The Outdoor Swimmers' Handbook: Collected Wisdom on the Art, Sport and Science of Outdoor Swimming

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It covers how to conduct a DIY risk assessment, including restrictions on timing (due to tides), where you’ll enter and exit the water, and notes on ability levels within your group. Or a period of slack water around low tide and high tide, but you can never exactly predict when that will be. If you’re somewhere the water is taking you, you can swim defensively – you lie on your back, feet first, and look out in front of you and keep your arms out, feet out in front, not looking up too much that your bum drops as then you can hit rocks.

The Outdoor Swimmers’ Book Bundle - Outdoor Swimming Society

The rock-art figures – whose creation is dated by the British Museum to about 6,000 to 9,000 years ago – carry with them all the happiness of a river float: arms up, bellies and spirits buoyant. If you’re swimming out to sea, or down a river with lots of other watercraft, one of the most useful pieces of kit would be a brightly coloured swimming hat, in a colour not seen in nature, like red or yellow or pink, not blue or black or green or silver - any of those colours could look like water,” Kate explains.Owen Hayman is a horticulturist, member of the OSS Inland Access Group and founder of SOuP (Sheffield Outdoor Plungers). Tow floats are used far more than they need to be, but they are useful for taking your stuff from A to B or taking your car keys. What are the signs that you should get out of cold water, especially if the adrenaline is masking signs? We’ve got this situation that I don’t think anyone in the OSS would have predicted of people starting swimming in the midwinter. There is this statistic of only 3% of inland water being legally accessible, which is a bit questionable.

The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook - Outdoor Swimming Society

The United Kingdom is not renowned for its sunny weather, which means that outdoor swimmers are going to be immersing themselves in cold water for most of the year. A culture is no better than its rivers (to adapt a line from the poet WH Auden) and our rivers are in trouble. Wherever you’re swimming, wash your hands before eating, cover up any cuts, avoid the water for a couple of days after heavy rainfall, do a visual assessment – you can tell a lot just by looking at it – be aware of the strength of your own immune system, and finally weatherproof your swimming. So many swimmers have helped create this movement and form and articulate this knowledge over the years – may it help make water accessible to millions more. If we do it just because it’s good for us I’m worried it’s giving it a utility or turning it into something for our material benefit.Through the lenses of community, the environment and mental health, Toes in the Water is a collection of inspiring stories exploring why the underwater world can have such a profound impact on people. Some of the advice in his technique guide-come-safety manual is still valid today: avoid murky ponds in which animals have been washed and be careful about jumping in feet first. Our lawyer, Nathan Willmott, wrote a ‘Swim Responsibility Statement’ so we could come out in public and say ‘Let’s go swimming!