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Soz - will go the back of the class....and stealth edit.
Not sure if it was for the swimming or the gathering. Assuming the gathering.
I’ll see if I can find out 🙂
No one's mentioned the cold shower technique?
I've heard it mentioned a lot - eg have cold showers at home to help get used to shock of the cold/breathing etc.
I've not had chance to test it out yet - any views on if it makes a difference or not?
It's certainly refreshing anyways!
Cold shower actually feels much colder than the river to new, got down to just under 6 degrees this winter and would far rather do 20 mins in that than a 5 minute cold shower
I only dabble in open water, I'm normally a pool swimmer but in the absence of other options open water will have to do.
One of our local open water venues has opened up (pre-book only) so I've swum a couple of times now. Ditched the wetsuit last time as I realise how much I hate swimming in it. Hopefully this should keep me sane until pools open again. Only issue now is swimmer's itch
Our first swim in nearly 3 months today. Along the bay and back in St Jean de Luz. Lots of people doing the same, surfers, paddles, aqua joggers... . Perfect weather, water warm for the time of year, perfect.
the more fat you have, the less cold you’ll feel, due to simple physics.
You have your physics and biology wrong. Fat is inactive material that effectively stores temperature, whether hot or cold. When you first get in to the water it may take longer to get down to the waters temperature, but it will do so, and once there it cold inside your body close to organs. And once you get out it takes longer to warm back up normal body tempreture.
But the biggest danger for us fatties when swimming outdoors in wetsuits, is when trying to get out after the swim, to have Greenpeace turn up and throw us back in.
I was wondering why I had seen lots of seals at the river recently
Fat is a good insulator not just a store, that's why sea mamals have lots of it. I don't and need water over 20°C to swim safely for more than a km. When I was down to race weight for duathlons (65kg 1m74) I had to swim flat out to stay warm in a pool at 25°C. At my usual 67-68 kg I'm happy in pools over 25°C but below that it's the cold that will eventually drive me out of the water rather than running out of swimming strength.
I hated triathlons without the wet suit especially in fresh water. Way back when the French Olympic distance championship had a 1500m swim down the Dordogne. They measured the temperature and declared it no wet suits declaring the water to be 18°C IIRC (nobody believed them, it was too convenient to have the minimum temperature for a no wet suit swim at the time). They had us treading water for about 5-10 minutes before firing the gun by which time I (and many others ) were gibbering and shouting at the officials, the most miserable triathlon swim of my life, I crashed into one of the kayaks there to guide us which din't help.
Swimmerists, open water wetsuit advice please. Any brands to look at over others? Are they all odd sizes c/w eg surfing wetsuits? Are they daft tight and thus should go up sizes? Clearly at the moment trying on is not possible as places are either miles away or closed.
Size guides from manufacturers are usually spot on in terms of height and weight ranges. I’ve got a couple of Speedo suits which for the money I can’t fault, seem robust and quick enough through the water. Done me well in open water events from a mile to 5km.
Couldn’t justify a Huub or similar top end suit as not that competitive.
Avoid non-swimming specific suits as are rubbish to swim in, buoyancy in all the wrong places and cut around the shoulder is all wrong for effective swim stroke.
Cheers, my height : weight range ratio doesn't quite fit most manufacturers charts, will try and contact some more and have a chat through their options.
Don't write off getting a second hand suit off ebay or similar! You can get some good quality stuff, perhaps with the odd nick or two (easily fixed with some wetsuit glue + Patch) and if you are not using it that often, save a lot of money compared to the new RRP!
Ok, sizing is obvs. a bit more of a gamble, but ime you can fairly easily sell any suit you buy on for what you got it for if it doesn't fit (just don't get into bidding wars and pay over the top for it and try to buy the odd auctions that finish at 11.37pm on a thursday eve rather than the weekend ending stuff !
Anyone been managing to keep up their swimming through the winter? It's been a bit of a challenge here at 60N, more so due to the usual winter winds and seas, but I've managed atleast one or two on a weekend.
The last couple of weeks we've had unusually still cold weather for here which has been great for chalmers seas and easier changing.
Heres on of my recent swims, only about 10mins in speedos and water temp between 5-6c at the moment...
Skellister swimbles
5-6C?? Lightweight. 😉
We ended up with cut legs after this one. With numb skin, we didn't realise we were bumping up against sharp chunks of ice when getting out of the loch.
Really loved the river swim. getting in and out without having to chop a channel is much more pleasant.
Looks nice and suitably cold.
Never swam at the part of the Feshie will, rectify that next time I'm up there though.
I've seen a few of Alice's pictures on Insta of her dips at Loch Insch!
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Thats the 2nd of January - managing once a week so far this winter, but i'm at the point where id like to be able to actually swim a bit instead of bobbing about in ice holes trying not to get cut. Its actually hard work breaking inch thick ice when you cant touch the bottom!
I’ve seen a few of Alice’s pictures on Insta of her dips at Loch Insch!
Yeah, unfortunately I don't have a sledgehammer 🙂
Never swam at the part of the Feshie will, rectify that next time I’m up there though.
Easy entry and exit. Water level was very low last week but even then it was tough swimming towards the bridge. There are some very shallow "rapids" downstream so it's not like you could get swept away at current levels.
I'm going to head up to the pony bridge for a couple of dips this year. Possibly run up and back.
Excellent, great to see 😁
We've got lots of frozen lochs up here at the moment and even some part frozen View which is fairly unusual.
Surprising how much ice cuts isn't it? I remember really cutting my hands up years ago kayaking in a frozen lake. We didn't expect it to be frozen when. We left for it.
Yeah been swimming through. It got down to 3° on the great ouse down here a few weeks back.
Sadly no ice breaking and the rivers have been a bit stupid recently. No upstream swimming possible.
Nice outdoor swim today. 50m pool at 27°C.