10K Day 2023 - 10km Swimming Event

Another year, another 10K Day! Starting to feel like it’s slightly cursed, as we had the same howling westerly winds…but I think the fact that it went ahead (when at least Cornish events running on the same day over the past 2 years have been cancelled) says volumes about the concept we’ve devised.

Rather than specifying a set location, we look at an entire area. We’ll check out the forecast 2-3 days before the event date and then contact the entrants with an exact meeting point and time. That way we can offer the safest and most enjoyable conditions possible. The 10km of swimming is also split up into 3-4 swims and is run as a challenge, rather than an event. This way, you can avoid mass starts, congested turns around buoys and some of the general rough and tumble that can come with similar events. It also allows the entrants the opportunity to check out lots of different areas and experience a number of swims. With lots of the entrants coming from out-of-county, the chances of a cancellation are also minimised. In the event of a cancellation (and unlike a few other event organisers), we’ll offer a refund.

2023 saw us take on 4 swims. We had planned on holding the event in west Cornwall but strong westerly winds forced us over to the Lizard Peninsulas east coast. With 2 delightful swims at Porthallow (one slightly challenging), one sheltered and shorter swim at Porthoustock (in crystal clear waters) and the finale at Coverack. A 3.5km swim in delightful conditions.

Polurrian Swimming

Polurrian Beach is a real stunner on the Lizard Peninsula. It has limited parking or you park up at Poldhu and walk a good mile on the coast path. Whilst this might put some people off, it ensures the beach is never that busy.

Now, the beach can pick up swell. So you have been warned. Typically, not a lot of swell over the summer months and at the time of writing, it is lifeguarded over the 6 peak weeks of the summer. You’d generally want to avoid swell or wind of any strength from the west. I’d also be very careful swimming there, particularly near the headlands on an outgoing tide, particularly a spring tide.

Safer Swimming Guide - Church Cove

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.

The Devil's Chimney Cave Swim

We’re fairly certain this cave doesn’t have an official name, so we’ve named it the ‘Devil’s Chimney’. There’s a small, dark opening that could easily be missed and has been at least once by us! From the outside it looks very unimpressive, simply a small dark opening under a large rock. When you swim into the cave it’s quite narrow, it’s dull and not particularly impressive. Once you get into the cave, that’s where the magic. There’s what we like to describe as a chimney that allows light to flood in and suddenly this dark cave is transformed into this bright, rather spectacular space. The light seems to bounce off the seabed and illuminate the whole cave. One swimmer on the last swim we did here summed it up perfectly. We arrived at the cave and she said “is this it!?”. Once she’d gone the whole way through her entire facial expression had changed and she said “…can we do it again!?”.

Before I’m inundated with exact location requests I’ll point out that to get to the cave you need the right conditions and tides. If you don’t do your research you could get in trouble. I won’t be handing out location info in a hurry.

OUR BEST VALUE SWIM HOLIDAY TO DATE

We're running two of our standard (world class!), self-drive swimming holidays in West Cornwall. We're suggesting that you stay at the Lizard View Campsite, just outside of Helston. The campsite is situated in the quiet, rural countryside, with distant views of Poldhu Beach and the Lizard. We picked this campsite after a number of site visits, for it's stunning location, value for money and it's perfect position. In terms of driving time you're:

15-20 mins away from Falmouth - and swims like Swanpool, Gyllyngvase Beach, Maenporth...

15-20 mins away from the Helford - and a number of glorious swimming options 

15-20 mins away from north/central Lizard Peninsula - and world class swims like Kynance Cove, Church Cove, Cadgwith, Polurrian...

15 mins to the south coast of West Cornwall - epic swims like Prussia Cove, Porthleven, 3 Bears Caves...

20 mins to St Michael's Mount and Penzance

15-20 mins to Hayle and St Ives - swims like Carbis Bay, St Ives 'Island', swims to Porthminster... 

* We typically pick an area where we can offer 2 swims and reduce driving time. The first swim of the day is generally timed to avoid traffic and allows us to park up for the day and not have to worry about the potential issue of parking. We'll then choose a great local option for lunch.

For us, this is the perfect location to base a swimming holiday. For 2023 we're offering recession busting deals! There is no requirement to book at the campsite and you can make alternative arrangements but this is where we'll typically meet pre/post-swim and it offers a really friendly, social element to the holiday. 

We’re offering 2 dates, a weekend and midweek option. The weekend date (June 16-18 2023) is priced at £188 (with a reduced entry price for members) or £125 for our midweek dates (June 13-15 2023).

To book the Lizard View Campsite simply call them direct and make your booking. A 10x10m pitch is £20 per night and will comfortably fit a large tent and up to 4 people. Call Simon on 07572306708. Book a pitch and then book onto our holiday.

This was by far our most popular swimming holiday in 2022, having sold out 8 months before the holiday date and also notching up a decent waiting list.

10 Epic lesser known swims in Cornwall

1. KYNANCE : of course this is very well known. However, most people stick to the ‘main drag’. At a certain state of tide there is a secret cave to the east. I’m not going to give away too many details…I’ve nicknamed the cave ‘the Devil’s Chimney’.

2. Porthchapel. Sits a short walk and scramble away from it’s famous neighbour Porthcurno. It’s a little off-grid and remote (always swim with a friend) but well worth the effort.

3. Kennack Sands. Offers a great day out. Fantastic walks, good swimming, a lovely beach and 2 cafes on the beach…for your convenience.

4. Porthpean. It’s not particularly secret…but if there’s someone out there reading this that’s planning a trip to Cornwall and wants some advice… Always reasonably safe and flat, clear water, stunning surrounds and lots of swim routes from the beach.

5. Praa Sands. Better know for it’s surfing but when there’s no surf you have some stunning swims around the point, to the west. Always talk to the lifeguards first and let them know your plans.

6. St Just-in-Roseland pool / harbour. You need a Spring high tide for this one but if you get it right you swim in a beautiful harbour surrounded by a sub-tropical garden and church. It doesn’t get much better.

7. Porthoustock/Porthallow. They’re a slight pain to get too (from anywhere!) and they’re not the most stunning swims but I love them. Always easy parking, very safe, clear water, there’s a crazy building at Porthoustock (that was a torpedo testing facility during the Cold War), great pub at Porthallow… Avoid the quarry side of the bay at Porthoustock.

8. Mother Ivey’s Bay. Great option on the north coast. Stunning, undeveloped beach with golden sands and a gorgeous lifeboat station.

9. Polurrian Beach. A quiet beach in the Lizard, that takes effort to access…hence the ‘quiet’. Beautiful swim towards Mullion or a slightly more adventurous swim to Poldhu (in the right conditions!).

10. The Gazzle, Newquay. Swimming from the back of Little Fistral to Towan Beach. Great little exploratory swim. You need to do this in the right conditions and be really, really careful if you’re going to swim across the harbour mouth at Newquay Harbour. *You can exit at the Fly Cellars’ just before the harbour. You also need to be careful of fishing lines at the Fly Cellars!

    PLEASE DO TAKE CARE - if you take on any of these swims. Always do your research and plan your swims. We’d suggest swimming on an incoming tide and preferably a neap tide, minimising water movement…

Porthpean Beach, St Austell.

Swimming Church Cove, the Lizard

We’ve wanted to cover this swim for some time. Church Cove is absolutely stunning. From the walk down, to the thatched roof cottages on the walk down, the tiny harbour, the swim itself… We finally had the perfect conditions and tide to offer this swim…although best not to do it on a low tide, like we did. Was slightly trickier to get out of the water than I would have liked. You might want to try this one a couple of hours after low tide. It’s also very remote, so definitely don’t try it by yourself and take the usual precautions.

Best on a westerly wind. SW light to medium strength winds will also work.

Amazing swim. You can swim right up to the Lizard Lifeboat Station. The water was crystal clear, with seaweed in patches, as well as stretches of white sand. On a higher tide there would be a couple of arches and caves to swim through. Stunning swim. Well worth the effort.

*For the more adventurous swimmers or swim-runner you could swim from Church Cove to Cadgwith (or the other way around) and run back to the car.

That’s it from us. We’ll let the video do the rest of the talking. Church Cove, the lizard Peninsula :

Review of 2021

2021 above all was very…interesting. Planning was very tricky due to Covid and us basically predicting the restrictions that might be in place. The weather and wind forecasts were all over the place, with a lot of the short term forecasts being far less accurate than usual. We had to cancel our first swim ever on the beach, just before we were going to set off…as the forecast and actual conditions were wholly inaccurate. The wind strength was really strong for long parts of the summer. The water temperature was also really cool until at least the start of June. Cornwall was incredibly busy all year, so we had to factor in parking with a lot of our activity.

That being said…what a great summer of swimming it was!

We appeared in the national press 3 times over the course of the year! The Times, Financial Times and Guardian.

We started the season with quite a few swims around Mousehole Island and a few shorter routes. Mainly for safety reasons, as if you started to get cold you’d have less distance to negotiate on your way in. We have a large list of shorter swims and some stunning swims with really interesting features, so we still offered some beautiful swims. We also offered water safety / rip current awareness courses (for the first time) in the early part of the season, so swimmers could swim safely through the summer. Along with some 30 minute coaching sessions and a coaching programme we ran at the Jubilee Pool.

We ran a number of swimming holidays through the summer. We saw lots of new faces, as well as lots of returning ones. A number of these holidays were private holidays for returning groups. By the end of the summer we also got back to what we do best - a nice social trip, with pubs and cafes featuring…as well as world class swimming of course!

2021 saw us offer a new type of holiday. We held a trip in the middle of the Lizard Peninsula, with people staying in a central campsite. This made for a far more social experience and has proved to be incredibly popular.

NEW SWIMS : We’re always on the look out for new swims. I find it incredible that we still find them 4 years of swimming holiday. This year saw us swim out of Polurrian Cove on a couple of occasions. A stunning, quiet beach, just around the corner from the more popular Poldhu Cove. As well as swimming a route up towards Mullion, we also completed a more challenging 2km route from Polurrian to Poldhu.

The Sea swim Cornwall team completed a glorious swim from Porthleven to Rinsey - a quite spectacular route of around 3 miles. READ ABOUT IT HERE.

We offered a few swims at Kynance Cove this summer and accidentally (always the best way) found a secret new cave, only accessible on a certain tide. We’ll look to offer this swim next summer…occasionally.

Church Cove, on the east side of the Lizard (there are 2!), has been on our hit list for some time. This year gave us the perfect opportunity to finally offer up this swim and it did not disappoint. Words don’t do it justice. You’d be better off clicking on the link above.

A longer swim we’ve considered for some time finally got some attention. Lamorna to Mousehole. Around 4km of what we thought would be rugid, DEEP swimming but it was surprising safer than we imagined. In the right conditions, getting out is fairly straight forward, once you’re round the point at Lamorna. There is also a coastal path you can scramble up to, if needs be. Whilst it is deep in parts, there are also fairly shallow sections the whole way along. Swimming into Mousehole, from the less popular side was also a real pleasure. It’s a swim we’ll more than likely look to offer next year.

Porthchapel - hidden around the corner from Porthcurno was a real treat. There is a little scramble / climb down the rocks onto the beach…but nothing too taxing. It’s a beautiful beach and swim. It’s also a new and different option to swim to from Porthcurno.

The north side of the west of Cornwall is an area we’ve spent some time exploring. Whilst we’re happy with heading to St Ives when a strong southerly wind blows in, it’s nice to have lots of options. We’ve found a few additional swims, although some are a little tricky to get to. We’ll save these for smaller groups and on-off swims.

Praa Sands also hosted a number of swims. Whilst I’ve visited Praa Sands a number of times, I"‘ve never really rated it as a beach. This summer however, changed that. Really enjoyed spending time here. There are a number of very cool cave swims off both ends of the beach and options to swim around to Keneggy and Prussia Cove.

Poldhu Cove better known for it’s surfing has provided us with a few very nice swims this summer. There’s an awesome little channel that you can swim through on the point and you also have the option of swimming around to Church Cove and exploring a few caves.

All-in-all fantastic summer of swimming. We’ve actually learnt a little more about reading the conditions, found some new swims and tweaked a couple of our holidays for 2022.

2022 holiday dates and events are either out or being announced shortly. Holidays requiring just a £50 fee to reserve your spot at this stage. Memebership for regular local swims are also currently available for 2022. You’ll find out about events and holidays first, be offered last minute reduced entry for any spots still available on holidays, as well as receive discounted entry for weekend swims and events. CLICK HERE for more info. Membership just £20.

Church Cove, the Lizard

We’re always on the lookout for new swims and re-visiting old swims to check out local parking, changes in cafe and shop use, exploring more of the local area…

This week we went to the Lizard Peninsula and went back to a few spots, checked out some new potential swims and just had a bit of a jolly!

This is Church Cove in the Lizard. It’s a stunner. Will make for an excellent addition to a long list of swims that we offer.

Swim Camp

This year Sea Swim Cornwall are rolling out a new type of swimming holiday. We’re basing ourselves at a campsite on the Lizard Peninsula. The campsite is very central and around 15 minutes drive away from a large number of world class swims.

You have places like Kynance Cove, Church Cove, Porthallow, Cadgwith Cove, Lizard Point, Kennegy Sands… just a stones throw away.

The idea of the holiday is to allow you to book as many, or as fewer swims as you’d like. You simply book the accommodation and then book individual swims. The swims are then broken into groups - the groups based on speed and distance. We have every confidence that this camping / swimming holiday will go well this year, we’ll then look to add coaching sessions, water safety and rip awareness courses and a whole loads of extras for next year’s swimming trip. We also tow a large SUP on the swims. This allows swimmers the chance to climb aboard and have a breather, whilst still being involved with the swim and adds an additional layer of safety to the swims.

The concept and some of the locations are detailed in the video below :

Planning your summer of swimming in Cornwall

Whether you’re a wild dipping enthusiast or a serious open water swimmer - Cornwall offers more coastline than the rest of the south west put together…and what a coastline! I’m based in Penzance and we’re spoilt for choice but it’s the same throughout Cornwall. The main advantage we have in Penzance is that we have beaches and swims that pretty much face every direction. This obviously means that you can generally get a swim in regardless of the conditions, with minimal driving involved.

Photo supplied by www.saltwaterimages.co.uk

Here’s a run down of where to swim in various areas…although I may miss out some of my favourite ‘secret spots’ :

ST IVES : Carbis Bay is always a winning choice - clear water, sheltered from S wind/conditions. Easy to add distance if you want an adventurous swim. Rarely any swell. You could attempt the ‘Island’ if you’re feeling really adventurous but we’d recommend a guide and prefect conditions. Any of the town beaches offer beautiful wild dip opportunities.

PENZANCE : the whole of the Mousehole area is world class, especially at high tide. Porthleven Harbour is a swim you’ll remember but again you’ll need a guide, you need to get the tide right. You have several beaches around the Porthcurno area…and if you’re really adventurous you can try and find the beach at Zennor…it is a bit of a scramble down to it mind.

NEWQUAY : can be tricky as it’s hard to escape a westerly wind and big or rough seas if the conditions are challenging. The Gannel Estuary at high is a stunner! As is Crantock Beach when the conditions are flat. You can travel north to Mother Ivey’s Bay. Whipsiddery to Watergate is one of my fave’s but it’s quite secluded…only attempt that one if the conditions are right, you’re a competent & experienced swimmer and you have company.

ST AUSTELL : straight to either Charlestown or Porthpean. A swim from one to the other…and possibly back. Can’t go wrong! Gorran Haven just down the road is also worth a mention and visit. Lovely little village, full of character. There is another beach in the Gorran Haven area…but I don’t want to upset the locals!

FALMOUTH : I’ve always enjoyed getting off the main drag in Falmouth and popping around the corner from Gyllyngvase to Swanpool or Maenporth. Great spots from swimming!

THE LIZARD : Oh boy! Take your pick. Kynance, Cadgwith, Lizard Point, Church Cove…. Take a few days off.

Photo courtesy of www.saltwaterimages.co.uk

We’ll check in at a later date and talk about north Cornwall.

Sea Swim Cornwall's Safe Swimming Guide - Kynance Cove