Swimming

Banning the butterfly stroke. WTAF is going on?
And additionally how had I just heard this now.
I love it. I save it for empty pools, but it was what I used to race. The saddest part of destroying my shoulder is that I'm now slower than I used to be.

Banning the butterfly stroke. WTAF is going on?

It was never banned. In earlier versions of Swim England guidance they said "Wide strokes such as butterfly should be avoided when the lanes become busy. " but that has been removed from the latest version.

https://dc6a8y1hv5xxq.cloudfront.net/c51736c8da80be0d25f87c3b3cd11874?response-content-disposition=attachment%3Bfilename%3D%22Guidance%20for%20Users.pdf%22&Expires=1594317697&Signature=DNhHpOUkt~fjXr~Pdq0t7Yxvz65ym8lCgvr7-EizR6mBtEKLOqv154yk-3YXQJ4E3UD~C1IUw4ZvdTXNLr8lJ7kmTg2yc4q9t~7Jv5sjHFYBPFVD1tbmvAzTDUXicKYXKQN44fK42IjNIN7KtwdNz-lUB3CZKBFkLMrI6tZyAOImKe4ceSdbJPwdO8AzHNdsinnNuV7wlrvKmNJbpQm2l-svyltlZkT7mD1yjcnAHkYLucgxOteaZ3cfLPmhBPSISCBPKHlg9-n-Uw29qBTBkXrZ3OdEMVIac9GdgoJMJmiyTbx-FvYxKnHPOAsYjvwZqhhz366kG5PVQr2QHIp56g__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAISHYQZLOHKRARIXQ

Anyone got experience of using endless pools? Any good?

I've only tried once in a pool at a friend's house for about 10 minutes. I found it very difficult to have any idea how hard I was swimming and got tired very quickly. I expect with a bit of practice you would find a combination of settings and stroke that works for you though.

Outdoor pools to open from the 11th.

Indoor pools and gyms from the 25th.

Both will probably require some booking (like many of the open water places are already doing).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53355001

Can't wait, even if it means booking slots at odd/early times. More than enough time to get the fitness up for Swim Serpentine (2 miles) in Sep and Marathon Swims (10k) in Nov.

booking slots

I'm a bit pissed off with the bookers of West Reservoir. All the slots book up days in advance and yet of you look on an evening like tonight there are lots of cancellations and so slots. What are people afraid of, getting rained on? If you book a slot bloody we'll use it! I suppose at least they cancel so someone else can grab it in the day.

Heath swimming can be booked at https://www.activetrainingworld.co.uk/swimming-on-hampstead-heath/

Booking opens the day before:

From 11.00 Kenwood Ladies’ Bathing Pond 07.00 Session & 08.30 Session.
From 12.00 Hampstead Mixed Bathing Pond 07.00 Session & 08.30 Session.
From 13.00 Highgate Men’s Bathing Pond 07.00 Session & 08.30 Session.
From 14.00 Parliament Hill Fields Lido 07.00 Session & 08.30 Session.

(there is also a 10am session on Monday in the ponds)

Sessions sell out very quickly.

Charlton Lido is bookable via the Better app. As with West Reservoir sessions can be booked from 10pm 7 days ahead. Availability seems reasonably good at Charlton.

Better (Charlton and West Reservoir) are letting a dozen people in every 10 minutes and running day long sessions. You are trusted to leave after your slot. The Heath are running hour long sessions with everyone in at the beginning and then clearing the facility between sessions. The later approach leads to big queues and appears slightly bonkers but does prevent abuse.

Passed HH Men's Pond yesterday, there was a TV reporter doing a piece and could see the East Germans doing a photo op. Might pop up to Charlton for a change, but sticking with Shadwell for now.

I've been going here once a week. Its a 20 minute off road bike ride from my house. I haven't used it before as I couldn't justify £8 for a swim when there's a bigger lake over the road that costs nothing, the Thames is 20 minutes away in the other direction, and I had membership of the local lido. But the big lake is surrounded by fisherman, the Thames is OK but busy with boats of all sizes on the weekends and the Lido has been closed since lockdown.
I've weirdly got into it, there's a lot of people in the water, it's now almost 20 degrees (it warms up really quickly) so no need for a wetsuit, and all in all good value. Spent a happy hour and a half in there this morning.
The local Lido opens on 21st. I'll mix up nice 26 degree pool swimming and the lake for the foreseeable future.

I've finally got into the water over here in NL. Bloody hell swimming outside is addictive. The dutch, unsurprisingly,organise it fabulously (which means lots of maps, some work on hazards and water quality, but mainly ladders to get into nice bits of water and an attitude of 'of course you want to swim here,its lovely. We will do a bit to make it not extra dangerous, but it's the water, don't come crying to us if you drown and we won't say you are idiots for swimming'

Lots of people do seem to use swim buoys. Considering trying one.

don't come crying to us if you drown

I have a feeling that this could be slightly unlikely.

All of this will be lost, like tears in the lungs.

Lots of people do seem to use swim buoys. Considering trying one.

I hadn't used one until West Reservoir mandated them for skins swimming. They can be annoying when the wind blows it towards you but they are handy for holding onto while you clear your goggles.

I think I'll get one. Not for goggles but for a nice little rest now and then :-) also really as a crutch. I'm more than capable of swimming across the lake but tend to stay within 100m of the edge.

Lots of people do seem to use swim buoys. Considering trying one.

I use one to put my clothes and stuff in, then swim to somewhere else and get out and get dressed. I tend to swim upstream, so I've not had any trouble with it, it trails behind. I use a dry sack from a camping shop, a webbing belt and a length of cord.

Took one for a try today. Only ended up swimming 800m or so, but buoy was fine. In fact only issue was continuously looking back assuming it had come undone because I couldn't feel it

I swam with one in a fairly rough sea yesterday , once or twice I caught it with my arm , when wind or waves pushed it in the way , that’s the first time it’s happened and tbh it was unpleasant in there ,
Very useful for shoes t shirt and visibility

I use one when i'm in the Thames (outside of london) for visibility, i usually swim before the boaty types are up, but you cna see other swimmers out from several 100m if they have them and only a few meters away if not, even if they are wearing bight swim caps, so presume if there was a boat the same would hold up the storage capacity is a bonus as my car key is waterproof.

if i'm in a boat free environment i don't bother as i cant see any need for it.

the first time i used it the tether was too long and i kept kicking the buoy, i now have it shorter so it sits between hip and knee and its fine, I've not used it in strong wind but upstream or downstream it stays in the right place not sure if i was swimming at a slower pace if it might catch up with me on the downstream leg...

only other gripe is that i usually turn onto my back to check my swim buddies are ok, and i find i get tangled up in it when doing this...

I’ve been having some problems with the really early swims as the rowers are out. The scullers are a nightmare as they have no idea where you are and travel really fast. The coxed 8s, although faster at least have one person facing the right way.
Fortunately the Thames Lido has reopened so I can get in there and there is some good enough swimming on the tri20 lake, although I do begrudge paying £8 for a swim.

where are you based? - assume reading way?

if you can make it to the jubilee river that's completely boat free
there are stretches of the Thames towards Henley/maidenhead/Cookham that are too far from rowing clubs to be bothered and obviously free.

Flower Pot Pub
between ferry pub in cookham and basically bourne end
i suspect around sonning to shiplake is ok but have no experience myself..

Yep. Reading. The Thames is a 10 minute ride from my house. I’ve actually found later in the day on the river not so bad. The powered boats are much easier to see and before midday have seemingly sober crews. The rowers don’t go out so much when it’s busy. Swimming is a bit nicer then. I must make an effort to ride somewhere further afield one day. Perhaps a forum swim in the Jubilee river before the summer’s over?

Swimming through the Seasons, Hampstead Ponds is on BBC 4 right now.

It's following on from a more general wild swimming docu feat Dr Alice Roberts

Is it just a case of heading to Marsh Lane car park, jumping in and heading up river?

What sort of temperature is it?

That’s where I swim, Basically any stretch of it is fine, and heading upstream first is just good practice in terms of safety but not essential (logic being that it’s easier on the way home if you get tired: in reality there are so many exit points on that stretch if you got I’m tired you’re not more than a few m from the bank and you can get out and walk home if needs be)

it changes day to day but I’d say between 16 and 18 degrees, perfectly comfortable in a wetsuit and bracing but not bad without..

Thank you for this. When I was in Kentish Town, I regularly bumped into David all through the year cycling to the ponds or back on Kentish Town or Highgate Road.