FEATURES

In-depth features that celebrate the vibrant outdoor swimming community, spotlighting extraordinary individuals and their stories.

Build cold-water confidence with swimming and sauna

How the swimming pool and sauna can prepare you for the great outdoors, says swimming coach Nicola Butler
Know your limits, prepare for the cold

After a hot summer, winter temperatures may hit harder says Alice Dearing
Sauna founded in friendship

Saunas are booming across the UK, and one garden on the Surrey-Hampshire border shows why. Ella Foote meets the friends…
Wool, reborn in the water

Norwegian brand Iceme is bringing knitted swimwear back to the water. Ella Foote pulls on a merino suit and talks…
Static cooling: How to ice bath properly

Fenwick Ridley, aka Ice Viking, is Founder of Northumbrian Sauna, Team GB Ice Swimmer, Sauna Master, and open water trainer.…
What cold water mastery really means

Colder, longer, tougher: it’s easy to assume that’s how progress in cold water is measured. Channel and Ice Swimmer Alice…
Swimming with strangers

Adventurer Lindsey Cole tells Rowan Clarke how dipping with strangers changed her idea of home
Masters of winter

Is there a secret to mastering winter swimming? Rowan Clarke finds out
You don’t have to love cold water swimming to be a ‘proper’ outdoor swimmer

A cold water convert, Simon Griffiths (reluctantly) got into winter swimming during the pandemic
Are you a winter swimmer… or just winter swimming curious?

Fancy a challenge that’ll keep you motivated all winter? Polar Bear and Penguin Challenge founder Pauline Barker MBE is celebrating…
Catherine Breed swims the entire California coast in 900-Mile challenge

The 33-year-old endurance swimmer spent nearly four months swimming from Oregon to Mexico, combining an extraordinary physical feat with a…
Winter swimming: Kit up for the cold

You don’t have to retreat to the pool when temperatures drop. With the right kit, you can keep swimming outdoors…
A changing robe that turns heads

After 20 years of swimming events and testing kit, Editor Ella finally gets her hands on the changing robe that…
When swimming erases memory

Dr Mark Christie reports on the strange phenomenon of Transient Global Amnesia (TGA) in open water swimmers
Why we plunge: Chris Ballard explores the pull of cold water swimming

Lifelong athlete and award-winning writer Chris Ballard immersed himself in the world of cold water for his new book, The…
Mud, mud, glorious mud

The quirkiest of aquatic disciplines turned 50 in 2026. Elaine K Howley takes us through the history of bog snorkelling
Open water, extreme in all ways

Open water can look calm and inviting, but beneath the surface, conditions can change in an instant. Sophie Etheridge reflects…
From surf to swim: the story behind NewFlow

NewFlow began to tackle surfer’s salty skin and pesky sand but now is taking off as a way to help…
Extraordinary seaweeds

Seaweeds are beautiful, resilient and vital to our survival. In an extract from Extraordinary Seaweeds, Professor Juliet Brodie explores their…
Riding the Tide: Swim London’s Speedy 10K

A strong current turns Swim London’s 10km down the tidal Thames into a surprisingly speedy adventure. Simon Griffiths gave it…
Fifty, fuelled and finally across the finish line

After turning 50, taking a month off from training and questioning whether she could swim two miles, ZONE3 winner Miaya…
Swimming the Hellespont: navigating the current from Europe to Asia

Swimming the Hellespont is unlike any other open-water event, with a fast-moving current, tricky navigation and 1,500 swimmers crossing the…
Can citizen science help bring our rivers back from the brink?

Back from the brink: The Rivers Trust explains why we need better data to tackle extreme river environments
New seaweed map

A new interactive map is turning thousands of citizen-recorded seaweed sightings into a picture of how climate change is reshaping…
Spellbinding Sweden

Reindeer, dancing colours in the sky, woodsmoke and hooning about on snowmobiles in swimsuits, Ella Foote is captivated by winter…