costume ripped off by one particularly cut throat competitor. It’s the unpredictability of open water swimming that she loves – the fact that every swim is different, even in the same stretch of water. Thankfully all we’d had to contend with was the cold.
The dip had over double the number of swimmers from last year – join us to make it even bigger in 2009?”
Madeline Willis
Hi everyone.
I thought you might be interested in this link to the play again facility on BBC Radio London, for this mornings Vanessa Feltz show. It contains the phone-in conversation with Kate Rew at the Lido preparing for today’s swim. It’s 12 minutes into the show and should be available for the next 7 days. Perhaps you could put it on the OSS website for the others to listen to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p001mhqc/Vanessa_Feltz_06_12_2008/
I heard it while my Sat Nav was taking me on a tour of North London, only then to get stuck in heavy traffic, highly frustrating as I missed the swim with everyone. However all was not lost, as I did my swim after you had done yours and Gail gave me my souvenir Christmas Pudding swim hat. I’m a convert by the way and every thing you said about cold water dips are true, beating hands down swimming in the horrible cloudy water of my local pool.
Happy Christmas
Clive
Kate
I felt privileged to meet you this morning as you have achieved so much for all we isolated and often lonely swimmers. It was a marvellous morning - thank you so very much for getting us all together and organised. Talking to folk, quite a few of us have just taken up year-round swimming this year solely because of your book - quite a motivational text!
So, thank you again for a great fun morning - I think word-of-mouth will guarantee a whopping turnout next year.
Yours sincerely
Bob
PS: Someone's Mum certainly knows how to make top-of-the-range mince pies.
Thanks Bob, and thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday. Thanks to Zoggs for providing the special swim caps, and to Waterwise. Check back here soon for the full story and video of the event!
Posted December 2008
The OSS December Dip will feature Waterwise, an NGO aiming to reduce water wastage in the UK. They offer these seasonal tips to save water. Learn more by registering for the December Dip on the Events page of this web site.
On the 1st day of Christmas my true love said to me turn off the tap
(when you brush your teeth and save six litres of water per minute)
On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love said to me load up the machines (always use a full load in your washing machine and dishwasher – this saves both water and energy. One full load uses less water and energy than two half loads)
On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love said to me swap a bath for a shower (baths can use up significantly more hot water than showers, but be careful, some power showers can use more water than a bath)
On the 4th day of Christmas my true love said to me reuse your cooking water (cook several sets of vegetables in the same water)
On the 5th day of Christmas my true love said to me rinse vegetables in bowl (not under a running tap and reuse water afterwards to water plants, or wash other vegetables)
On the 6th day of Christmas my true love said to me turn off your water
(when visiting relatives over the Christmas period to avoid leaks and burst pipes)
On the 7th day of Christmas my true love said to me fix dripping taps
(dripping taps waste about 15 litres of water per day and can increase the risk of freezing, so have any leaky taps and valves fixed now)
On the 8th day of Christmas my true love said to me collect rainwater
(in a water butt and use this to wash your car, water your plants and clean your windows)
On the 9th day of Christmas my true love said to me reuse your bath water (wash your children with the same water, or bathe them at the same time)
On the 10th day of Christmas my true love said to me take shorter showers (the average shower uses 10 litres of water per minute, so reducing your shower length by one minute will save huge volumes of water every day)
On the 11th day of Christmas my true love said to me install a water meter (reduce the amount of water waste and see if you can save money on your water bill)
On the 12th day of Christmas my true love said to me remember to lag your pipes (ensure your pipes are properly insulated this winter. Burst pipes can waste lots of water and cost you time and money and aggravation)
For more water saving tips, visit www.waterwise.org.uk)
Further water saving suggestions from OSS members (do send in your own):
“Ever since I switched from using normal towels for my daily swims to the blue chamois cloth style ‘travel towels’ I must save washing AT LEAST one towel a week – that’s a minimum of 48 towels being washed in a year (the travel towels just need rinsing in the sink). So if all regular swimmers stopped washing towels that’s a lot of water being saved a year…”
Colin Hill
Zoggs make these travel/expedition towels – they’re microfibre towels so while not quite as nice as a big fluffy towel, a lot nicer on the skin than the old-style chamois travel towels: see http://www.zoggs.com/index.php?option=com_products&task=viewProduct&id=249&Itemid=73 to find your nearest stockist.
If you watch swimming on the television and they show an underwater shot during one of the longer distance front crawl races, for example, 800 or 1500 metres, you will see that they hardly kick their legs, they are using a two beat or crossover kick. This is because the front crawl leg kick is both inefficient and tiring and a vigorous kick such as six beat is only sustainable over a short distance, for example, 50 to 100 metres. In the same race you will see them change their kick in the last 50 to 100 metres. For long distance swimming or triathlons where the legs need to be saved for the run and bike, learning a crossover kick is clearly an advantage.
The crossover kick is not used for propulsion so much but to counter the arm stroke. Try walking quickly with your arms held down your side and your shoulders kept still, it is difficult to do as you do not have the natural swing of shoulders and arms to counter the swing of the leg. This is the same for the front crawl stroke, trying to swim with literally no kick, the legs held tight together, is very difficult as the whole body tries to snake, the crossover kick is done at the time you stroke to counter this.
Learning this kick technique requires good balance, something fundamental to the Total Immersion methodology, if you do not have good balance, you may find these drills difficult. Start by doing a push and glide from the side of the pool, this means head down, no kick, legs and arms together. Glide to a stop even if it means your legs sinking as you slow to a stop. Repeat until you can do this well.
Now do a push and glide for just two seconds and do a none breathing stroke on your none-handed side, this is usually the side you find most difficult to breathe on. Hold the glide as before until you come to a stop even if you sink. When I say do a none breathing stroke, I mean stroke your arm until it is stretched down your side, your hand on your leg and arm resting on your body and your body lay on its side. You are now gliding with one arm down your side, the other arm stretched in front, your body on its side and no kick, your legs still together. Repeat until you can do this well.
Now do the same push and glide for two seconds and a none breathing stroke and glide for two seconds followed by a breathing stroke and glide. Again hold the glide until you stop, this may mean your face being underwater but you have just taken a breath so it does not matter. Repeat until you can do it well.
Now try doing a length of the pool with a stroke and glide for two seconds on your none breathing stroke and a stroke and short pause on your breathing stroke, each time you stroke and roll on your side you do not kick, that is, do a stroke and glide. In between the glides, at the time you stroke, you can kick but try to keep it to a minimum. If you are doing the drill correctly, there will simply be no time to fit six beats into your leg kick between strokes and glides.
This will initially result in very slow swimming but once you have mastered the technique you can increase the speed by reducing the glide phase, driving the hips round harder and stroking faster.
Everard Digby and the first English book on swimming
On October 1st , Kate Rew and Brandon High attended a presentation at the British Library given by Professor Nicholas Orme of Exeter University, a specialist in medieval and Renaissance social history. This presentation marked the acquisition by the British Library of a very rare copy of the first edition of De arte natandi [On the art of swimming], by Everard Digby (d. 1605), a clergyman and kinsman of the Gunpowder plotter Sir Everard Digby.
In his fascinating explanation of the historical background to Digby’s treatise, Professor Orme emphasised that, since classical antiquity, swimming had fallen into disrepute among the aristocracy and gentry, although if the evidence of Beowulf and the Norse sagas is anything to go by, swimming had been valued during the Anglo-Saxon era as an accompaniment to martial skills. During the Middle Ages, the heavy armour which was de rigeur for knights rendered any accomplishment in swimming as part of the general training needed for martial prowess extremely impracticable, although some medieval writers on knightly warfare recommended swimming as a survival skill. Those who were notable swimmers (e.g. Edward II) were thought of as dangerously eccentric. Those who could swim generally had to be able to do so because of their occupations (e.g. sailing, fishing). Swimming as a pleasurable activity was almost unknown. For reasons of Biblical interpretation, medieval Christianity seems to have had an ambivalent attitude towards swimming.
Digby’s treatise was an attempt to encourage Renaissance gentlemen to take up swimming. The book’s first appearance in Latin assumed an educated audience, one that could well appreciate the examples of swimmers from classical antiquity to whom Digby appealed in his quest to establish swimming as a sport for gentlemen. For Digby, swimming, like tennis or fencing, was an activity which Renaissance gentlemen ought to undertake in order to become well-rounded personalities who could develop the virtues of strength, courage and forebearance which both sports and scholarship could foster, in emulation of classical antiquity. Unlike those few medieval writers who had referred to swimming, Digby considered swimming’s health-giving attributes a valuable reason for engaging in it.
To this end, he included a number of maneuvres (e.g. cutting one’s toenails while in the water ; attempting to carry objects over rivers without getting them wet) which Orme termed ‘exhibitionist swimming’, which perhaps have something in common with synchronised swimming. He also detailed versions of breast stroke and doggy paddle: neither the front crawl nor the butterfly had been heard of in Europe at this time (although Digby does include the dolphin kick). Treading water, skulling, diving and underwater swimming also feature. The book was illustrated by forty three detailed woodcut engravings, making Digby’s book a pioneer in the use of illustrations to convey techniques. As these illustrations show, Digby conceived of swimming as an individualistic activity with a strong element of gymnastics. The social and competitive aspects of swimming are absent from Digby’s book. The swimmer is shown either alone or with just one other person (always a man ; it was assumed that women who took part in sports were eccentric). The fact that swimming could take place only in rivers and lakes made Digby issue specific warnings about the dangers of such an environment in his introduction.
An abridgement of the book in English by Christopher Middleton, entitled A Short Introduction for to Learne to Swimme, appeared in 1595 with the same woodcuts. Digby’s work was copied by other writers (without acknowledgement) in the seventeenth century, notably Melchisedech Thevenot, whose L’art de nager was published in Paris in 1696. Thevenot’s work circulated in France and in Britain until the late eighteenth century.
Whether this publishing activity had much effect on the status of swimming in the early modern period is open to doubt. Charles Sprawson’s inspirational book Haunts of the black masseur: the swimmer as hero tells us that the American polymath Benjamin Franklin swam the Thames to general amazement in the 1760s, and considered setting up a swimming school in England, as he considered swimming to be extremely neglected.
Brandon High
Posted December 2008
Roger Deakin was a campaigner, naturalist, broadcaster and writer, but for many members of the OSS he is much more than that. As the man who wrote the celebrated aquatic travelogue, Waterlog, he is a spiritual father of sorts.
In Waterlog he swam round and through the nation, and revealed himself as a poet, a thinker, a champion of and reveller in the glories of our waters. His first-person prose-style brought each swim to such vivid life that many members find reading the book like listening to a warm, wise, joy-filled and fiercely passionate friend; readers can feel the thrill of skin hitting icy river; taste the brackish mouthfuls and roar with laughter at his anecdotes as if there with him in person.
He only wrote one other book in his lifetime, Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees, (too little output for such an eloquent and passionate advocate of the natural world) but extracts from his notebooks, Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, has just been published.
The book is a compilation of the notebooks he kept during the last six years of his life, with the entries collated to form a composite year. There is scant mention of swimming in this book, although one senses that water is never too far from Deakin’s thoughts as his use of adjectives and metaphors to describe the natural world switchbacks across the elements, but the book itself is as beautifully observed as anything he wrote for public consumption.
Some entries are brief, some more detailed. Some are fierce in their quietness, railing against modern urban ways, while others are brief, perfectly observed remarks: ‘Wild is an absolute: you can’t have wildish, or semi-wild.’ Some form part of his thought-formations for Wildwood; others document the details found in his day to day life – much-loved local natural landmarks, time spent with friends (including OSS patron and his literary executor Robert Macfarlane), his shed, a lost ant living on his desk, the hedgehog behind his Aga, mending and making do, landscape, the weather.
He opens a year thus: 1st January ‘I am lying full length on my belly on frozen snow and frosty tussocks in the railway wood blowing like a dragon into the wigwam of a fire at the core of a tangled blackthorn bonfire.’
Deakin got up close to nature. There is the sense that he is always, on some level, on his belly in the wilds. The outdoors, and indeed, his indoors (with his hawthorn branches used as curtain poles at Walnut Tree Farm, his home of thirty-odd years) feel like characters in his narrative. You feel he has a living, breathing relationship with his environment – that when he writes of the things in his world, with his copywriter’s knack for the pure, frank and poetic, he knows them intimately and captures their essence. He does not waste words.
From autumn’s entries onwards, it is impossible not to be reminded that we have lost this wonderful man. 10th September ‘All too short a span is the phrase that keeps coming to me as I think of moths. None of them lives long...’
And yet it is a sense of life and not death, that come across most strongly in Deakin’s works. Life – with all its joy, wonder, vigour, subtlety and sensation. To paraphrase: Life is an absolute: you can’t have life-ish, or semi-life.
Deakin didn’t do semi-life. And neither should we.
OSS member, Anna Morrell
Notes from Walnut Tree Farm
By Roger Deakin
Hamish Hamilton £20 pp310
ISBN: 978-0-241-14420-6
Review by Anna Morell
Posted December 208
Photo courtesy of www.commonground.org.uk
Here’s the lowdown on kit, including heated wetsuits, boots, gloves and custom-made suits for head-up breaststroke, from OSS member Claire Inness. Next month: part three. What winter swimmers really love about cold water (and how they do it).
HEATED WETSUITS
This year, two heated wetsuits have arrived on the market: the Tiki Prodigy heated suit (£240) and the RipCurl H-bomb (£500). Surfers are excited they might open up new frontiers – Alaska, Greenland and Iceland, here we come! – but no one from the OSS team has tested them for swimming yet (the buoyancy and stiffness of surf suits generally makes them hard to swim in, compared to triathlon wetsuits).
Also on our to-do list is to to try out various “wetsuit heaters” under our tri suits. These are like large belts that heat up around the core area, and could be worn under a tri suit, and are generally used by windsurfers, kitesurfers and kayakers. Again, no one on the team has tried these yet so this is not a recommendation, but they can be found online at www.hotsuits.co.uk and at dive shops.
TIKI PRODIGY: Tiki suits are made in Braunton, North Devon, and their new heated suit has a set of removable, chemically activated gel pads around the base of the spine. These can be activated when in the water, heat up give you extra warmth over around the kidneys. ““It can help give you an extra hour of water time, and while it’s not cooking, it’s just what you need in the winter!” says Phil Bridges, a Tiki spokesman and surfer. Tiki hope to produce women’s suits next year.
RIPCURL: The RipCurl H-bomb has a battery-operated heating system that has two settings – like an electric blanket, but in the sea. Again it focuses on keeping the core warm so the body can keep pumping blood to extremities as normal. The suit has been tested in the Arctic by pro-surfers, who were suitably impressed: “You keep really warm, even on the low setting and it just keeps you feeling warm all over throughout!”, commented Nathan Hedge. There are no plans for women-specific suits.
CUSTOM MADE SUITS
While surf suits come in different weights (and warmths) for different seasons, the OSS has only found standard weight tri suits that are more suited for the summer months when triathletes race. Tim Bond, an active OSS swimmer who often arranges Oxford-based swims through the OSS facebook page, approached wetsuit company Snugg, a Cornish firm, to see if they could make a swimming-specific suit for head-up breaststroke in winter.
“When I spoke with Snugg, it was clear they had a passion for designing suits”, says Tim. “I wanted a suit that I could do breaststroke in during winter without my feet being too buoyant (a problem in normal tri suits). The suit I am getting has a smoothskin on the outside so it looks like a normal tri suit but has a special furry lining on the inside which somehow actively retains body heat.” Tim hasn’t yet received his suit yet but he will report back in case other members want to order the same. The ballpark figure is £240-300.
TRIATHLON SUITS & ACCESSORIES
Designed with swimmers in mind, triathlon suits add warmth and buoyancy and decrease a swimmers drag in the water, increasing speed. . But so far they only come in one weight, most suitable for summer, so right about now is the time to accessorise with other bits of kits that can keep you warm. We’re not Which? so the below merely reflects what’s in our drybags, mostly out of chance (not because of market tests):
- Rash vests: these are warm by surfers to retain body heat.
- Swim skins: these are thin summer skins – part swimming costume, part wetsuit – that can, with an effort, be worn under a tri suit to create a double layer. Kate has an armless one from AquaSphere. Be warmed if one of the two bits of neoprene is even slightly damp getting them on is a two person ‘breath in Scarlet’ job.
- Booties: surf neoprene booties retain warmth, and ones with some tread on the bottom are particularly good for swims that involve rocks, walks and riverbeds. Kate also has a pair of AquaSphere shoes that can be worn over the top of booties and mean you can walk for miles (they also sink slightly, which helps).
- Gloves: Dive shops and surf shops sell neoprene gloves in different thickness – 0.5mm allows some feel for the water, by 3mm you’re warm but if you’re wearing a wetsuit as well it’s a bit like being a teddy bear. Some gloves fill up with water with each stroke, so it’s like swimming with two water balloons on your arms: aim for ones that water doesn’t come in and out. Some gloves have an inside wrist seal; these are the best ones to wear if you don’t intend to wear a wetsuit, but just want to keep hands warm in a swimming costume.
- Balaclava and hat: Thick silicon swimming hats (like the OSS one!) retain a lot of heat, and two is even better. Wetsuit balaclavas are also good – again, Kate has a new AquaSphere one which covers the chin and the neck (rather than being a wetsuit bonnet with a chin strap – this style generally needs a swim hat worn over the top of it otherwise you get icecream head, with more cold water on your forehead than with a normal swimming hat).
General tips about tri suits: “Triathlon-specific suits have special shoulder and arm panels that are flexible enough to allow for unrestricted arm movement when swimming,’ says Ironman and triathlon coach Phil Richards from BodySync. “A suit should feel snug, even a little tight on dry land since it will ease up in the water. Check for good seals at the neck, wrists and ankles to prevent unnecessary water ingress. If you can, ideally try before you buy.”
It’s generally difficult to swim breaststroke in a tri suit as feet become so buoyant they bob out of the water on the frog kick. Swimmers may also find they change their free-style. “Many swimmers find that they use a straighter arm recovery,’ says Phil. ‘A slight increase in the glide phase [when your arm is stretched out in front of you in the water] maximizes the buoyancy of a wetsuit as well as giving you a chance to sight, as navigation is an important skill when open water swimming.”
In terms of care:, bear in mind that neoprene is delicate – it doesn’t get on with jewellery or fingernails. Try to get into a suit too quickly and you’ll risk poking your thumb through it (trust me, I speak from experience). Leave it in a wet heap and won’t smell good when you go back to it (again…experience). For those that have torn holes in their suits this summer, glue is available eg Black Witch, from Ocean Leisure.
Claire Inness
November 2008
We know many OSS members like attending events to introduce them to outdoor water, give them a focus for fitness, an adventurous challenge, or just a good excuse for a holiday. So we are pulling together two lists of outdoor swim events at the moment. Please do email info@outdoorswimmingsociety.com if you know of any and we will pass your suggestions on to them (include the name of swim, distance and website where swimmers can enter).
INTERNATIONAL LIST: OSS swimmer Joanna Jolly - a woman who has swum the Hellespont, the Corryvreckan, and even set up in a South African event in water populated by sharks - is pulling together a list of International Swims that OSS members can join in 2009. Jo is currently working in Delhi, where there is very little swimming to be had but a lot of hindi mythology.
NATIONAL LIST: Outdoor swimming has been undergoing an exponential rise in popularity in the last few years, so we're expecting a bumper crop of UK swims in 2009. OSS member Julian Cooke is pulling this list together. 'I'd love to swim every day, as I find it life-enhancing, and I often have, whether going round islands in Croatia, across Swiss lakes and Colombian bays, in chilly South African seas, up French rivers, underwater around the world, in the sea off Devon in summer, spring, winter or autumn; but I haven't been involved in the events which we will cover!' Maybe next year... Julian travels a lot so his next swims will be in or off Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad.
WHY ENTER AN EVENT?
'This year I did a couple of events,' says OSS Founder Kate Rew, 'and it really added to my summer and broadened the types of swimming I now do. In July ten of us set off to swim the Bosphorus, a 6km race down the centre of Istanbul between Asia and Europe, organised by the Turkish Olympic Committee. It was a brilliant weekend, preceded by weekly team trips to a triathlon swimming group that we're still swimming with now. After a few months with the tri group even the sinkers were in front-crawling shape. For us the joy of joining a group like that is that it as long as you make yourself show up, the coaches do the rest for you, so you end up doing a 90 minute fitness session (longer than any of us would motivate ourselves to do). Going to the session created a group of us that swim together regularly now, doing full moon swims and outdoor outings, so it's been a real team builder and extended the range of swims we feel confident to do with each other.
'In September I joined the Great North Swim in Windermere, a 1 mile race. I'm generally much more into swimming for the pleasure of it, but again it was an eye-opener: being surrounded by the Olympic 10K medal holders and very fit triathletes and master swimmers has made me want to get fitter and join other longer group swims next year.'
November 2008
Between July and September in 2008 two artists and swimmers undertook a project called ‘Swimming Home’; a record of swim across many lakes in Cumbria. Paul Clark and Richard Light (pictured) conceived their project in terms of performance - both performance art and physical performance – and investigated the altered states of mind that come from swimming outdoors.
‘The project was inspired by three literary sources - a short story ‘The Swimmer’ by John Cheevers, Roger Deakin’s “Waterlog”, and a book on anthropology/archaeology entitled ‘Inside the Neolithic mind’ by David Lewis Williams which discusses altered states of mind’, say Paul and Richard. John Cheevers quote, ‘The day was beautiful and it seemed to him that a long swim might enlarge and celebrate its beauty’ (The Swimmer) was in their minds.
‘The journey started at Loweswater and meandered back in a generous flourish across the Lake District to Gurnal Dubs near Kendal, linking twelve tarns and lakes. These stretches of water might be thought of as the manifestation above ground of a deeper subterranean river which flows home’. As they traveled the swimmers took photographs of their journey, wrote about their experience, and made some spontaneous pieces of art (with natural water based paints that would wash away with rain and stone) at their locations.
Some extracts from this project are below; for the full blog please see:
http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/459997
25 July 2008 – Loweswater
The surface of the lake was littered with small pieces of vegetation fallen from the overhanging trees, like flies, dead on the surface. We pushed out into the broad water. The sun was high and full, occasionally hidden by fast moving cloud, and the steady breeze forced waves westward, mimicking a slight sea that added to the drama of the experience
Wearing clear goggles, in order to cope with waves by submerging and pushing through them, allowed sight of the sun’s rays cutting into the light green water below us like bullet traces. In the midst of this uncertain experience, we frequently checked in with each other as we neared the centre of the lake. The surrounding hills stood passively and the thought of small heads bobbing about in the middle of the vast expanse of water surrounded by mountains made for sobering thoughts about the insignificance of humanity in such a landscape.
The wind and waves pushed us off course from our target line home, making for a longer route, but we landed again on the shingle beach, emerging triumphant to dry ourselves as quickly as possible to avoid the bites of persistent flies and to find the sunshine again, out of the trees. Days had never felt so good.
29th August 2008 – Stickle Tarn
From the car park we could see the route we needed to take, but Pavey Ark was completely lost in low cloud and remained so until we reached the severe horizontal of Stickle Tarn. We entered the tarn from the right hand side of Pavey Ark and decided to swim the length and back beneath it.
By now Pavey Ark was clear of cloud and somehow its gaze upon these two small insignificant people was both reassuring and threatening. Reassuring as if the mountain had chosen to reveal itself to us, but threatening because of the immovability and permanence of the mountain simply emphasised our frailty.
When we finally pulled ourselves ashore, the need to get warm was urgent – hot coffee (with whisky this time) gave an instant hit.
8th September – Easdale Tarn
Good swim – sunny day – a warm new wetsuit – wow – what a difference!
This is our eighth stretch of water.
Read the full record of the swim at:
http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/459997
November 2008
Like a good bottle of red, some swimmers have found that they only get better with age. A group of master swimmers in the US have managed to lower their swim times from when they were a teenager through emphasising good technique.
Researchers have found that a selection of swimmers aged between 25 - 55 have increased their speed because their 'technique trumps training'.
With minor changes or an emphasis on restricting drag they have seen a vast improvement overall and their new training pays homage to the old saying 'Quality rather then quantity'.
We picked this story up from the SwimTrek newsletter. They picked it up from the New York Times: read the full story here.
SwimTrek are a unique swimming adventure holiday company who run fantastic holidays all over the world - Kate Rew (OSS Founder) has joined them swimming around the Lake District down the Thames between the Cyclades islands in Greece and around Malta, and is thinking of joining their Long Distance Training Camp in Gozo in 2009. 'I've made some friends for life on these trips, as well as done fantastic swimming'.
There's also winter sun on offer with trips to the Red Sea and Virgin Islands on offer, and exclusive entry into the Finnish Ice Swimming Championships in February. Book early to avoid disappointment: practically everyone who goes on one SwimTrek holiday goes on three, so they book up fast: www.swimtrek.com.
Posted November 2008
Acclimatisation is key to successful, safe cold water swimming. If you’ve been swimming all year, just keep going! By swimming once or twice a week as the water temperature falls, your body will acclimate to the cold water. Persistence is key though, as John Finch, a swimmer with the Serpentine Swimming Club knows well. “Just as your body ‘learns’ to deal with cold water, it ‘unlearns’ really fast too”, he advises. “Try not to take a break of more than a week or so at a time, unless other things like illness interfere. Even a two-week break will make you feel noticeably colder when you go back to it“.
Simple pre-swim preparation can help you keep warm while winter swimming, as Mary Cane Hampstead Heath Winter Swimming Club knows. Mary runs to her winter swimming spots as “the warmer you are the longer it takes to cool down in the cold water”. The simple act of getting into cold water can in itself be daunting, especially if you’re not prepared for it. Tom Butler, a member of the South London Swimming Club and an outdoor swimmer for 13 years, explains what it can feel like: “Cold water can seize the chest and gives me that ice cream head pain” – but this can be minimised by lowering yourself into water slowly, rather than diving. Once in the water, one, and if possible two swimming caps will help seal in heat – silicon rather than latex is best for this. You may also want to invest in a diving booties and gloves to keep your hands and feet warm.
Keeping safe in the water is a priority at any time, but especially so in cold water. Swimming with a buddy not only brings a feeling of “mutual cameraderie/madness” in the words of John Finch, but also means there’s a pair of eyes looking out for you, should you get into difficulties. Knowing your limits is a key to safe swimming. Tom Butler explains how he shifts his swimming time as the water cools: “Around 12-14oC, I can still swim for 15 or 20 minutes but as it drops to 7oC, I am only in for a few minutes”. So, think time rather than distance in cold water – 100m on a sunny summer’s day might be a quick paddle, but in colder water, it can seem like an ocean to cross.
Once you come out of the water, there are a few ways to help get yourself warm again. The simplest it to take extra layer – “if you go to the swim with one sweater, take two and put the other on after your swim” advises John Finch. A Thermos flask of hot tea or chocolate can also work wonders.
Having read this, you might still be asking the question “why would anyone WANT to swim in cold water?” For some, the answer is simple. “it transforms completely the I feel: no matter what mental state I am in when I jump in, I can guarantee I will feel much better afterwards” explains Tom Butler. For others though, the attraction is harder to describe. “To understand, you have to, well, just DO it for a while” says John Finch. “Part of the attraction is that there IS no rationale…it just feels right”. And what better reason could there be?
Next month: part two – winter wetsuits for swimming (Claire is currently researching this. If you have any tips, please send them to info@outdoorswimmingsociety.com and we will forward)
Claire Innes, 7th October
We expected a significant number of people would take one look at the forecast and head straight for pub. Instead 25 people turned up undaunted by the increasingly bracing wind, autumnal temperatures and Coniston’s own white horses, not to mention the lakeland steam gondola! Bryn lead us all into the murk with style and confidence, embracing a hearty 'he who dares' approach and setting a pace for the leading group of which Phelps, or perhaps more appropriately Donald Campbell (the speedboat champion who raced on Coniston) would be proud. The swim took in a circuit around the northern part of the lake and had been planned with regular cocoa stops. Friends and family, and a few sensible opt-outs met the shoal with cocoa and flapjacks at the odd jetty and beach. We congratulate all who swam, whatever their pace, motivation or goal. Swimming attracts all sorts.
The swim was celebrated immediately afterwards in the campsite carpark, clutching warm thermi and shivery hands grasping at further flapjacks - thanks to all who brought supplies! Then it was on to the pub.
The Coniston Swim did it's best to make up for the absence of the annual sponsored swim, which should be back on the agenda next year. As an experiment in less formalised group swims it was a success, with a few lessons along the way for such events, especially when its a bit of a battle going forward. At the end of the day, it is both safer and more fun to do long distance swims in a group, and this is what the OSS is all about. We must look out for one another, however strong we think we are.
At the end of the rainy day, Coniston is beautiful, and it was tempting to get back in and swim south to the leafy boughs of Peel Island along the wooded eastern shore. Next year perhaps. Instead Kate, Gail, baby George and myself checked out Loughrigg Tarn the following day. Swim on.
James Gallie, September 2008
Note from the organisers:
After spending 6 weeks fiddling about on facebook cajoling and encouraging anyone that appeared in the slightest bit interested, we were blown away by the number of people that turned up and swam - especially given the conditions leading up to the swim!! It was a real pleasure meeting andswimming (and then having a drink) with everyone and it was truly great to share the sense of achievement with all that swam.
Reflecting back we believe that the tremendous level of individual effort that afternoon, in most cases, re-shaped personal beliefs and added something extra to what was a great afternoon out swimming in beautiful surroundings; we were just stoked that not only did we swim ourselves but that we also helped to facilitate this for others. See you again for more fun
Bryn Edwards& Steve HallSeptember 2008
Winter is a great time of year to learn, adapt and adjust strokes, as temperatures send many of us indoors – without birds, bees and sunsets to look at, many of us like to focus on the business of how our bodies feel in the water, and play around with strokes and glides to become more efficient and elegant.
OSS member Alan Aspinall has offered to give monthly tips to the OSS. Alan practises the Total Immersion method of swimming and teaches tri groups where he lives, in the lakes. One of the challenges of outdoor swimming is that without pool ends and lane lines the swimmer needs to learn how to site. We have one sighting method on the OSS site and in Kate Rew’s book Wild Swim; Alan finds this one easier.
Please note that there are many ways to swim and schools of swimming, so no advice is definitive, and many of the team are wholly joyfully untutored, just enjoying water. So no pressure to conform, anyone!
SIGHTING: Seeing where you going in the pool is not a problem as the water is so clear, there are tile patterns and the side of the pool to guide you. In open water this is a big problem as usually there is no visibility in the water at all, you can only just see your hand in front of your face. Lifting your face out of the water to look in front completely destroys the rhythm of the stroke if not done correctly. This technique allows a look forwards without ruining the stroke.
As you stroke on the breathing stroke, breath out into the water as normal but instead of breathing with the head to the side, lift it to the front only just enough to see forward and continue to rotate the head to the side as normal and breathing in as normal just before the mouth is back in the water. Your chin should only just clear the water. This is done in one smooth continuous action without pause.
Now for the clever bit, this very short look forward is not enough time to take a good look at everything, you only get time to take in a general view, no detail, but you do get a normal breath. Done well, an observer from the land would have difficulty knowing you had looked forward. On the next breathing stroke, you do the same thing and again on the next stroke. You can miss out a couple of looks and do a few normal strokes in between if you want. The brain cleverly puts each of these short views together and starts to build up a full detailed picture.
To practice this in the pool it is best done with at least a 25 metre pool and someone to help at the end you are swimming towards, also a deck level pool or one with not too big a drop from pool side to water level.
After you push off from the far end of the pool, a helper places a small object, for example, about 10cm high and 2cm wide on the pool side and stands away. You swim a couple of strokes then use the spotting technique above to try and see where they have placed it. Do not try to look for the object after half way down a 25 metre pool if it is not deck level as you will have to lift your head too high.
Alan Aspinal, 28/09/08 About Alan: “
The best outdoor swimming for me is a lake, early morning, dawn if possible, no wind, water as flat as a mirror. If the air is colder than the water you get mist rising off the surface of the lake. With my slow, relaxed and silent Total Immersion style of swimming, I can cruise down the lake silently and effortlessly, gliding on my side with each stroke, no kick, I can swim like this for miles. As I roll to breathe, my eye at water level, I can see the mist coming off the water and the wake from my head.
Totally and utterly enchanting and as I swim at dawn every day, I get this situation fairly regularly. The lake I swim in is pictured.’ As Alan swims with private permission with the lake owner he can’t tell us where it is, but it does look divine.
BLP will be assisting us on issues such as minimising legal liability risks for swimmers, organisers and those who give permission for swimming to take place in lakes and rivers that they own (or where access can only be obtained from their land). They will also help to provide some clarification for members on where in the UK we can swim lawfully without having to obtain prior permission.
The team at BLP will be led by partner Nathan Willmott, a keen outdoor swimmer and a member of the OSS. As a boy Nathan spent his summers swimming with his brother in the River Coln (a tributary to the Thames) which flowed through his garden. Now that he lives in London his regular swim spot is London Fields Lido. In August Nathan swam in the annual Hellespont race and next summer he is keen to swim across St Ives bay in Cornwall, a 6km swim from Godrevy lighthouse across to Porthgwidden beach in St Ives. “From our perspective we just benefit by helping such a worthwhile cause and seeing more people able to enjoy open water swimming,’ says Nathan. “BLP has a programme of supporting young athletes who are hopeful of success at the 2012 Olympics (including one employee who is a triathlete, Jill Parker) and that we do a great deal of work for the Olympic Delivery Authority.."
‘I FEEL GREAT, STRONG AS A HORSE OR DOLPHIN OR WHATEVER..’
OSS member Colin Hill is the man behind the largest swim of the summer – the ‘Great North Swim’, which saw 2200 swimmers (including all our Olympic open water medallists) swim a 1 mile race in Windermere. A few weeks after the Great North Swim, Colin swam the length of Windermere, an iconic British open water swim which many swimmers use as a ‘warm-up’ (cool down?) for the channel. Here he recounts the training – and the swim itself.
“I’d been wanting to swim the length of Windermere for several years. So much so, that I had joined the BLDSA (The British Long Distance Swimming Association) twice, yet never quite managed to enter one of their events (best intentions and all that). So this year I got my application and cheque in early for the Windermere Championship swim and heard, via friends, that I was on the reserve list. So, with this on my mind, I kept my training up, swimming both in the pool and outdoors at Talkin Tarn.
Weeks passed, and then, through a chance meeting with Gill from the BLDSA after one Talkin Tarn swim, I learned that, after all, I hadn’t made it onto the list for the BLDSA Windermere swim. However, rather than abandon the swim for another year, I decided to go it alone, and with the help of a friend with a boat, made plans to attempt the swim in the first weekend of September, the same weekend as the official race.
The weather gods did not look kindly on my plans or those of the official race; I decided to postpone rather than attempt the swim that day. The official race did actually get started, but was abandoned after an hour due to ever worsening conditions.
Keeping on track
The following weekend I did manage to complete a mile swim, taking part in the Great North Swim, where Kate Rew represented the Outdoor Swimming Society (BLDSA didn’t come along). But I still wanted to do the long swim. The problem was that with all the rain, the lake temperature was dropping; it was below 15 degrees – fine for many, but I wasn’t sure if I’d last for 10.5 miles.
So I made a decision to swim with a wetsuit, and enjoy my first real long distance swim without the pressure of having to pull out for the cold. My training had gone well, I was in the pool most days and decided that I had done enough speed work from my sessions with the triathlon club. I started swimming at least 4km a session with a max session of 10K. (There are more details of Colin’s training at the end of this story).
The day itself
So, on the day I had my friend Dave, his boat, and a hastily purchased Alpha flag (blue and white to let other boats know there’s a swimmer/diver in the water and keep clear). I was very glad we hadn’t overlooked this because, as it happens, the warden did come and check we had a flag during the swim.
I wore my Blue Seventy Wetsuit and plastered my neck with Sudocream (normally reserved for my baby daughter’s bottom) to prevent chaffing.
In the water, finally!
From my long swims in the pool, I knew that I could do 4km a hour at a steady pace. We had a hand held GPS in the boat, so Dave would let me know if I speeded up too much. So, finally, the moment had come – “First stop in one hour” I shouted as I started swimming.
I felt rubbing on my neck almost straight away, but it wasn’t bad enough to stop. The day was stunning, flat calm with slight breeze. Leaving Fell Foot Park behind I felt great and was just happy to be pushing myself with this huge challenge. It was a great feeling at the bottom of the lake knowing I had many hours of swimming ahead of me. Would the wetsuit rub me too much or be too restrictive? I’d worn it for mile swims, but 10.5 miles is something else – the unknown – that was the good bit.
After an hour Dave stopped rowing and I treaded water as he handed me a drink and energy gel. “I feel great Dave, strong as a horse or dolphin or whatever…..” I was going at 4.3kmph, but was sure that the extra speed was due to wearing a wetsuit and I wasn’t pushing it too hard. Next stop 45 mins.
Pacing the swim
Its funny, every time I called the next stop was basically another full session of training that I was doing back to back. The halfway point was Bell Island, near Bowness. It was good to see landmarks that I knew. I decided to have a cheese sandwich here as I really needed some savoury food instead of sweet energy gels and drinks.
I was doing front crawl the whole time and my shoulders started to hurt about three hours into the swim. I knew that I would struggle to hang the washing out for a few days – but decided that was a price I was willing to pay! I remember looking up and seeing a sailing regatta going on and wondering how we’d get through that, then decided that was Dave’s job; he managed to guide us up the lake with no problems at all.
Enjoying it
About 4 hrs into the swim I spotted the Low Wood hotel, a large white building. This was where the Great North Swim took place (over 2000 people participated in that mile swim). After a quick stop here, I decided to push on for another hour. I was really enjoying the swimming now – I’d reached the point when I figured that I’d make it no matter what. I even started to kick my legs – I had just dragged them behind me all the way to avoid cramp.
It took a long time before the Low Wood disappeared from view, but after another stop the end of my journey - Waterhead was in sight. I had to claw my way past some reeds before making it to the gravel exit point.
Four hours and 22 mins after setting off I’d reached the end. I wondered briefly if I could have turned around and swum back down the lake (another BLDSA event is Windermere two way). But then Dave commented on the huge support of my friends and family waiting to congratulate me (well, there were two swans and a few tourists).
I’d like to think that is my first long swim towards longer swims – I’m pleased that I did it and, even more importantly, that I enjoyed it. It wasn’t about me against the cold; it was just me, in the lake, enjoying a beautiful day.
Training
I mentioned training a few times in my account above. Well, I'm a bit wired when it comes to training, as I have to do something every day or I implode. My basic routine is to swim every day before work. I have 3 pools that I can go to depending on the day and opening times. In addition, Wednesday and Friday nights are Triathlon club nights, which I try to attend. Then at the weekends I have the option of swimming with another Tri club at Hexham pool.
I take a different view to swimming in the pool than most of the triathletes and swimmers that I train with. When I used to run marathons, I'd put in quite a few runs over the half marathon distance. So I don't understand why triathletes tend to train like sprinters most of the time and moan if there are any sessions over 400m long; but then if you go cycling with them, they happily knock up 50 miles +.
I set to work of doing 4km in the morning before work – which translates into 1 hour straight swimming. Weekends I'd do 5km, or do a triathlon session followed by another 2km afterwards to get the distance up.
Really, I don't think there are any short cuts. Yes, a few sessions of 100m with short turn around will keep your pace sharp, and it’s always good to swim with other people for motivation. But for long distance disciplines, you need to put in the miles.
Colin Hill, edited by Westrow Cooper, October 2008-10-02
Many congratulations from all at the OSS for the magnificent swims put in by David Davies, Keri Anne Payne and Cassie Patten in the Olympics first Open Water race in decades.
All three swimmers swam stunning races in incredibly hot water, both Davies and the girls leading the field the entire race, their strokes long, beautiful and rhythmic.
Congratulations to the girls and their coach Sean Kelly for an impressive and inspiring swim, and to Davies and his coach too. 'There were prickly weeds sticking to our costumes for about 20 metres,' said Patten of the rowing-boating lake they were in (good, at it's manmade, to know some of nature had crept into it. The whereabouts of any fish are unknown).
MEET THE SWIMMERS!! All three swimmers will be at the Great North Swim in Windermere on September 13th. The OSS will be there too - do say hi to us at our stand.
NOW OPEN WATER SWIMMING IS BACK, SHOULD IT GET WILDER? In the Ancient Olympics open water swimming wasn't just about going a long way in a manmade pool under the sky, it involved currents and tides, with swimmers tackling heavy surf and big rivers. Now it's back as a discipline, should it move into more natural surroundings? Read more. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/17/swimming.wildlife?gusrc=rss&feed=society
Where do you like to swim? At 12 midnight every Monday from now on we'll - entirely arbitrarily - be judging the best swim suggestion of the week and giving out prizes. Anyone who enters 10 swims gets a present.
Our swim map now contains a starter-for-100 river, lake, estuary and sea swims around the country so members can find lovely places to go swimming wherever they travel. We want to double it this summer, so are running a competition every week for up to the next 10 weeks where the best weekly entry will win an OSS swim hat or t-shirt.
Prizes will be awarded entirely arbitrarily at the whim of Andrew Heather, the OSS volunteer who runs the swim map project, based on some combination of:
- How much your entry made him want to swim there
- The fact it sounds great (from a swimming rather than literary perspective: great anecdotes welcomed, but semi-literate location information that gets the point across has an equal chance of winning)
- All the information being complete - see the map page
- Pictures and googlemap references aren't necessary to win but always appreciated, and would obviously push the balance if there were an otherwise dead heat.
No correspondence can be entered into about the winner, even if you think Andrew's choice each week is entirely duff.
All entries must be based on good experience of the site. Collaborations welcomed: if you swim and your friend types, do get together.
Only enter swims that you consider both legal and safe.
INSTANT WIN: Anyone who sends in 10 usable new entries (no cheating, duplications or fabrications) will win a free hat or t-shirt.
To enter, please see the map and follow the instructions as you send in your suggestion.
ENTRIES CLOSE 12 MIDNIGHT EVERY MONDAY NIGHT.