Let us introduce you to Debbie and her Open Water Swim Journey.
“I’d been interested in cold water swimming for a couple of years and had made a half-hearted attempt to look for an opportunity around the area I lived in Ashford, Kent. However, I had not taken any real action to pursue it.
Then came September 2022, when destiny intervened. I joined my friend Nicki for her birthday celebration at Hampstead Ponds. Yet despite a positive swimming experience, and keen to do it again, I still hesitated to take the next step. Fast forward a couple of months, I made some life-changing decisions, and in December 2022, I left my hometown, changed my job and moved into a new home 80 miles away in Godalming.”
“This was to be the start of my Open Water Swim Journey.”
Resolve to start Open Water Swimming
Motivated by my new surroundings, I made the conscious decision that Open Water Swimming was going back on my to-do list and true to my nature of embracing challenges I wasted no time in setting myself some goals.
· Start open-water swimming.
· The first swim to be a winter swim.
· Learn proper face-in, non-splashy front crawl.
· Do this stroke around the 1km swimming loop by the end of the summer.
Visiting The Quays
On 11th February 2023, I visited The Quays for the first time and received a warm welcome from Rob, who went through the dry land induction, including information about the lake, safety measures and the community around the firepits.
Being a newbie and with my first swim being in the winter months, he suggested I enrol on the NICE1 Intro to Cold Water Swimming classroom-based, coaching session before going in the lake.
So, on the advice of Rob, a couple of weeks later, I attended the training with one of my good friends, Laura. It felt very sobering as I learned from Martin about cold-water shock, after drop and hypothermia. More importantly, it was helpful for me to understand not only how I was likely to react to cold water immersion, but that I can recognise this in others.
It was a very worthwhile session but it made the thought of going into the lake the following day absolutely terrifying.
First Open Water Swim at The Quays
My first swim day came, and not wanting to commit to the expense of buying a wetsuit, gloves and socks I hired everything from the NICE1 Lakeside shop.
Karen was in the shop, and she could not have been kinder and made it really easy. She fitted me out with a wetsuit, gloves and boots and allowed me to get changed in the back of the shop, where it was warm both before and after the swim.
The lake temperature was 6 degrees, and I would have been happy with just a dunk up to my neck, but I was encouraged by The QuaySwim
community to swim the shortest loop of 75m, and I was glad I did. My smile when I got out was so wide, I thought my face was going to break!
That smile stayed with me the whole day.
My first ‘Skins’ swim experience.
I’ve continued going to the lake at every opportunity, and before long, I was swimming the 150m loop. I had already bought gloves and boots but kept hiring my wetsuit from the NICE1 Lakeside shop. However, after a couple of weeks of hiring, I was considering buying one but was also inquisitive about swimming without one as many of the other swimmers do.
So less than a fortnight after my first swim, I arrived at the lake faced with freezing drizzle and sideways sleet. The lake was down at 4.5 degrees, and it was a rotten day, one of those days for having a lazy breakfast with a large coffee. But already hooked, not only did I want to swim but, mad as I am, this was also going to be the first day I would go in without a wetsuit. (skins)
I went back to being terrified again but sensibly reduced my swimming distance back to 75m, and it was absolutely fine. I inched into the water bit by bit until I could breathe properly, remembering what I had learnt in my coaching session with Martin, it took a while, but I eventually got in and did my swim.
Afterwards, I remember not being able to feel my arms when I was drying myself, they had gone completely numb, which amused me, but because of the coaching I’d had, I knew why that was and was not concerned. However, it was times like this that I understood the need for speed, layers and a warm drink when getting dried and dressed. No fiddly clasps, buttons, laces or zips.
After my swim and when I had warmed up sufficiently, I went back to see Karen in the NICE1 Lakeside shop, and she kitted me out with a lovely long-sleeved rash vest to give me another thin layer in the water which was more a psychological thing than actually for insulation.
And that’s today’s swimming uniform.
And my journey continued …
I continued with regular swims as often as I could, accompanied by two lovely swimmers, Lyn and Laura, and we’d encourage each other to do longer and longer swims.
I’d been regularly swimming the big 1000m swim loop with 2000m firmly in my sights and will say that the view from the far side of the lake is glorious.
The next step in the challenge was face-in, front crawl around the 1,000m loop. This is where Martin from NICE1 was needed once again. A group of us attended the breaststroke to front crawl coaching session and have been practising the drills Martin taught us ever since. One of the important things I also focus on is spotting. It’s one thing to be focused on my own goal, but I don’t want to collide with any of my fellow swimmers as they enjoy their summer months in the lake.
I really started to believe I could reach my end-of-summer goal. Only a short time ago, I felt it was such a long way off, as each time I tried front crawl, I either inhaled or swallowed a large amount of the lake. But I now felt that with Martin’s coaching and some grit and determination, I could cross this off my list and head into a brand-new challenge over the autumn and winter.
Well… I’m really proud to say that I am now getting close to my front crawl goal and increasing the time I spend on that with each swim. But I was delighted last Sunday with the support of the wonderful and lovely Lyn Richards, I did my first 2km swim, and it was amazing!! The water was toasty and beautifully calm, made even better with the company and laughs afterwards.
From someone who had done very little open-water swimming just over six months ago, I am amazed of how far I have come and would encourage anyone thinking of taking it up to come along and give it a try. With the help of the team at NICE1 and the friends I’ve made on my journey, I’ve certainly got the bug, and I’m sure once you’ve been, you’ll get it too.
So, I now need to set myself a new goal … what will be next?
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