What are the benefits of my Outdoor Swimmer membership?
Whatever kind of swimmer you are, your Outdoor Swimmer membership supports you to take your swimming further. From improving your technique and learning from expert coaches, to exploring new waters and getting more health and wellbeing benefits, it’s the full package. Curious? Our team tells you more.
Simon first launched Outdoor Swimmer, or H2Open, as it was called back then, in 2011. At first, it was simply an independent magazine for people who were fanatical about this activity called outdoor swimming. Then, the activity grew – and so did we.
Soon, we had a growing, global community that didn’t just open water swim for fitness and challenge reasons – you dipped, travelled, ice swam for better health and wellbeing, and for the buzz. So, we grew and developed our membership offer to fit this new world of outdoor swimming.
What magazines do I get with my membership?
What you get with your membership depends on your level: Gold, Silver, Extra or Patron/Super Patron:
- Gold is based on the print magazine – you get ten a year through your door
- Silver members get everything Gold gets, except for the print magazine. Your magazines are digitally optimised so you can read them on any device through Pocketmags or the Outdoor Swimmer app
- Extra is the lighter membership, where you read premium content as blog posts and in a flipbook version of the magazine on our website
- Patrons and Super Patrons get all the benefits of Gold membership, with some very special added benefits
Do I get any added benefits?
While our beautiful, indy magazine is at the heart of your membership, there’s much more to it than that. You get:
- Free entry into a monthly ballot to win free swims at venues around the UK (we’re working on getting international swims)
- Free, priority tickets to our sell-out Virtual Event series – Q&As on different topics with experts in their field
- Priority tickets to events like our Pool Parties
- Our members-only community app
- Our entire back catalogue of 100+ issues to read on any device (Gold, Silver and Patron/Super Patron)
- Discounts on Outdoor Swimmer courses and apparel
- Exclusive offers, discounts and competitions from brand partners
How do I access my membership benefits?
The easiest way to access your membership benefits is through the members-only community on the app, Heylo. We post announcements there before announcing them anywhere else. You can chat to other members and us, and there’s a section with all your member discounts and offers. If you don’t like the noise of notifications, you can easily turn them off.
To join, follow these instructions. You’ll need your name, registered email address, and membership/subscriber number.
It’s also worth making sure that you’ve opted in to receive emails. We won’t bombard you with information or marketing – we send out newsletters about upcoming issues and events.
What’s the Outdoor Swimmer back catalogue, and how do I access it?
Our back catalogue has a digitally optimised copy of every issue of Outdoor Swimmer magazine. Gold and Silver members and Patrons/Super Patrons can download and read these magazines on whichever device(s) they like. Great if you’re off on holiday!
Pocketmags hosts our back catalogue, and you can read it on the Pocketmags website or get the Outdoor Swimmer app from your app store. To find out how to access the digital library, follow these instructions.
Why can’t I read articles online?
Only Extra members can read articles on our websites. Gold and Silver members and Patrons/Super Patrons can find these articles – and more – in the digital back catalogue. Look at the date of the article you want to read and pick the corresponding magazine.
What does my membership cost, and what if I want to cancel?
We keep our prices as low as possible. By paying for a membership, you don’t just get loads of benefits, you also support our magazine to stay truly independent – most magazines are owned by big publishers. This means we can give honest reviews of gear, talk freely about important topics, interview whomever we like, and – perhaps most importantly – add our voice to campaigns such as Swimmable Cities and to end sewage pollution.
We understand that the time may come when you want to cancel your membership for whatever reason, and you’re free to do this. But we ask that you consider dropping down a level rather than cancelling completely.
For a full list of current levels and prices, click here.
Thank you for being a member of our community. If you have any questions about the magazine, please email Ella editor@outdoorswimmer.com. For all other questions about your membership, email us info@outdoorswimmer.com
