Safe Swimming in surf and on the beach

Whilst having a chat with the Sea Swim Cornwall team (including our part-timers) we realised that we have over 50 seasons of beach lifeguarding experience between us! Mainly in Cornwall but also seasons spent in Australia, India and a few other locations!

From here we decided to put together a straight forward open water swimming safety guide. In it we dispel some common myths people have around sea swimming, we look at rip currents, how to spot rip currents, how to swim out of a rip current, reading the sea and conditions…

We’ve priced our safe swimming guide at just 49p (with any other purchase) or you can buy a multi-pack…for yourself, family and friends. It is a lightweight guide, so we would recommend either laminating it or sticking it in a waterproof bag and then leaving it in your kit bag.

The guide obviously won’t guarantee your safety but there are lots of common sense suggestions and advice that should keep you out of trouble! Available for purchase or given out on our beach water safety courses, which we’re rolling out in April. Either book individually or as a private group.

CHECK OUT THE GUIDE - CLICK HERE

Summer Summary

What a year! And it’s not over just yet…we have a few more swims up our sleeves and we’re also looking at winter, cold water activity. Although myself (Tom) and Jo have very low BMIs and we don’t always do well in the cold!!!

So we had to cancel all of our long weekend holidays, although we did put on a couple of private, bespoke group bookings. We ran a reduced capacity 10km event and held a large number of what we call ‘last minute swims’, coaching sessions, private group bookings, private swims and we have supported a number of individuals swim 10km distances.

OUR BIGGEST HITS :

• REMOTE SWIMS : we bought a new device mid-summer that can send out a GPS signal and an alert to the emergency services via satellites. This has meant that we have been able to host swims in more remote areas as we’re no longer reliant on VHF radio and mobile phones.

• ‘LAST MINUTE SWIMS’ : have been an outstanding success. After arranging, re-arranging, rescheduling, cancelling a high volume of swims early on, we flip the way we do things on it’s head. As well as taking booking dates we now look at the conditions on a Tuesday/Wednesday and publish our weekend swims (based on those conditions). We also do this for mid-week swims (peak season).

• KYNANCE COVE : we’ve wanted to hold this swim for a long time and it went perfectly. The conditions were read and predicted very accurately and it was a very popular swim, with fantastic feedback.

• CAVE SWIMS : these came about by chance but have been really well received. It’s something a little different, exciting and part of an already stunning swim route.

• NANJIZAL/SONG OF THE SEA : Nanjizal has always been one of my favourite places in the world. Famous for it’s natural sea pool at low tide. We swam this beauty at sunset and swam through the famous crack in the rocks!

• ST MICHAEL’S MOUNT : We’ve held a large number of swims around this stunning and famous landmark. Some in glassy-flat conditions. We’ll continue to hold these swims long term. Get that bucket list item ticked.

• PENBERTH COVE/LAMORNA COVE : We’ve added to our list of favourites and we’ll take the winter season to explore even more stunning swims.

• MINACK : although we’ve offered swims to Logan Rock for some time for some odd reason we’ve never gone the ‘other way’ and had a good look at the Minack Theatre. We’ve remedied this little issue. Now adding the theatre to our Logan Rock swim.

• CHARITY SWIM : we swam 22km (over 22 beaches) and managed to purchase a wheelchair for the Jubilee Pool. We also discovered some (more) stunning swims - Mother Ivey’s Bay was one of our favourites.

• PETITION : So after some near misses in Penzance we launched our own petition, asking the Government to bring in legislation and update current laws. Recently the petition reached 27,000 signatures…we still have some way to go, however.

• ONLINE SHOP : during lockdown we finally had the time to launch our online shop properly. We’re really happy with it’s progress and have produced a range of products - like Calendars, pocket make-up mirrors, resistance swimming cords, greetings cards, bags, tide clocks, tow floats…. we’re constantly adding to the range.

Kynance Cove - Bucket list material

For the first time we’ll be hosting a swim around the island (Asparagus Island) at Kynance Cove. This Bank Holiday Monday (31st Aug 2020). It’s a rare opportunity to get a guided tour around this stunning area.

For more info visit - https://www.tickettailor.com/events/seaswimcornwall/412048

Recent weekend swims

We’ve been hosting quite a few swims over the month of August. Including loads of swims around St Michael’s Mount, some exciting cave swims at an undisclosed beach near Penzance, one of our faves - Carbis Bay to Porthkidney… swim coaching sessions at numerous locations. It’s been a great month.

Booking available : either set a date and we’ll pick the best swim for that day’s conditions or keep an eye on our social media, where we typically announce what we’re doing with a few days notice.

Swimming Mother Ivey's Bay

A new one for Tom and I can’t quite believe that I’ve never swum here before. Mother Ivey’s Bay was stunning and easily one of my favourite beaches during our charity challenge (and we swam 22 of them so it’s quite the compliment!). We swam it in the perfect conditions and stood on the lifeboat slipway…which is a must!

Avoid the rocks at the end of the point (visible in the middle of the shot below). You can get some weird water movement around and through the rocks.

2020 Charity Swim - 22km of Cornish waters

We went and did it again. Another year, another crazy charity challenge.

Tom’s grandma (in-law) is 92 and her health hasn’t been great of late. When trying to find an aquatic wheelchair to borrow to get her into the geothermal section of the Jubilee Pool we really couldn’t find anything. This inspired Tom to dedicate this years challenge to Joyce Cooper. The Jubilee Pool also very generously agreed to let her be the first person to use this new section of a world class lido.

We set ourself the goal of raising £2,500. We didn’t quite make that total but we did reach £2,000 and bought one of our preferred chairs.

THE CHALLENGE : we wanted to show off Cornwall a bit, take in lots of glorious swims and rack up a decent distance. So Tom devised the 1km challenge. We set out to swim 1km on as many beaches in Cornwall as we could, in 1 day. We managed 22 beaches, in the daylight of 1 day. We could have possibly completed more but Tom’s left arm stopped working (it’s still swollen 5 days later) and Jo’s just plain old!

We thoroughly enjoyed the day. Absolutely didn’t train up for the challenge (again!), made what we think is a great video, explored some new beaches and some how only paid £4.50 in car park charges!

HIGHLIGHTS : swimming at Mother Ivey’s Bay, Whipsiddery beach to Porth Beach, always Crantock and the video. We’re really happy with the video.

Swimming Mousehole

One of Sea Swim Cornwall’s favourite swims and the area has something for everyone.

1. Simply swim in the harbour at high tide

2. Swim around the harbour and through the harbour mouth and immediate area (be really careful moving through the harbour mouth). Although it is a quiet harbour the odd boat still comes through. With an outgoing tide you also a little current moving through the mouth.

3. Swim around Mousehole island (St Clements Isle)

4. Newlyn to Mousehole

5. Adventurous and longer swim - Lamorna Cove to Mousehole *You’ll need to put some research into this one and take safety precautions, or employ a guide

6. Also a great area to get young kids into the water in a safe environment

Mousehole is a sleepy fishing village tucked away on the outskirts of Penzance. The village is centred around a stunning harbour, that isn’t quite as busy as it once was but now provides a centre point for this stunning area.

The harbour mouth provides you with a stunning landmark to swim in and out of. The island is surrounded by sea life and offers an incredible underwater landscape to look at as you swim over. The best of the lot is the Newlyn to Mousehole swim. Beautiful landscape and underwater scenery. A little pit stop at the lifeboat station on the half way point is worth a stop.

Easily one of our Top 10 Cornish swims.

SHOP 'TIL YOU DROP!

With the recent addition of a load of stock, we’d like to officially open our online shop. With all of the products and parts sourced from UK-based companies and one of them made in Cornwall! We’ve designed a whole range of products for open water swimmers. We’ll give you a brief rundown and then we’ll leave a series of images below and supply you with a direct link : CLICK HERE FOR SHOP

Pocket make-up mirrors, pin badges, birthday/greetings cards, swimming bags, tow floats, dry-land resistance cords, stunning photographic print, swimming hats…

Our online shop & new products

Tom & Jo (team Sea Swim Cornwall) have been looking to add to the online shop on the website for a number of months. Although we’re obviously very disappointed in number of the events and holidays we’ve had to cancel the lock down situation we find ourselves in has presented us with the opportunity and the time to do this. A few days ago we added our own brand of resistance cords to the shop and are looking forward to introducing a range of pin badges, tote bags, pocket mirrors and a number of other products to add to our greeting card range. All of our products are inspired by open water swimming and feature elements and characteristics of both open water swimming and the type of people that partake and are dedicated to swimming in the sea, rivers and lakes across the country.

In addition to the products we’ve also added instructional videos - particularly around the use of the resistance cords.

Sea Swim Cornwall - Safe Swimming Guide, the Island, St Ives

Get the conditions right and you’ll be talking about this swim for years to come!

SSC Beach Rater - Gwenver Beach

If you enjoy a quiet beach, a little out of the way…and you don’t have young kids this may well be for you.

SSC Beach Rater - Bedruthan Steps

A stunning beach but there is a bit of a climb down steep steps. It’s also quite remote, so don’t swim alone or possibly avoid if you have any serious or regular medical issues.

For more info click the link below :

https://www.visitcornwall.com/beaches/toilets-nearby/north-coast/newquay/bedruthan-steps-beach

Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall

Bucket List Swim?

As much as we try and explore new waters, make every holiday different, constantly keep pushing to make our swimming holidays exciting and new there are certain swims we’ll come back to time and time again. Even if we know some of our swimmers have done this swim before we’ll do it again!

Mousehole Harbour is one of those swims. You get it on the right day there are few swims that will beat it. Crystal clear waters, stunning backdrop, minimal boat traffic, you swim through the dramatic harbour mouth…we love it! You have the option of swimming around Mousehole Island (St Clement’s Isle). Well, well worth a visit.

Our open water swimming guide to Mousehole.

Sea Swim Cornwall's Safe Swimming Guide - Portscatho / Porthcurnick Beach

After a fantastically successful swimming holiday in St Mawes / River Fal we thought we’d start sharing some of the swims…and there are so many!

First off the docks is Porthcurnick Beach to Portscatho and back, although you could get out at Portscatho harbour and walk back. Approx 2km.

Sometimes work is a real drag!

Working on a Sunday! Whatever next. This Sunday we decided to conduct a little recce and find a new beach that we’d heard about. Bit of a scramble down the valley, through what was described as the ‘jungle’ but if I can do it in flip-flops with a 14kg toddler strapped to my back….I’m sure most can.

With smaller groups and 1-2-1s we like to get off the beaten track and find secret, tucked-away beaches that you’d never find by yourself. This is one of those beaches. Had the whole beach to ourself, in Cornwall in August…with the sun out!

Photos courtesy of www.saltwaterimages.co.uk

This little beauty can be found (or not) in the Zennor area.

2018s Promo Video

It seems only yesterday I was editing this all togther. What a great year of open water swimming.