When the pandemic closed the doors to indoor pools, swimming outdoors had a surge in popularity which has only continued to grow. Every week new people seek to dip their toes into the open water. There are many ways to start your new hobby but for people who are nervous, haven't read The Warmcor Guide to Open Water Swimming, or haven’t convinced their friends to join them (yet!), or don’t have an open water swim venue nearby, what other options are there?
The answer is to invest in a group-guided swim.
Open-water swimming is essentially a free activity. All you have to do is have a swimsuit, towel and a means to get to and from the water location. However, there are numerous benefits to investing in a group-guided swim.
As with most things in life, you can’t run before you can walk. Many adventurous hobbies have dangers associated with them and it’s no different for open water swimming. It’s through being taught and guided that we can absorb knowledge that can keep ourselves safe and enjoying cold water swimming for many many moons. This is the reason why, if you are certainly new to open water swimming that investing in a guided swim is a good idea. Learn from those in the know.
Earlier this year I was invited to join Suzanna on one of her group swims at Derwentwater, Cumbria. I took the opportunity to ask her and her group of swimmers, why people new to open water swimming should consider booking a group swim with a professional.
Why should you swim as a group?
Suzanna: I think if you're new to outdoor swimming, there are a lot of things to consider:
- What equipment to take
- The location you’re going to swim in
- Who to go swimming with
- Your own ability and limitations
All these kinds of things.
You may have found a group on Facebook that swims regularly, which is great. Social groups like that are brilliant for building bonds and knowledge can be shared, but in the water, do they have your back if you get into trouble?
Some of them might do, but they're probably not trained professionals and there might not be a lifeguard on hand. So if something goes wrong, which obviously we want to avoid in all circumstances, you want to know that the people that you're with are going to look after you in that situation.
And when you talk about things going wrong, it could be as simple as:
- A little bit of mild hypothermia when you finish your swim
- Knowing how long you should be in the water for
- Having the right equipment afterwards
- Rewarming process
- Protecting the environment you're swimming in
- Not having anyone with you experienced enough to see danger signals
If you're swimming with a professional organised group, those will be taken care of for you. You just need to turn up with your bag and swim.
I’m not saying that every swim you ever do has to be with an organised group. You can go out with your friends. But I think when you are first starting off, the people to learn best from are the people that have trained for years and got qualified to do it.
Why pay for a group swim?
Claire: I booked on because I like the safety of swimming with other people so that if I go in, I know that there's somebody keeping an eye out for me. But also I've always found people that swim with Suzanna are just a lovely group of people, who always have a laugh.
Toni: Yeah, I'm exactly the same. I swam with her before on my own, just getting the way of having a dip. But I really like coming to the group because it just makes you want to go. You know there's going to be people there that are all the same, at different stages. There's no competition in anything. It's just really sociable and you know, you're going to be safe and well looked after.
Lydia: I usually go on my own and I've been watching Suzanna on social media and getting a bit jealous. People look like they’ve been having such a great time in the group, so I was really excited to try it and it’s been so nice.
What should people look for when booking a group swim?
Suzanna: You should be looking for people's qualifications. First of all, if there's money changing hands, you want to know what you're paying for.
When people book on to my swims, they're paying for me
- To have done all this training
- To be insured
- To have risk assessed my locations
- And to have built up that massive amount of knowledge that permits me to take people out swimming.
So you want to be looking for the qualification level of somebody to take you out.
If someone's telling you to turn up, they'll take you out, but it's at your own risk. You've got to really consider if something does go wrong, who's going to look after me and what are the consequences of that?
If you are up in the Lake District and would like a swim with Suzanna, check out her website suzannaswims.co.uk
