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What makes a ‘proper’ swimmer?
Patrick Smith is an open water swimmer and entrepreneur who writes about the parallels between swimming and business. In his…
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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…
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The ultimate swimming goal?
The other day, Tracey Baumann of Swim Solutions asked me about my swimming goals. Despite writing a lot about swimming,…
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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…
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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…
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The Chillswim experience – from a Spanish perspective
Daniel Pagés of Swim the Costa Brava took part in the 2014 Chillswim. Normally used to swimming in the Mediterranean,…
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Neither multiple jellyfish stings nor vomit-inducing diesel fumes hold back Beth French
On 22 July, Beth French swam from Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly. Residents of both the Isles of Scilly…
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The BLDSA 8-mile Torbay Swim 2014
Helen Beveridge travelled down from Inverness to take part in one of the BLDSA’s longer and more challenging events –…
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The Longest Day: BLDSA Champion of Champions
It seems somewhat of a coincidence that the British Long Distance Swimming Association’s Champion of Champions event fell on the…
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Aquanuts do the double
On Friday 20 June I went for a little swim with three of my friends: we swam across the English…
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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…
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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…
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Africa to South America: Ben Hooper plans to do the first complete cross Atlantic swim
When athletes talk about aiming for Brazil in 2016, we usually assume they mean the Olympics. Not Ben Hooper. His…
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Big girls don’t cry
“Big girls don’t cry” is the title of four songs, two albums, a TV show, a film and an episode…
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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…
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Testing times
How often do you test how fast you can really swim? As long as you have no medical reason why…
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Hypothermia isn’t cool
Again this week I had planned to write something else but open water swimming has a habit of providing the…
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Time to get your face wet
Patrick Smith is an open water swimmer and entrepreneur who writes about the parallels between swimming and business. In his…
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Swimmers welcome
There are lots of great things about open water swimming – including our fantastic magazine 🙂 – but one that…
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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…
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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…
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Cold water swimming: Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it
Alice Todd, who works with Coningham-Rolls Swimming Holidays*, introduced her sceptical sister to cold water swimming, with impressive results. You…
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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…
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Turning novices into open water swimmers
Earlier this year a small group of people got together with a common interest in open water swimming with a…
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Adam Walker tackles Japan’s Tsugaru Strait
Adam Walker has now completed five of the Oceans Seven swims. His fifth, Japan’s Tsugaru Strait, was his toughest yet.…
