How safe is swimming in random reservoirs?

Actually I believe that more people die in supervised swimming pools than die swimming in open water too

Is that pro rata, or just a meaningless statement you made up?

Does it have to be a random reservoir, can't you just choose one that's close to you.

Bizzarely in Germany where they love a bit of legislation gravel pits are often open for swiming , they even have changeing rooms, ice cream shops etc etc.

Had a great swim in one, probably a mile accross tot he far side and a mile back again. Lovely and warm, no idea how deep it was but was easily 10m+ (had a nice long dive down to have a look, figured as long as you keep you eyes open and don't breath out and don't panic you'll always bob back upto the surface even if you get diorientated.

Plenty of old cranes to climb up and jump off as well.

Gravel pits and reservoirs are two weeery different sings.

Berm Bandits School Days

Is that pro rata, or just a meaningless statement you made up?

No it's absolute numbers. No one has an accurate count of how many times people go swimming outside for obvious reasons – although some estimates are surprisingly high.

Blimey you lot* are a bunch of paranoid scaredy-cats!!

Chuck a wetsuit on (ideally a tri/swim specific one) and get in there! If its safe to sail or windsurf on then its safe to swim in as long as you wear a wetsuit. The temperature of the water changes very little from winter to summer.

*except those who agree with me

chatting to a roady the other day on club ride who trains for his ultra triathlons and whatnot in the peak district resevoirs.

pretty sure he said he swims in all of them i.e. damflask, ladybower, stines etc.etc… a nice bit of variation. swims all year round too. even during all the snow we had.

scares me. tough as **** eh? and he was late 50's early 60's too.

badass! wouldnt catch me doing it.

From this it seems that the sea would be dangerous beyond belief for any kind of swimming? Waves, rips etc.

Think most of the signs are just because the water authorities don't want to be responsible for 2 many drownings.

Yes I know swimming in the sea can be dangerous but so is riding to work, or crossing the street, we just need to be aware of the real risks not the made up ones.

If you're interested in natural swimming, there's an interesting book by Roger Deakin "Waterlog".

Basically he set out to swim through the British Isles.

Looks like swimming is divided into 2 camps like mtb – trailcentre v natural trails

Well the sea is pretty dangerous if you are in the wrong place. I suppose reservoirs would only be safe if you knew it was ok.

The thing is with the sea though is that one tends not to set out for the other side very often.

Wild Swimming: 150 Hidden Dips in the Rivers, Lakes and Waterfalls of Britain

Mate of mine has this book which he dips into now and again.

Lost a mate to this in a rervoir we had all swimmed in as kids …who knows why or exact cause but i dont swim in them anymore.

It sounds like most of you guys are dripping wet without even getting into the water.

I will pass that on to his family 🙄

Note that I have swum in rivers and lakes many times.

I have a phobia about swimming in water where I cant see what is underneath me 😥 just think it could be down there waiting for you and the big pike could come up and take a chunk outta you.

God knows how dangerous it is, but I've got a fair few hours reservoire swimming under my belt, I'd say that it's pretty safe if you're careful.

Just watch out for these

CK is that real?

EDIT: surely not, that close to the bank.

That wasn't directed at you Junkyard you posted while I was typing. It is tragic when people are hurt doing stuff like that but to try and wrap everyone up in cotton wool is a far worse fate for us all, a few people getting hurt doing daft things is a small price to pay. People need to be left to their own devices and not scaremongered by the H&S crowd.

Is it really wrapping us in cotton wool? Do you really KNOW if it's dangerous or not? Just because people THINK it's fine, doesn't mean it is. Take driving without seatbelts for instance, or having a few pints and driving home.

molgrips – yup, it's real, it's in ladybower res (2 of them). They're the overflow ducts that dump some mental quantity of water if it starts to rain heavily. Don't fall down them, they don't have a safety mesh as far as I know (to prevent blockages that could breach the dam) and they drop out at the bottom of the dam!

There they are at lower water levels

Drac – Member
Berm Bandits School Days

LOL you could well be right Drac, but its that long ago I can't remember 😉

However, I suspect you would be surprised about how wrong you can be all in one post, and I think you may also have misunderstood where I'm coming from. My issue is with thoughtless and selfish stupidity **** up the use of a resource for everyone else, regretably it happens all too often, and the people least effected are the weekend heroes who go there just once or very occasionally, ignore the warnings, create an issue and then leave the aftermath for everyone else.

Most recent in my experience being the example given above, when my local reservoir came close to a total shut down to leisure users, and Thetford Forest where stupid and similar ignorance has led to some of the best trails in the forest being permanently closed (i.e. a harvester run along the entire length of trails). So it would be true to say that the "I can do whatever I like whenever I like on other peoples property" kind of attitude does indeed boil my piss…… for purely selfish reasons of course

joemarshall – Member

Is that pro rata, or just a meaningless statement you made up?

No it's absolute numbers. No one has an accurate count of how many times people go swimming outside for obvious reasons – although some estimates are surprisingly high

Absolute Numbers ?

That wasn't directed at you Junkyard

Ok point taken

The best advice would be don't swim alone.

Is that pro rata, or just a meaningless statement you made up?

No it's absolute numbers. No one has an accurate count of how many times people go swimming outside for obvious reasons – although some estimates are surprisingly high

Absolute Numbers ?

That's interesting – if you look at the stats breakdown and just take the drownings of people intentionally swimming as opposed to getting drunk and falling in, or falling in for other reasons (from the ROSPA 2002 figures) you get:

Rivers (freshwater) 4
Lakes, reservoirs & canal 3
The sea 7
Estuaries & tidal rivers 4
Swimming pools 7

http://www.river-swimming.co.uk/stats.htm

which isn't that bad really.

Joe

I knew somebody whose mom wrapped him up in cotton wool, and it killed him.

Who'd a thunk it, huh?

That's interesting

Yep I noticed that too, if you take the figures, ignore the obvious facts, change them, interprete them to suit your own argument they then actually fit with that argument. Amazing really who would have thought it? 😯

Yep I noticed that too, if you take the figures, ignore the obvious facts, change them, interprete them to suit your own argument they then actually fit with that argument. Amazing really who would have thought it?

Well, they certainly don't suggest that people who choose to go swimming in reservoirs whilst not drunk, and don't dive in are in any particular risk. Which if reservoirs were as dangerous as several people above are suggesting, would surely be the case no?

Even in the original figures you posted, without the breakdown relating to what people were doing to get there (i.e. did they go swimming, or fall in or whatever), 10 people died in reservoirs, against 7 in swimming pools.

It doesn't mean that you shouldn't treat water with respect, but idiots saying that anyone swimming in basically any open water is in serious danger of their life (or even in much more danger than someone going in a boat on open water) don't help anyone. It's just the same as the idiots who say that people shouldn't cycle on the road.

Joe

Around five people a year suffer death by lightening strike and I dare say there are a few more people wondering around in storms than there are swimming in reservoirs.

but idiots saying that anyone swimming in basically any open water is in serious danger of their life

Which is very specifically not what I said, Joe.

I also think what you and the website you are quoting are very conveniently overlooking is the overall numbers of people swimming in reservoirs as opposed to the sea, or swimming pools. Not 100% certain, and can't be arsed to look but quietly confident that you will find that the vast majority of swimmers do the latter, whilst very few by comparision do the former. That alone makes the stats very different. It would also be wrong to presume that people who ignore saftey warnings do not also drink to excess. In my experience at my local reservoir leaping in and swimming is almost always related to being pished.

PS: An apology to joe marshall

Yep I noticed that too, if you take the figures, ignore the obvious facts, change them, interprete them to suit your own argument they then actually fit with that argument. Amazing really who would have thought it?

In retrospect that sounded very snotty to you personally, and I didn't mean it that way. What I meant was that the website is an interest group who are trying to prove that the ROSPA stats are wrong, so you have to take that into account when using that info. Sorry 😳

So in summary then, reservoirs are the safest inland waters to go swimming in, including swimming pools?

It's simple. Swimming is safe.

Panicking kills you. Hypothermia kills you. Alcohol and water do not mix.

It helps if you teach your kids to swim properly. If they know they can swim a kilometre nonstop, they can swim even more, and are unlikely to panic. Naturally you should be able to do the same 🙂

The sea is a good place to swim, especially in biggish waves. The Oz beach lifesaving culture creates some very strong and confident swimmers. We could have the same here now wetsuits are readily available and cheap.

We used to go out to the Barrier reef in small boats without life jackets – instead we took snorkels and flippers – you can't swim home in a life jacket, but you can, and it has been done, with a snorkel and flippers. We figured sharks and salt water crocs were more of a risk than drowning, and we weren't greatly concerned about them.

Swimming is all well and good as long as you don't get cramp or hypothermia, or have a heart attack or something. I believe that's where most of the problems occur in still inland water.

molgrips – Member
Swimming is all well and good as long as you don't get cramp…

So long as you don't panic, you can usually handle cramp.

Alcohol and water do not mix.

I think my old chemistry teacher would disagree….

zokes – Member
Alcohol and water do not mix.
I think my old chemistry teacher would disagree….

Probably should have said that having an alcohol content of 50% is ok 🙂

Swimming is all well and good as long as you don't get cramp or hypothermia, or have a heart attack or something. I believe that's where most of the problems occur in still inland water.

I think part of why I'm very confident in flat water, is that I know that I can swim a km with legs or arms only, so even with cramp, I'd get out.

Hypothermia is a pain, and you do have to avoid it, but to be honest you'd be surprised at how long you can swim in pretty cold water without getting it, as long as you keep swimming. You do have to be slightly careful, and pay attention to your body. And also be aware that the really high risk point is when you get out into the cold and wind and stop swimming, at which point it is a good idea to get into any dry clothes you have handy and do a little dance until you're warm again!

The only time I've had any cold water worries, was filming this youtube vid – because it was white water, there were a fair few pauses to stand on rocks and check the line on the next section, or just to get my breath back, so I did end up getting a bit chilly, and having to get out on a little beach and jog on the spot for 30 seconds, half way along. That river was dam release coming from the bottom of a big lake in the mountains, so it was jolly cold, although the weather outside was 25-30 degrees so it didn't matter much.

Joe