Swimming

(I've actually swan there before many years ago.)

This may be how you think of yourself, but I do wonder if the reality is quite as graceful. :)

Just had a thought about a swim really close to home. It's not as romantic as any of the locations that you've all done but it's a big mass of water and it's outdoors: Greenland Dock, Surrey Quays

Thoughts?

(I've actually swan there before many years ago.)
You can but these days the Council seem to control what goes on there and it's part of the 'Surrey Docks Watersports Centre'. According to the website, they offer sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, powerboating and raft building in the dock but it aint free...http://www.fusion-lifestyle.com/centres/Surrey_Docks_Watersports_Centre

Did a wild ish swim yesterday in the jubilee, although much further than last time, about 3k according to my mapping efforts.

Following the Channel swim a couple of weeks ago, we're looking for something a bit fun to do next year. Possibilities at the moment are:

• 2-way Channel swim
  
• North Channel swim Ireland to Scotland (doesn't appear to have been done by a 2-man team before and is the current favourite)
  
  

Any other ideas?

Corryvreckan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Corryvreckan
I have always fancied it, from one side to the other and back between maelstroms, walking in and back out again

Happy with yesterday's lake swim, if a little surprised.

I did 4 x 1.1km laps in 64min, which is far from impossibly quick, but what really surprised me was my pacing - the whole thing was at a very relaxed pace and I stopped to chat to my GF on the bank for about 3 minutes after lap 1. It seems focussing on short intensity work seems to be working.

I have just been to the seaside, a campsite above the sea in Dorset. Each morning I went to Chapmans pool,

swam out beyond the moored boats and walked back to camp, about 1/2 mile swimming and a four mile round trip to get there and back. Mostly I was back before anyone else was up. I had the beach to myself, so didn't even bother getting my trunks wet.
Blissful start to the day.

^^^Corryvreckan looks awesome, though not a big distance swim. Could be something to tag onto the end of a North Channel swim, perhaps...

^also looks and sounds awesome (your nudity excepted)

I'm sure The Internet could tell me, but would rather ask you lot: are there different wetsuit designs for different activities?
If I buy a wetsuit designed for surfing, will it also do for swimming?
Thanks!

Hmm I have just found an answer:

A wetsuit specifically designed for swimming (usually sold as a triathlon wetsuit) provides significant advantages over a general wetsuit (eg a surfing wetsuit). Swimming wetsuits are more flexible, particularly in the shoulders, have a slick external layer (reducing drag) and manufacturers design the buoyancy of the suit with swimming in mind ie your legs aren't so high in the water you're kicking in thin air.
Swimming suits generally have sections of thinner neoprene (usually 2-3mm) in particular areas around joints such as shoulders and knees whereas the rest of the suit may well be made mostly of neoprene up to 5mm thick (the maximum allowed under International Triathlon race rules). Thicker wetsuits provide increased buoyancy although they can be awkward to swim in (if thicker than 5mm) but will keep you warmer. Surf wetsuits are frequently hard to do freestyle in on the shoulders, and have legs so buoyant your feet are above the water so you can't kick in breaststroke.

from http://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/index.php?p=swimming_tips&s=outdoor

But I think that what it says about surfing wetsuits isn't entirely true: they *are *specifically designed to enable you to paddle easily, so allow for shoulder movement, and the thicker sections are usually only on the torso. Summer surfing suits are 2-3mm, so apparently the same thickness as swimming ones.
Dunno about the legs-buoyancy thing though.

Does anyone have any experience of the difference?

Not had any experience of good surfing wetsuits in a long time but the neoprene of swimming wetsuits has a rubberised coating over it's entirety to allow it to glide smoothly through the water, whereas most of the surfing suits I've seen have had the slightly more "fabricy" textured neoprene on the surface.

A friend of mine did the Henley Classic in a diving wetsuit but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

I have just been to the seaside, a campsite above the sea in Dorset. Each morning I went to Chapmans pool,

swam out beyond the moored boats and walked back to camp, about 1/2 mile swimming and a four mile round trip to get there and back. Mostly I was back before anyone else was up. I had the beach to myself, so didn't even bother getting my trunks wet.
Blissful start to the day.

reeeespect!
will be running that section sat on the coast path relay.
got juicy lake swimming pics to post soon from S.LOVE.NIA

^^ that looks blissful. Jealous.

Katie, yep. There's a dozen different style of surfing wetsuit in varying neoprene thicknesses and finishes. Assuming it's for use in this country most people will have a summer and winter suit. Summer, thinner neoprene or even shorties (short arms and legs) in 3mm are fine in most of the UK.

Surfing suits tend to be thicker than swimming suits for any given water temperature because as well as bursts of intense activity, surfing can involve a lot of sitting about getting cold. They're tougher as well to withstand constant contact with the board/sand/rocks/coral/sharks. Winter suits are often a mixture of thicknesses. My last winter suit was 3mm on the arms and shoulders, 5mm on the body and 4mm of the legs. Pretty hefty.

Tri or open water suits tend to be much thinner and more flexible for periods of extended heat-generating cardio. Plus they're more streamlined and easier to get off in a hurry.

My current botton the range Orca tri wetsuit was about £100 i think. It is very thin and nicely flexible. The rubberised outer covering is really fragile though. You have to be really careful pulling in on and only using the pads of your fingers. If you get fustrated and grab it, it immediately tears.

Did a woefully out of shape 1500m in Brockley last night in it. Felt like a right plum surrounded by shorts and swimsuits whilst overheating in full neoprene. Was glad of the practice though. Made me realise how horribly unprepared for my first olympic tri in 2 weeks I am.

are leaky goggles a fit problem or a manufacturing fault?

I've worn aqua sphere kayennes for a few years, then bought a new pair when the old pair started leaking. wore them for an hours swim without any problems then did an Ironman and they leaked horribly the whole way if i put my head in the water a certain way, so i had to breath only on one side. Not ideal.

Just wondering if it's normal for goggles to leak a bit anyway, or should I be finding a new pair which maybe fit my face better?

also... do people wet their goggles before putting them on? I always have, but i have no idea why...

Ha. it's just case of finding a pair that work for your face shape i think. and replacing them when the rubber seal starts to perish.

i spit in my goggles then rinse in the superstitious belief that it prevents fogging.

I just pull the straps tighter.
And I rub a piece of a potato on the inside to keep them from misting up.
I get out of the pool with Marty Feldman eyes though.

^^^I always used Kayenne, but my most recent pair new leaked - wonder if they've changed the design a little? Moved to Zoggs Predators, find them great.

Thanks dooks and ewanmac, both really helpful, and also answered why it wouldn't work the other way round (ie a swimming wetuit for surfing).

Re. goggles, I surreptitiously spit in mine (lick my finger and wipe the insides) before putting them on but I am pretty sure this serves no purpose other than superstition

I lick mine, it's not superstition it does stop them misting up.

I hope you are all following this, currently about 50 miles in, approaching HALFWAY!!!!!!!
http://www.diananyad.com

^ 2 ish miles to go... cheer her home!

http://www.diananyad.com/blog/thanks-2-miles

Less than a mile now!

incredible swim

streaming video here

http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/cvplive/cvpstream1.html

Like the boss of bosses.