The winds influence on swimming conditions

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This morning I made a video looking at how the wind will impact on your swim and it's influence on choppy conditions. We cover the basics and some slightly more technical stuff. We use Long Rock Beach as an example. *What I don’t mention is that if the wind gets really strong it tend to have a habit of bouncing off surfaces, bending round headlands and cliffs...the rules go out the window a little.

I use the example in the video of Long Rock Beach but the principles can be used at any beach. Be aware that there are more factors to consider than just the wind. We don’t go over tides, rips, rivers, estuaries, weather patterns etc in this video.

If you’re unsure how to view the wind direction or how to look it up online, click below and read our blog post on exactly that.

Safe Swimming Guide - St Mawes

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We haven’t done any Safe Swim Guides for quite a while. So here are two from St Mawes. Lovely area to visit. Fairly accessible and has some delightful cafes, pubs and hotels.

The beaches are more river beaches, than beach-beaches but are lovely. Great for swimming, a bit of peace and quiet and ideal if you have kids.

Cornwall's Lidos

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Cornwall has 3 lidos to choose from in Bude, Hayle and Penzance. Here’s a little rundown of each.

BUDE SEA POOL : is a sea pool at Summerleaze Beach. The pool is currently run by a local charity - Friends of Bude Sea Pool (FoBSP). It offers free entry and there’s no need to book. The pool itself is around 91m x 45m in size and holds 4 million litres of water.

MORE INFO & WEBSITE - CLICK HERE

FOOTAGE OF THE POOL - CLICK HERE

 

JUBILEE POOL : is the largest salt water art deco lido in the country. Again, run by a local community group. The Jubilee Pool offers cold water swimming, has a geothermal pool and cafe/shop. Tickets can be purchased online or bought in person, on the day. It’s approx 98 x 56m and holds around 5 million litres of water.

MORE INFO & WEBSITE - CLICK HERE

FOOTAGE OF THE POOL - CLICK HERE

 

HAYLE LIDO : is a small outdoor pool, sat on the bank of the Hayle estuary. Typically opens in May and offers swimming until the start of September. The pool is run by Hayle Council. As a smaller outdoor pool, with an overnight thermal cover, the pool regularly reaches temperatures of 20-24 degrees through the summer.

MORE INFO & BOOKING : CLICK HERE

 

UNA LIDO : is a very new, high end lido in St Ives, Cornwall. Onsite spa and a number of facilities. Open year round.

MORE INFO & BOOKING : CLICK HERE

As well as shorter list of various counties lidos, we also have a comprehensive guide to the UKs lidos. Simply follow the button below :

Sea Swim Cornwall have also put together their own Top-Trumps style game, featuring a number of the UKs lidos. CLICK HERE to find out more.

Swims for people with limited mobility

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I had an email about accessible swimming today and thought I’d write a blog post about it and highlight some of the more accessible swims near us. Please bear in mind however, that with granite cliffs, sand, country roads…there aren’t a huge amount of truly accessible swims.

In and around Penzance :

Penzance Harbour - swim at the back of the harbour, off Abbey Slip. Best avoid the main section of the harbour. Limited parking at Abbey Slip . There is a small section of road for blue badge holders…as well as the main council car park on the harbour. Slip drops into the harbour at mid-to-high tide.

Battery Rocks and the slipway to the west of the Jubilee Pool - Battery Rocks has a paved path running down to the entry point, entry via steps with hand rails. A good 300m walk, if you can park in close proximity. Blue Badge holders can park right next to the slipway and you can access the water within 2 hours of a high tide. Avoid moderate to strong southerly wind.

Jubilee Pool - not quite the sea but it’s salt water. Have hoists and accessible aquatic wheelchair. Car park is about 50m away from the lido but is small.

Around Penzance area :

Mousehole Harbour : can swim in the harbour at high tide. Make sure you check the SAS sewage alerts in the winter. You can park nice and close but either have to negotiate steps or a slipway on the steeper side. You can park nice and close to the south beach but I wouldn’t advise drive through the village! You could drive around the back of the village and approach from the rear side and park next to the south beach.

Lamorna - slightly further out of the way but you can park next to the beach…although avoid peak parking times in the summer! At mid-to-high tide, 40m walk into the water, via a rundown slipway and small section of sand.

Sennen Cove - you can park right next to the harbour. Again, near high tide, in calm conditions.

Long Rock - avoid low tide, as it’s a very flat beach and long walk. At high tide you can use the very reasonably priced car park and potentially walk 10-20m into the sea at high tide. You access the beach through a gently sloping slipway. Avoid moderate to strong southerly wind.

Marazion - if you park in either main car park across from the Mount, there are 2 slipways onto the beach and a short walk across the sand. Particularly true of the smaller short stay car park.

Praa Sands - best in calm conditions. Park in Maggie’s Patch car park. Short walk along an accessible road and then a short walk across the beach, at high tide. Longer at mid or low tide.

St Ives area swims :

Carbis Bay - you can park on the beach but the car park is likely to cost you £10-20 and you still have to walk across the sandy beach.

Porthgwidden Beach - if you can park in the ‘Island’ car park, you have a 50-100m walk to the beach and then a walk across a small beach.

The Lizard Peninsula :

Kennack Sands - Car park right on the beach. At high tide there’s a short walk across the beach. Lifeguarded during the summer.

Porthallow - park on the beach itself and a short 20m walk to the sea. The only issue being that it’s a pebble beach. So not an entirely straight forward walk.

Gillan Creek - park at the car park in St Anthony-in-Meneage. There is then a short 30m walk to the water, at high tide. If you swim at mid-to-low tide, you’ll have to negotiate a rocky beach.

Trevassack Lake - I’m cheating a little. Fully accessible site. Has all the equipment you could ask for. Limited opening hours, so do your research.

Falmouth area :

Maenporth Beach - parking on the back of the dunes. Walk across the beach. Be careful, although calm and shletered, you can get strong currents…particularly on spring tides. Avoid a moderate to strong easterly.

Swanpool - similar to Maenporth…just a slightly longer walk. Avoid a moderate to strong easterly.

Gyllyngvase Beach - can never get the spelling of this one right! Quite a flat beach but parking can be an issue. Road access right up to the back of the beach. Avoid a moderate to strong easterly.

Roseland Pen :

Porthcurnick Beach - If you avoid the car park and get there at a reasonable hour…there’s a road right down to the beach. You can turn around at the bottom of the road and get dropped off. Again, plan to swim at high tide. Avoid a moderate to strong easterly.

In & around north Cornwall :

Porthreath - you can park right on the beach but you’ll have to negotiate the sand. Lifeguarded beach in the summer months.

Newquay Harbour - if you can park in the very small car park, there an easy and short walk into the harbour around high tide.

Porth Beach - it’s unclear whether you can still park on the beach but if you drive down to the sea front, past Gwenna Tea Rooms you can park on double yellows during the winter months / blub badge holders. On a spring high tide there’s a short walk across the beach and into the sea.

Wild Swimming Days Out

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We’re running a number of ‘Wild Swimming Days Out’ in 2023 and annually. These are swimming days that are designed for all-comers. We have swimmers that turn up and do head up breaststroke, all the way through to swimmers that’ll cover 3-4km. The day is designed to take in 3-4 swims, with minimal travel between swims. Our West Cornwall day out in 2023 saw us park up and manage 4 swims without moving vehicles. We typically set a rough area and then get in touch 2-3 days before the event, once we’ve seen an accurate forecast and announce the exact swim locations. This ensures that you swim in flat and enjoyable conditions.

Our west Cornwall Wild Swimming Days Out saw us swim from 2 secluded beaches to the west of Perranuthnoe, one beach swim from Perranuthnoe and another glorious swim towards Cuddon Point.

READING THE CONDITIONS / PLANNING A SWIM

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There is an art to reading the conditions and planning a swim. It really isn’t a difficult art to pick up though. The longer you look at the conditions and get used to planning, the better you tend to get at predicting the conditions.

Below, we’ll look at a specific swim and then how you’d go about checking the conditions and planning a route or possibly finding an alternative swim.

So we’re looking at Penzance sea front / Penzance Promenade. As you can see, by my dodgy scribbles - with a south, southwest or southeast wind, the wind (and chop) will be blowing straight in there. A wind strength of 0-10 kmph won’t produce a great deal of chop. 10-20 kmph will produce a little. 20km+ will start producing enough ‘chop’ to make the swim far more challenging and far less pleasurable. You also need to consider the state of the tide. At high tide the water level is half way up the sea wall. If chop and swell hits the wall it’ll bounce off and send that chop back out to sea. So…if you were swimming at high tide you’d be hit by chop from a few different directions.

START PLANNING when looking at where to swim you should always start the plan at home on the internet. There are a number of different resources that you can use. We like ‘Tides4fishing’, there is also Swimfinder, Windfinder, Magic Seaweed (soon to have a name change), Windy App, Nautide, local to Cornwall is the free My Coast App (I think they’re starting to roll this out nationwide). When looking at these resources you should be checking the wind direction and strength, tide times, swell, you can also look at the weather forecast (avoiding any storms/predicted lightning/drastic wind changes…). Below, we’ll use the Tides4Fishing website. A great starting point would be Swimfinder, which you’ll find towards the bottom of the page.

In our example at Penzance sea front, we’re looking at a 10am swim. The wind will be Northerly, at 31 kmph. So, whilst that is a little strong, it’s off-shore for a south facing swim. That means that the wind has no opportunity to influence the conditions, in terms of chop, as the wind only hits the water on the shoreline. You may think that this wind would push you out to sea…if you swim front crawl, there’s a tiny surface area exposed to the wind. This will have minimal impact on the swimmer. If you swam head-up breaststroke and you weren’t such a strong swimmer, you have more surface area exposed to the wind. This may make it trickier to swim back to shore. In this instance, you could plan a high tide swim…so that the harbour wall offers protection from the wind and the off-shore wind blows straight over your head. Next we’ll look at swell. Swell isn’t so much a factor in Penzance (sometimes local knowledge is crucial).

Again, in our example the swell for 10am is around 1.8m. You don’t really get breaking waves in our Penzance example. So whilst this is a decent size swell, breaking waves aren’t a factor. If we go back to the wind direction, we know that it’s 31 kmph from the north. So that wind will be pushing against any swell and flattening it right out. If it were 31 kmph from the south, with a 1.8m swell it’d be a very different story. Anyway, with a strong offshore wind and 1.8m swell there isn’t going to be too much to worry about. The only slight issue you might have is getting in off the slipway at hight tide. There may be a little bit of water sloshing around. *At this stage I will point out that the swell section of the website is my least favourite and least accurate. I’ll always double check the swell with Surfline.com. I’ll pick a nearby beach, that faces the same direction…like Praa Sands or Perranuthnoe and check the surf prediction. This will give you a good indication of the swell size.

Lastly, we’re looking at the tide. At 10am, it’s around a 1.9m tide. Bear in mind that tidal ranges can have massive differences from area-to-area, around the country. You need to specifically look at the area where you’re planning to swim, for accurate tide times and an idea of the tidal range. The ‘tidal coefficient’ is a great feature and gives you a visual representation of exactly how much water is moving around. In our example, it’s 75/120. So it’s not a huge tide but it’s not a small one either. A 120/120 is the biggest possible tide you could experience and a 0/120 would be the smallest. Above, it also gives you a text description of the tidal movement…’a high value and therefore the range of tides and currents will also be high’.

Back to the example swim, a 1.8m tide would make it tricky to get in along Penzance promenade, as it’s quite rocky. You’d have to head for the beach towards Newlyn or swim off the Battery Rocks area, at the back of the Jubilee Pool. If you were the head-up breaststroker we spoke about earlier and were worried about the wind you might wait for the afternoon high tide and get protection from the sea wall along the promenade.

OTHER FACTORS :

  • land mass. You often get large tidal movements through narrow land masses. You can get this with long narrow beaches or area like Dover. You have water funnelling through narrow gaps or land masses and can get strong currents on an outgoing tide or almost constant lateral currents, as the tide goes in and out.

  • tides. You have the most water movement in the middle two hours between a high and low tide. These are hours you can avoid. Particularly if you’re experiencing spring tides. If unsure of an area normally best to ‘test’ on an incoming tide, avoiding those middle two hours.

  • headland. You can experience currents moving around headland and islands, particularly when there’s deep water in these areas. Remember that most people would struggle to make any forward movement against a current as small as 2 knots!

BE FLEXIBLE WITH SWIM LOCATION

Our example location was Penzance sea front. If we look at Carbis Bay (10-15 minute drive away) on the same day. The wind would blow straight in here. It’d really be whipping up some chop and wouldn’t be the most pleasant location to swim in. The swell is coming from the south so you wouldn’t have surf but you would have constant lumpy chop and plenty of it.

ADDITIONAL CHECKS

You can always make additional checks if your swim location has a webcam. Just remember that most webcams are wide angle and aren’t always that close to the water. So any chop or swell may look a little smaller than it actually is.

FINALLY

You can do all the checks in the world at home…but it’s really important to re-check the conditions when you arrive. Ensure that the conditions are behaving in the way you’d expect. Be prepared not to enter the water and possibly have a plan B…just in case.

COURSES

Sea Swim Cornwall have set up an affordable course to teach the fundamentals of planning your swim and understanding the conditions and rip currents. Our ‘First aid for swimmers’ course is available in a number of locations throughout the summer. CLICK HERE for more info.

ADDITIONAL WEBSITES :

 

SURFLINE, FORMERLY MAGIC SEAWEED

ABOVE : We’ve started by highlighting the search bar at the very top of the page.Put in the location of your swim. Bear in mind that this website is primarily for surfing and if you live in an area that never gets surf/waves, they may not cover your area. I was quite surprised there were search results when I put in ‘Penzance’.

At the bottom of the page I’ve circled a little summary of the conditions. So today we’re looking at 5-7ft of swell, next to the 5-7ft prediction it says ‘9s’ in small text. There’s a 9 second gap between each significant swell. This means there’s a decent swell, with some power. If the gap was really small ie. 2-3 seconds, we’re now really talking about waves with far less power ie. chop or choppy conditions.

We then go onto wind strength and they supply a handy little map that shows you how and where the wind will hit that particular stretch of coast. In this example 37 mph is a significant strength of wind! Below in smaller text you also have the ‘gust’ strength. This can have a real influence in whipping up chop, so is also important. There’s then a small visual representation of what the tide is doing at the time you’re checking and a guide to the water temp.

IF YOU SCROLL BELOW THIS INITIAL INFO THEY GO INTO FURTHER DETAIL: (see below)…

Figure A - takes you through the changing swell size and wave period through the day. Next to figure A are little arrows. They show you the swell direction.

Figure B - Wind strength through the day and a visual of the direction (arrows).

Figure C - summary of the weather.

Figure D - very handy…goes over the probability that this forecast is accurate. Todays forecast is around 90%. If you look at ‘tomorrows’ it’s only around 65%.

 

WINDFINDER

When using Windfinder always use the exact area you’re in or intend to swim in. For me, in this example I’ve typed in ‘Windfinder Penzance’. This website primarily focuses on the wind direction and strength. Great if you don’t ever get much swell in your local area but not so good if you do. I like using Windfinder as a secondary check, after using another website that’s better with swell.

So…they give you an exact location ie. Penzance Heliport, which is a nice central location. They then give you a quick summary of the wind direction and strength….and a summary of the weather.

Circled below this is another summary of the wind through the day and it strength. If you look at the Friday (today), it’s strong wind all day, building through the morning, peaking in the afternoon and dropping off in the evening.

Above red circle gives you a visual representation of the wind direction.

Blue circle is wind strength in knots (roughly the same as mph) and then gust strength below.

Green circle really summarises the days weather.

Black circle, goes over swell. This includes a visual of the direction, height in metres and the wave period. So…today it’s 10-12 seconds, which suggests a good strength swell.

Yellow circle at the bottom is the tidal info. This is the bit I don’t really like, as they don’t go into specifics. It’s difficult to figure out the exact tide times etc.

 

SWIMMER SPECIFIC WEBSITES :

 

SWIMFINDER

A website aimed at swimmers that supplies you with all the info you’ll need. I feel that this website dumbs it down enough to be really easy to understand, whilst still making you engage your brain a little and forcing you to think about what’s going on with the conditions and how this’ll impact your swim and the conditions. They strike a good balance.

Firstly, select your swim by the exact location or town in the search bar and then select the location on the map. The map is handy as you may be on holiday / not know the local area and it gives you an idea of your options. Once you’ve selected the swim…

I’ll point out that this is a big website, with lots of info. However, after spending 5-10 mins on here I started to get to grips with it and after that time period I found it far easier to navigate. So if you struggle a little initial, persist! There’s a lot of useful info on here and it’s presented in a way that makes it easy to digest, even if you’re new to look at this sort of info.

ABOVE - We’ll start by looking at the forecast. You get a summary at the top of the page, which I’ve circled in red. It goes over wind speed, direction (telling you whether it’s onshore, offshore, cross-shore…), wave height, weather forecast… It then details the rest of the week and the likely swimming conditions.

As already stated, you have a summary of the swimming conditions (circled red). Today ‘challenging conditions’. Circled blue is then more info on those conditions : including wind strength, direction (visual arrows), wave height, direction and wave ‘periods’. In addition, there’s a lot of info regarding the weather conditions.

They have this great little feature (above), highlighting the water quality.

You have a visual representation of the tide for the day.

Another great feature is the above. It highlights local swimming groups and businesses…as well as handy info on how to get to swims.

If you find the idea of reading the conditions and planning swims a little intimidating, Swimfinder is a great place to start. The summaries are really helpful, as is the initial info on the local area, parking, facilities etc.

 

If you liked this article it might be worth reading our Safe Swimming Guides to various areas… CLICK HERE

Open water swimmers first aid course

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We’ve been offering water safety, swim planning and rip current awareness courses for a few years now and they’ve been really well received. So, we’ve added this course to a half day of training, which also includes :

  • First aid training

  • CPR

  • intro to using a defib

  • Choking (adult, child and baby)

  • towing techniques

  • short practical in sheltered, shallow water

  • We also spend a lot of time looking at hypothermia

  • heart attacks / cardiac problems and other medical conditions…

Group swimming has never been more popular and we’ve specifically looked at issues that might crop up with swimming in groups. So, we’ve included :

  • towing techniques, in case you have to tow someone to the shore. As an individual or as a group

  • Choking, specifically including child and baby…as lots of swimmers are parents and grandparents

  • There are a number of ‘mature’ swimmers in the water, so we’ve focused on conditions like fainting, heart issues (attacks, angina…), using defibs...

  • Swimming year round is popular so we’ve included hypothermia, cold water shock, after drop etc.

  • Pro-actively planning a swim and looking at the conditions.

The training is available through our website, with individual places and private group booking options.

Swimming at Charlestown, St Austell

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Typically any moderate wind direction, other than a fairly rare easterly works at Charlestown. Taking all necessary precautions, you can swim out of the harbour or opt for safer entry off the beach immediately next to the harbour…on either side. From there you have a number of options. *If you are swimming from the harbour check the tide. There isn’t a lot of water at low tide! A very short swim may include entry in the harbour and a swim around the corner to the beach. A longer swim may include a round-swim to Duporth Bay to the south (anywhere from 1-2km) or circular route from Charlestown to Porthpean Beach and back (approx 3km). Please be aware that some of the route is quite secluded and these swims would be best with a swim ‘buddy’ and possibly tow floats. If unsure, swim these routes on an incoming tide.

…and here’s additional footage of Porthpean. Porthpean has a small car park just above the beach. Charlestown has a larger car park and some free on-road parking.

OUR BIGGEST HURDLE

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We attract swimmers from far and wide. We’ve had clients from Scotland (taking advantage of Cornwall Airport, Newquay), Manchester, swimmers from Holland, a lady from south Australia…all over the place. As well as accommodating people from various areas of the country and the world, we also accommodate swimmers of varying abilities, experience and speeds. This is also where one of our major hurdles lies.

On a fairly frequent basis we receive emails and phone calls from clients that have booked and are looking to book, regarding the anxiety they are experiencing over swimming in the sea and their suitability to the activity they have booked. This year we have introduced a ‘slow swimming’ holiday and it’s booked up 2-3 times faster than our standard holidays…and I’ll be shocked if half the people that attend the ‘slow swimming’ holiday aren’t perfectly suited to the ‘standard’ version of our swimming holidays.

So…firstly, we’re not really concerned about the pace that people swim. What we are interested in is whether or not you can swim the distances set out in the holiday/event description. What we’ll also point out is that there is no requirement to complete all of the swims over the course of the holiday/event day. Provided you let us know prior to swim starting, there’s obviously no problem with you sitting a swim out. What we’re are also happy to do is put on a shorter distance swim immediately after the scheduled swim finishes. We adopt a very flexible approach.

Secondly, we base all of our swims on the days conditions. So we never approach a swim day (unless it’s a one-off private booking), with a set swim location or series of swim locations. That way, you swim in the safest conditions possible…for both your own safety and enjoyment and there’s no pressure on us to hold a swim in questionable conditions!

Third and final point, as I’ve already mentioned, we approach all of our activities in a flexible manner. If for example, we had a couple of slower swimmers in the group, we simply split up our water safety team and one of the team would hang back.

If you have any questions regarding swim holidays or swimming events feel free to get in touch.

Helford River Wild Swimming Event

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At the start of 2022 there were loads of westerly winds. In an attempt to escape the dreaded ‘westerly’ we popped over to the Helford and the lesser well known Gillan Creek. Thank God for those westerlies! Ever since we’ve carried out quite a bit of activity in both areas. Both are absolutely stunning and both areas are fairly well protected from most wind directions. More importantly, both are really safe areas to swim (in the right conditions) and have very easy exit points.

For 2023 and the foreseeable future we have put together a series of wild swimming days out. These are very casual, walking - swimming days out. They’re designed specifically for people that simply want to turn up and swim at their own pace. No open water swimming experience is required and participants can swim whatever stroke they like, over very flexible distances. We typically take in 3-4 swims over an afternoon or morning.

 

SUMMER FOOTAGE

AERIAL FOOTAGE

Some aerial footage, shot in the winter over a number of the areas and beaches we’ll hopefully include on the 2023 day out.

Swim Safety & Planning

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We teach a water safety and rip current awareness courses in the early and late summer season and one of the principles we teach is the following - rips and currents don’t typically drown swimmers…it’s the panic that causes the problem. It’s the individual losing their composure and doing something irrational, like ditching the surf board they’ve been safely lying on and trying to swim in against a rip current…or simply swimming against the same rip for so long that they become exhausted and start to really struggle.

So……planning a swim. You don’t necessarily need to plan your swim, especially if it’s your regular swim and you have a good idea of the conditions. If however, you decide to swim somewhere new, come up with a plan.

Your considerations need to include :

  • the state of the tide. Coming in, going out, springs, neaps…typically best swimming on an incoming tide, with minimal tidal movement (neap tide). Particularly if it’s your first swim at that location.

  • Lateral movement. Most of the advice we’ll give is based around the sort of conditions that we experience here in Cornwall. In other areas of the country/world you can get strong lateral movement (ie the current runs parallel to the shore), so factor this in and do your research.

  • PLAN your route, with an exit strategy. Then come up with a plan B. As mentioned previously, panic can be a big problem. If you can’t get to exit A, you’ll then simply resort to plan B with minimal fuss. That might be an exit further up a beach, around to the next cove…or return to where you entered the water…

  • I’ll briefly mention the basics - swimming buddy/spotter, high visibility (tow float etc), you can take a mobile phone with you in a case (test and ensure it’ll get reception). You could also look at something like an EPIRB or personal locator beacon. At the time of writing, they’ll set you back around £200-300 but they use satellite, rather than reception and pin point your exact location. So are awesome, particularly if you want to swim somewhere remote. Might be well worth the purchase if you swim with a big group and are all happy to chip in.

  • If you do experience a strong current I’d suggest the following. Stay calm. Think your way out of the problem. If you can’t move forward because of a current, can you go back the way you came or swim to the side and avoid the current? When talking about rip currents, they’re never typically that wide and only generally go out to the back of the breaking waves. So moving to the side of a rip and swimming in without huge resistance is fairly straight forward.

  • We have a fantastic coastal rescue service. If you’ve exhausted all other options start waving and shouting for help. It may be embarrassing but the RNLI will have no issues picking up a swimmer in distress. Nearly everyone has a mobile phone these days and someone will more than likely spot you and call for help…this then brings me onto one of my final points.

  • If you are attempt a new route or swimming at a new place avoid an early morning or evening swim. If you did get in trouble it’d be far better that people were present and could call for help. Also, if you’re losing light and it starts to get dark, you could be in real trouble!

  • Lifeguards are a great resource. If unsure ask. You can also make lifeguards aware of your plans.

  • Research, if you do any research make sure you use a reliable source. If you ask a question on say….a social media group, you don’t know who’s responding and their level of experience. I’ve lifeguarded and provided water safety for nearly two decades and quite honestly, am so fed up with people arguing with my advice (clearly from a position of complete ignorance), that I simply don’t bother engaging anymore. Which I think is a real shame. Be careful when taking advice.

  • Whilst swimming with a ‘buddy’ is a great idea, ensure you swim with a good buddy! I have some friends that are quite competitive. I’ll often swim with them and they have absolutely no awareness in the water of where I am and what I’m up to. If you’re swimming with someone, actually keep an eye on each other.

  • Finally, I swam along the promenade in Penzance last summer by myself and a thought occurred to me. I was swimming at high tide in full view of the promenade for safety reasons. The thought was pretty straight forward and it was the following…if I had a random seizure, passed out or had cardiac event (which is about the only issue I would possibly have that I couldn’t deal with), firstly - would anyone on the promenade even notice? Second, how long would it take them to realise something was wrong with me? Finally, if they jumped in or called the emergency services, how long would that take and do they actually have the ability to either drag me out or administer first aid? I’d probably be face down in the water and I’d be brain damaged or worse within 2-3 minutes. Which begs the question…why am I swimming along the promenade? The point I’m making is that swimming with someone that can take the appropriate course of action should something go wrong, is pretty important. If you swim with someone very regularly, or simply swim regularly it’d be well worth doing some sort of first aid course.

  • Following on from the above point is the part about rescue. We were taught this back in my lifeguarding days. If someone is in trouble and you don’t realistically think you can get them out or handle the conditions then you really have to think about whether or not you go in to try and assist. It’s far easier and safer for the appropriate rescue services to rescue and assist one person, than it is for two!

Below you’ll find a great video on rip currents and how they work.

Swimming at Porthcothan Beach

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We don’t do a great deal of swimming at Porthcothan, which is a shame as it’s a stunning part of Cornwall and not always that busy. It did feature on one of our charity swims and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Porthcothan is quite a narrow, fairly long beach, that starts to open up as the tide goes out. Due to the shape of the beach, we’d advise you to be very careful swimming there on an outgoing tide…particularly if there is some swell running. We’d also advise you not to be too adventurous with an outgoing tide and swim around either headland. There are a number of small islands and rock formations and you can get some strong currents and tidal movement.

Porthcothan is lifeguarded for a number of months over the summer, there is a beach cafe and reasonable parking.

Safer Swimming Guide - Porthcurno

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I can’t believe that we’ve written dozens of safe(r) swimming guides over the last couple of years but never written one featuring Porthcurno Beach.

Well here it is. A guide to safer swimming at Porthcurno. There are also a couple of suggested swim routes, over to Logan Rock and around the corner to the Minack Theatre (for a very unique perspective).

Porthcurno to Minack and back - approx 500-600m

Porthcurno to Logan Rock and back - approx 2-2.5km…if you swim Porthcurno to Logan Rock on a fairly large spring tide, at low tide you could walk large parts of it. So if you weren’t up to a 2.5km swim to could do a swim-walk-swim. Just watch out for the nudists!

 

SWIMMING AT PORTHCURNO :

 

PREVIOUS PORTHCURNO SWIMS :

Safer Swimming Guide - Sennen Cove

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Here’s our Safer Swimming Guide for Sennen Cove.

Sea Swim Cornwall's Safer Swimming Guide - Whipsiderry

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We swam two route here, as part of our 2020 Charity swim. If you get the conditions right and plan this swim it should be perfectly safe. Don’t turn up and simply try and swim it! At certain stages of the tide, particularly with a large outgoing tide you get a lot of water movement. If you are going to attempt it, follow the safety advice on the guide and be careful.


Safer Swimming Guide - Church Cove

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First things first, it’s the Church Cove on the east side of the Lizard. There are two!

I love this swim. Make sure you do stick to the swimming cove at Cadgwith…the one to the south / right hand side. The other ‘fishing cove’ can have heavy boat traffic.

You can find the Devil’s Frying Pan to the south. Just make sure you swim with a friend and I can’t stress how serious I am about the swell. Anything larger than 1-1.5m from any direction will result un swell rolling in and some potentially quite rough conditions. I’ve only ever cancelled 2 swims from the actual swim location (just prior to the start of a swim) and Cadgwith was one of those locations! A NW swell somehow got in there…it looks impossible.

Swim the Lizard Peninsula

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The more time I spend in the Lizard Peninsula, is the more time that I want to spend there. It’s a beautiful and very diverse area and offers a number of swims that are simply world class. Being a peninsula you can generally get in a swim, regardless of the conditions.


LIZARD POINT : you get a lot of water movement through this area and we’d advise that you don’t swim in this area.

CHURCH COVE/GUNWALLOE : a beautiful and undeveloped area, managed by the National Trust. Sandy beach and ample parking. There are also peak season lifeguards. You’d want to avoid westerly winds of any sort of strength and keep an eye on swell. You can check the surf report for Poldhu on Magic Seaweed.

POLDHU COVE : a sandy beach facing west. Can often get surf. When threre isn’t surf it offers lovely swims. It is a lifeguarded beach in the summer season. There are also some nice rock features to swim around, when there’s no swell. Best swimming north towards Church Cove. It is quite remote and we’d recommend not swimming alone. Poldhu has a beach cafe…that is pretty much open all year.

POLURRIAN COVE : very remote, requires a walk or has very limited parking at Polurrian. Generally very quiet. Epic swims in this area. Again, it’s remote…so don’t swim by yourself and take appropriate safety measures. Great swimming to the left of the beach (south). You could swim across to Mullion Harbour and back (approx 2km). Best swum on an incoming tide. Lifeguarded over the peak weeks of the summer. Absolutely no facilities there whatsoever.

MULLION : swims available from the harbour. Again, I’d look at swimming there from mid tide, on an incoming tide. I’d avoid an outgoing tide as you can get some big water movement towards Mullion island. Common theme here….quite remote, don’t swim by yourself and take appropriate safety precautions.

KYNANCE COVE : a biggie! World class swims and lots of different routes. It can ‘pull’ around Asparagus Island with an outgoing tide, especially with a spring tide…so be careful. This area is not lifeguarded at any stage of the year. The swim around Asparagus Island, the big rock to the north of the beach is stunning. You also have other routes available, that are fairly obvious when you’re there. Again, best swimming with an incoming, neap tide. Avoid wind coming in from the west and swell coming in from any westerly direction. National Trust managed. Big car park and toilet in the car park and at the beach cafe.

HOUSEL BAY : Looks stunning. I’ve never actually paid it a visit! Will do this winter. Apparently it’s quite tricky to access.

CHURCH COVE : the other one. There are two! Stunning. Simply stunning. Limited parking, breathtaking walk through the village to this tiny harbour. You can swim at low tide but it’s tricky to enter and exit the water. Best entering at mid-tide and getting out before high tide. Delightful lifeboat station to the south…not far. Clear water, sand and seaweed bottomed swim north. Very remote and little chance of anyone seeing you if you got into any bother. Take a friend or two if swimming. World Class swim in the right conditions. Avoid wind from the east and swell from the south.

CADGWITH : This will sound silly but swell of 2m+ from any direction will get in here and it’ll be rough. Wow though. So good for swimming. The Devil’s Frying Pan swim, a massive arch in the cliffs, cave swims and general outstanding beauty. Decent parking facilities, toilets and local shop and pub. Swim from the south cove, not the north. The north is full of fishing boats!

KENNACKS SANDS : sandy beach swims. Fairly quiet beach, lifeguarded for most of the season. Clear water, generally safe conditions and a couple of swimming options.

COVERACK : one of the safest places in the Lizard to swim (in the right conditions!). Clear water, sheltered bay…it faces ENE, a direction the wind fairly blows in from. Be careful swimming anywhere near the small fishing harbour.

PORTHOUSTOCK/PORTHALLOW : pebble beaches facing ENE. Very often these areas are sheltered and offer some very safe swimming conditions in most conditions.

GILLAN CREEK : just to the north of the Lizard. Some of my favourite swims in this area. If you time the tide you can swim up the estuary, be careful however. Half way up the river are a couple of felled trees that just poke out of the water. You’d swim the river just before high tide. If you stay in the creek and don’t swim up the river, avoid the middle of the creek (lots of boats) and swim with an incoming tide.

NEW WILD SWIMMING EVENT!

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Sun 10 Jul 2022 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

We’re a little shy on short, less serious wild swimming this year. So we created a epic event!

We're putting on 3 delightful wild swims, over the course of the day. You can walk at a leisurely pace but some of the path is slightly off road and uneven. If you're not good on your feet we'd advise you not to attend. You'll need some good walking shoes/boots. We'd recommend a tow float, purely as there are boats in the river (although they shouldn't be anywhere near us) but they are not a requirement. 

Park up at the Bosveal Car Park (National Trust) TR11 5JR and then head down to Grebe Beach...basically walk to the far end of the car park and approx 150m through a small wooded area, you'll then join the road on a big bend to the right. Don't follow the bend and head off down a track to the left...which takes you to Grebe. 

9am - swim off of Grebe Beach, around the corner towards Trebah Beach and back. A leisurely swim, past the stunning Durgan Village of approx 500 - 1500m (we'll split the water safety team if needed and offer 2 different distance routes). 

10am - We'll supply cake, you bring a flask (we'd also suggest you bring a packed lunch, snacks and a drink). 

10.30-11am - approx 1200m walk to the Helford Ferry, which we'll have pre-purchased. Ferry can take 12 people at a time. 

11.15am-ish - walk across to Bosahan Cove, through a beautiful ancient woodland. We'll then swim a circular route, back towards the ferry and sailing club. 

12.00pm - Again, approx 500-1500m at a leisurely pace. 

13.00pm - walk across to Gillan Creek 

14.15pm - circular swim at Gillan Creek, just before high tide (high tide being 14.57). 

15.15pm(ish) - walk back to the ferry and cross

16.30pm(ish) - well offer a quick wild dip at Trebah Beach for any sweaty bodies.  

...back to the cars....or pub. 

Safe Swimming Guide - Porthallow

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A short swimming guide to swimming at Porthallow on the Lizard. This is a swim that offers safe swims in most conditions and it also offers a great day out. A popular spot with divers for it’s crystal clear water.