View from the Water

Gain a fresh perspective as swimmers share their unique viewpoints and reflections on the world from the water's edge.

What do they mean, “no joie de vivre”?

Swimming got some bad press last week. Despite still being the UK’s most popular sport in terms of participation, the…
Elite open water race preparation tips

I might have said this before, but last week I was at BEST FEST in Mallorca. It’s an open water…
What are the minimum criteria for travelling to do a swim?

If you enjoy both travelling and open water swimming you’ll hardly need persuading of the delights in taking part in…
Why the EC6 didn’t fail

Last week, six very fast swimmers set out from Dover in a very public attempt to beat the record for…
Are you in control of your feet when you swim?

How much are you aware of your kick when you swim? And how important do you think it is? Until…
Does every coach tell you something different?

Do you sometimes get the impression that every swimming coach tells you something different? It’s something a reader mentioned recently.We’re…
Don’t do a Davina

On Monday this week, television celebrity Davina McCall swam across Windermere as part of a Sport Relief fundraising challenge. Her…
Are there alternatives to Dover?

Dover, naturally, is the home of English Channel swimming and anyone with an interest in the sport should pay a…
How to do the perfect warm-up

The majority of swim training sessions start with a ‘warm-up’, so we thought we’d look at what a warm up…
Keep something up your sleeve (or down your trunks)

When you talk to top level open water swimmers, a common theme is that every race is different and the…
What are you swimming for?

We occasionally make comparisons between triathletes and open water swimmers – it’s usually a bit of light-hearted fun. The labels…
The ultimate swimming goal?

The other day, Tracey Baumann of Swim Solutions asked me about my swimming goals. Despite writing a lot about swimming,…
The point of point-to-point

Last week I wrote about the need for patience if you want topace a race well for optimal performance. Swimmers…
When swimming can get you arrested

One of the joys of swimming, as we’ve mentioned several times previously, is the opportunity it gives us to stretch…
DIY risk assessment for open water swimming

How much should you trust the advice of those who tell us not to swim in open water? Our hope…
Why do triathletes hate open water swimming?

We spent last weekend at the Triathlon Show in Esher and it gave us plenty of opportunity to talk to…
It’s not so grim up north, but the sea is definitely colder

Last weekend I was reminded once again how friendly and welcoming open water swimmers can be. I travelled up to…
Testing times

How often do you test how fast you can really swim? As long as you have no medical reason why…
Hypothermia isn’t cool

Again this week I had planned to write something else but open water swimming has a habit of providing the…
Swimmers welcome

There are lots of great things about open water swimming – including our fantastic magazine 🙂 – but one that…
Do skins swimmers deserve separate results listings?

Should event organisers list the results for wetsuit and non-wetsuit swimmers separately or together? The default, at least for many…
Competitive swimming for the not-so-fast

Rod Newing has written an interesting piece for us on how the Serpentine Swimming Club uses a handicap system in its weekly…
What to wear in winter: tips for cold water swimmers

Just in case anyone’s landed on this page by mistake, this isn’t a fashion column. Last weekend Ella Foote invited…
How hard do you chase your dreams?

In 2008, Gideon Nasilowski watched the Paralympic swimming in Beijing and set himself a goal: to become Namibia’s first Paralympic…
Another hot weekend, another tragedy, another call to avoid open water swimming

The routine is depressingly familiar. The sun comes out, people look for somewhere to cool off, someone drowns and the…