FEATURES
In-depth features that celebrate the vibrant outdoor swimming community, spotlighting extraordinary individuals and their stories.
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The story behind our ‘underwater’ cover with Lexi Laine
Ethereal, peaceful and otherworldly – freediving photographer Lexi Laine shares the stories behind our April cover.
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Water wildlife: ground nesting birds
While you’re no doubt wary of disturbing nesting swans while swimming outdoors, it’s always worth considering your impact on ground…
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Water wildlife: Great diving beetle
Susanne Masters introduces us to the Great diving beetle (Dytiscus marginalis), remarkable predators inhabiting slow-moving waterways, which carry a bubble…
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Tips for swimming underwater
Relax and take it slow: Simon Griffiths shares some tips for underwater swimming.
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Diving for treasure: a history of pearl diving
Pearl diving is dangerous work that’s often been delegated to the marginalised and dispossessed. Elaine K Howley explores the history…
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Ice magic: freediving under ice
Addictive, ridiculously dangerous and pure magic: Amber Fillary on her love affair with freediving under the ice.
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Marine meditation: is freediving a natural extension of outdoor swimming?
Is freediving the preserve of the super-human or a natural extension of outdoor swimming and a gateway to a new…
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This must be underwater love
Photographer Lexi Laine invites us to dive into her underwater world. Words by Rowan Clarke.
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Marathon Swims 2023 is now open for entries
Marathon Swims 2023 is back at the London Aquatics Centre, inviting swimmers to take on the ultimate challenge – a Marathon…
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Andy Donaldson: Flying the flag for mental health
Oceans Seven challenger Andy Donaldson tells us why he's raising money for the Black Dog Institute, a mental health charity…
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How to breathe better
Liz Lowe offers tips and simple exercises for better breathing, which can help with tiredness, tension or anxiety, and boost…
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Learning to breathe above water
Natasha Longridge is a photographer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who suffers from hypochondria. In 2020 she discovered the benefits of…
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Create your own challenges
Not all challenges are to enter, or to follow, some are created ourselves. Alison Gilchrist set herself a series of…
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Changing seasons, changing climate, changing strokes: the long history of swimming
Have you ever wondered about the origins of swimming? How about how we came to swim outdoors in the cooler…
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Myth busting: “Everything in the southern hemisphere water wants to eat me!”
Great whites, blue-ringed octopus and reef-dwelling cone snails: marine biologist, writer and broadcaster Dr Helen Scales introduces us some of…
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The colour of cold: swimming in Cape Town, South Africa
With water temperatures averaging 13 degrees Celsius and air temperatures seldom above 32 degrees, Cape Town, South Africa, is a…
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Brave New Waters
Author and Wild Swimming Brother, Jack Hudson traded his freshwater dips in the UK for a salty life in Australia…
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Women of the water
Women of the Water, by photographer Ana Elisa Sotelo Van Oordt, is a series of landscapes and nude installations exploring…
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Films, podcasts and books for swimmers
An investigation into water’s true nature, water-based adventure films and an exhilarating journey into deep time: what to read, watch…
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Is endless summer swimming a dream come true?
Do you embrace the cold and celebrate the changing seasons, or would endless summer swimming be a dream come true?…
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Swimmers converge on Lake Bled for the IWSA World Championships
A winter swimming event held in Slovenia’s picture-perfect Lake Bled: Simon Griffiths reports from the 13th IWSA World Championships.
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The Isles of Scilly: a destination for all swimmers
From epic challenges to bay swims for beginners, the Isles of Scilly have routes to delight all kinds of swimmers.
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Meet illustrator, designer and cold water swimmer Evie Grace
Evie Grace studied illustration, graphic design and photography at university in Aberdeen before moving to Vancouver for a couple of…
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Myth busting: Can a pike bite my toes?
If you have swum in freshwater, you have swum with pike. They lurk – often unseen – in rivers, ponds,…
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A winter swimming adventure in Iceland
Lindsey Cole often claims she is useless in the cold, which made Iceland a strange choice for an adventure. But…
