Unwrapping – controversial view of outdoor swimming?
Today I watched a lovely documentary on Netflix called “The Ponds”. It’s about people who swim in the ponds on Hampstead Heath in London. Cold water swimmers are an evangelistic lot. They’ll recite all the benefits of cold water swimming (there are several). I noticed there was no neoprene at Hampstead. Clearly you’re a wimp if you want to keep a bit warmer!
I do wear wetsuits in the cold, though in fact I managed to stay in “skins” longer this year than last. In fact, dare I say it, I haven’t swum for a while, since it got colder than 10 degrees. I’m unable to swim regularly enough to acclimatise to the cold. So yes, I’m a wimp so far as that goes, and also I haven’t yet fallen in love with cold water. I like swimming, or splashing around in the sea, and it happens to be cold in this country, so I swim in cold water…!
So I’m thinking today about unwrapping my body in order to get into the sea. That bit isn’t the worst, there’s great anticipation. The worst bit is the re-wrapping – getting changed out of wet things and drying off. These days I struggle to get dressed standing up, so the imbalance is worrying apart from anything else!
There is a lore, and a tradition, about outdoor swimming, and knowing the sea or the river where you swim is a big part of it. I am lucky that, when my schedule allows it, I can get to a beach which is a small bay sheltered by two piers, and is less scary to swim in than just launching off a beach. A woman was swept away by a rip-tide in a bay two along from it recently. She was in waist deep water and simply swept off her feet. It could happen to anyone, which is one reason people are encouraged never to swim alone. But despite the swimmers being very friendly, I do usually swim alone. I hope in future there will be more possibilities for swimming with others. It would help if I planned my dips, but usually I just see what the weather’s like and go when it looks good and when I happen to be around.
So the controversial bit is that I swim in neoprene when I need to, and that it’s not because I love the cold water that I swim in the sea – or at least I’m not convinced yet. Give me a year or two….!