Swimming

You wuss, should have done it with no wetsuit. Bravo though!

Some friends just swam the length of Loch Awe (26 miles). They did it in 2 days. I thought they were joking when they said they were going to do it - there are some fantastic pictures of them on Facebook, mainly sitting under foil blankets looking cold. Lots of pike in the loch too apparently. INSANE.
It makes me feel I should probably go swimming properly again sometime soon though.

Its a bit of the Thames I have spent many hours trying mot ro swim in (tho I have capsized once just north of there). It looks amazing, though wonder if it is a little my abilities - I could do it with my trusty sort of breaststroke but my crawl will take me all of about 5 meters. You doing it?

Wow - such typo, very spelling mistake ^

Sorry

Yes! I am! @kat is up for it too.

I get the feeling the tide will work in your favour but you should be familiar/confident with wild swimming type action e.g being ok with not having a side to grab onto or being able to touch the bottom? Which I'm guessing you are what with the rowing, right?

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/swimmer-lucky-to-survive-after-being-stranded-in-thames-for-four-hours-a2488276.html

URL: 'stranded-in-thames'

Not sure how many of you like open water swimming (and sorry for the late notice) but there's a Thames Tidal Swim on tonight. Meet at the Black Lion in Hammersmith at 18.40, ready to start at 18.55. It's an open swim - you don't have to be affiliated with a club. Just turn up and put your name on a list. It's very social. Less than a mile and assisted by the tide. Gives you a very different view of London. I've done the last few and really recommend it.

How often do they do these? There's one on 3rd Sept too, no?

Yes, there is a swim on the 3rd - the Totally Thames swim is part of the Thames Festival, and costs a fiver. The Thames Tidal Swims have been run once a month over summer, are free and open to anyone who rocks up.

I'm def keen for the 3rd swim @pootsmanuva and @KT_Bee - have you booked a spot yet? Or are you just going to turn up?

And you should both come racing at the Serps while it's warm and sunny. There's a 440yard race on tomorrow - it's a great start to the weekend.

How many people here swim in the Thames? Any thoughts on how clean it is? I remember the David Walliams (?) chap got quite sick from it didn't he?

I needed to do an OW swim yesterday and since it's about 40 mins drive to the nearest 'proper swimming' lake, I just hopped in the Thames at my local pub (here ) while my GF walked the dogs along the bank. Frankly I loved it... so convenient, and I definitely need more OW practice (my uni-lateral breathing is fine in the pool but causes trouble in OW, and my wet suit caused unexpected shoulder fatigue). I think I'd even feel safe swimming without supervision... you're only ever a couple of meters from the bank etc. The main thing that worries me is picking up something nasty from the water... the rivers are bordered on both sides by dairy farms for substantial sections and the water was pretty murky (couldn't see my fingers).

I've been in the Thames four times this summer and in the serps more regularly (at least once a week) and not been sick at all. Can't talk for the cleanliness of other bits of OW. Are you a member of the Outdoor Swimming Society? They talk a lot about best places /times to swim

I grew up between Bampton and Buckland, spent a fair bit of time swimming in the thames and chimney rivers around there. Never really felt concerned about the cleanliness. The currants and wiers, on the other hand, scared the bejesus out of me.

Well I've not had so much as a sniffle yet so I'm very tempted to go again. But reassuring to hear that other people find it ok too.

@LHL I grew up in Standlake so only a couple of villages away, and now back there for a bit. Lots of nice running and riding, and now swimming :-)

I swim in the jubilee(Thames flood relief between Maidenhead and Eton which is not navigable by boat but is the same water) and what I've noticed is that as I've got better at swimming over the last three years I've sick less as I'm breathing more and swallowing less but people tend to get sick after heavy rain than when it hasn't for a few days.

I wouldn't swim round here in the Thames unsupervised as it's very busy with pleasure craft and rowers but people I know who swim in the Thames have those buoys they pull behind them that are brilliant as you can out phones and car keys in them and they make you much more visible (you can rest on them if need be too) http://www.swiminn.com/swimming/zone3-neon-swimming-dry-bag-buoy-28-l/1255405/p?utm_source=google_products&utm_medium=merchant&id_producte=1403274&country=uk&gclid=CjwKEAjwjYCvBRC99sSm_frioAwSJACrKuPCCzVLGrpNvXCbfC_dlBTj1PZ5Yku1MLlryCjgqb6qixoC4Ibw_wcB

It's a nice area. I'll doggy-paddle down for a pint next time I'm visiting.

@ewanmac the Thames up in Port Meadow is perfection, and your spot is upstream, so go for it.

Just heard I'm crewing for a Serpentine member's solo channel crossing tomorrow morning at 8am. Very excited to be part of it!

I've been told to pack my passport, swimmers and some warm clothes.

Solo crossings take anywhere between 7 and 27 hours.

Going to be a memorable day!

So, how did the crossing go? They get across, what was the time, where'd they land etc?

Horrible news from Leybourne, swum there many times, used to do the Xmas Day triathlon and they were always very safety conscious. It's a lovely, clear lake, almost perfect for OW swimming.

.

yes - horrible news about that tri swimmer.

The crossing was pretty epic. Left London at 4.30 for an 8am start. We were advised the conditions weren't great - wind and choppy water - but John gave it a go. He managed just short of 14 hrs of swimming which was pretty bloody amazing to witness, considering the wind and waves and a torrential rain and lightening storm later in the day, not to mention the stinging jellyfish that bounced off his body and the fact he had at least another 6 hours left at 10pm due to the changing currents.

Pretty memorable all up. I learnt a lot about crossing preparation and etiquette, about endurance and why people do this and also about care and community in open water swimming.

Also I learnt that I'm crap on boats. It lurched and rolled a lot in those conditions and I struggled with feeling very rough for most of the (25 hour!) day.

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Excellent!

Swimming starts again for me tomorrow. Last proper swim was back in May just before they messed up the pool opening hours during a refurbishment.

Last swim was 4.8km. I'll be happy if I can get through 1000m!

I did the tidal last night (Totally Thames - start/finish Black Lion around Chiswick Ayot); luckily there were a few no-shows among the 100 swimmers who had registered and I bagged a hat (plus a lot of debris on the return leg). Great fun. I'm definitely up for a few more of those.

Last swim was 4.8km. I'll be happy if I can get through 1000m!

Form (and shoulders) falling apart after 500m so I stopped there. The first 300m felt lovely though, powering through the water. Guess it'll take a month or two to build back up to 5k swims. But nice to be back into the routine.

I think the furthest i've ever swum in a pool is 3.2k!

goods work today, and a very sensible approach!

I find swimming the most frustrating discipline of tri as form and fitness takes forever to build and disappears in days!