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? Simon Griffiths meets a swimming coach who lived in a perpetual summer for eight years. 

When we started Outdoor Swimmer, my vision was for a global magazine. I wanted to publish stories that were relevant to swimmers wherever they were, and I tried to reflect this in the language we used; for example, to recognise that it’s not summer for all of us at the same time.

In practice, this proved too difficult. Our base in the UK and local networks shaped our content. The way we swim outdoors is moulded by the seasons and local geography. This has become even more defined as winter swimming has grown in popularity. Swimmers increasingly embrace the cold and celebrate the changing seasons rather than flock to the uniformity of the pool.

The idea of welcoming winter for the thrill of icy dips rather than grumbling about the cold has become embedded in our content, and it’s been a personal journey for me too. I no longer do what I can to protect myself from the cold to keep swimming but adjust my swims according to the temperature and conditions (although I’ll still happily put on a wetsuit for racing).

Still, I prefer the warmer waters of summer and our recent survey data shows that summer remains the most popular time of year for outdoor swimming despite the growing popularity of cold water immersion. What then, I wondered, would it be like to live an endless summer?

The swimming coach who avoided winter for eight years

To find out, I caught up with Dan Abel, a swimming coach from New Zealand who I met in the early days of the magazine. Back then, Dan was something like the Arctic tern of the swimming world, arriving in the UK in late spring and returning to New Zealand in September or October. He avoided winter for eight years.

“It was exciting,” he told me. “Longer days bring energy and enthusiasm. I’ve never taken drugs but I reckon sunlight is one. I completely avoided that low feeling you can get going into autumn. Every time I arrived in a new hemisphere, I met with swimmers who were excited for summer.”

Dan now lives permanently in New Zealand but he does miss a few things about the English summer. “I miss lidos,” he says – he used to coach at Tooting Bec. “Lido swimming is much stronger in the UK than in New Zealand. I also miss the wealth of open water events I could attend. But most of all, I miss the people. The UK swim community is so welcoming and encouraging.”

Swimming has the power to unite people

I enjoy my email exchanges with Dan. He’s a window onto what swimming looks like in a place I’ve never visited. In fact, I welcome all the connections I’ve made with swimmers around the world. Swimming has an amazing power to unite people. I’m therefore delighted our editorial team decided to celebrate the spring/autumn equinox (depending on your hemisphere) with this special issue and provide a platform for swimming voices from around the world. 

While we haven’t solved the ongoing editorial challenge of being a global magazine for an activity that is so defined by location and season, I hope this issue helps those of you who don’t share our geography to feel included.

As for whether I hanker after Dan’s endless summer outdoor swimming lifestyle, I think not. Dan admits it was a big logistical challenge and exhausting, despite the energising effect of sunshine. “I never had a winter rest. I think winter is important to us,” he says. So whatever season you’re moving into, welcome and embrace it.

This article is from the March 2023 issue of Outdoor Swimmer. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.