SSC Beach Rater - Sennen Cove

I lifeguarded here for a summer and love this beach. A bit of an effort to get to but well worth that effort.

You have it all…surf, sand, sand dunes, walks, great local village. Great all round day out.

Beach Rater - Marazion Beach

We’ve completed a Safe swimming Guide for Marazion. I thought it might be nice to add a beach rater to the area. So here it is :

• Despite the high rating I rarely visit this beach. Possibly a little too busy for my taste. If you’d like a safe, beautiful beach, with plenty to do (a family day out)…then this is for you!

Sea Swim Cornwall's Safe Swimming Guide - Kynance Cove

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

Beach Rater - Mousehole Harbour

You can either park on the near side of the harbour and pop onto the sand, or either drive through (or around the back) of the village and park and visit the far side of the harbour. The wind direction may influence which part of the harbour you visit. One of my favourites, with the kids.

Another for the Bucket List

This is definitely one for the bucket list. Bear in mind you have to swim it in the right conditions…and being an island it doesn’t always happen that frequently…as you’ll get a bit of chop regardless of which way the wind is blowing. That said, you don’t have to swim around the island. You can always take the sensible option and use the island to shield you, whilst swimming up the side and back. A great plan B!

Anyway…St Michael’s Mount. Apparently the most popular destination for people to get engaged.

Image courtesy of www.saltwaterimages.co.uk

A private group that swam out to the Mount from Long Rock, in June.

A private swimming holiday group from July 2018

Our safe open water swimming guide for St Michael’s Mount.

Sea Swim Cornwall's Safe Swimming Guide - St Just-in-Roseland

This one is an absolute stunner! A little remote and slightly tricky to find but well worth the effort. The tiny harbour at St Just-in-Roseland offers one of the most stunning starts and finishes to a swim that you could imagine! Finishing in a quaint little harbour, in the shadow of a stunning church and gardens. I’d go as far as to say that this could be a bucket-lister.

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.

Gin Bar

A very cool Gin bar in Penzance at the minute. That cool in fact, that I can't find any trace of it online. You find the Sea Swim Cornwall logo on the map and you'll find the bar.

Which event is for you?

We run a number of holidays and events throughout the year. We try to be as inclusive as we possibly can but try as we might, not all of our activities will suit all abilities. Here’s a run down of what you’ll need to know.

YEAR ROUND WILD SWIMMER

If you’re less about the Ks and more about your year round swimming days then the Porthleven Food Festival and swimming weekend looks like it’s the trip for you. It’s our favourite food festival of the year. Set in the stunning Porthleven Harbour and attracting around 40,000 people every year, it’s a fantastic weekend. As the water is a little colder we’d recommend this trip to the hardcore year round swimmer. The distances will be a little shorter and we’ll also explore some of the hidden rock and natural pools the west coast of Cornwall has to offer. APRIL 17-19 2020, currently open to small - large group bookings.

MIDDLE-OF-THE-PACKERS TO YOUR MORE COMPETITIVE SWIMMERS

The 10K Big River Day might be the afternoon out you’ve been looking for. It’s a stunning swim up the river Fal in crystal clear waters. You’ll receive a little boost from the incoming tide from St Mawes up to St Just in Roseland…finishing at one of the most stunning harbours we’ve ever seen. At the harbour you’ll have a refreshments break (plenty of fluids and cake) before returning back along the same route with the outgoing tide. *There are swimming speed requirements on this event. Check before booking.

OUR ALL-INCLUSIVE EVENT

We try to be as inclusive as possible with this event but you have to have a realistic chance of swimming 10km over the course of one day…it’s the 10K Magical Mystery Tour. Set up as more of a challenge than a race, you’ll look to swim 10km over 4 swims. The challenge takes place over the course of around 8-10 hours. We also put on a coach to ensure it’s a nice and social event. Swims may include St Michael’s Mount, Porthcurno, Mousehole, Penzance bay, Carbis Bay and St Ives… During the latter stages we also arrange shorter routes for those that may be struggling.

ALL-INCLUSIVE HOLIDAYS

Again, we try and make our holidays as all-inclusive as possible. The reality is that you need to be able to comfortably swim 1-3km in one go. We can make exceptions but you need to call us before booking. These holidays and the swims are based on the conditions of the day. We pick the most enjoyable and safe swims as we can. We are swimming in the sea but you’ll never be expected to swim through surf or rough conditions! This year we’ve lined up all of your holiday dates with local festivals so you have double the reason to attend.

ST IVES FOOD FESTIVAL : set on the beach and including great live entertainment it’s a great holiday

GOLOWAN FESTIVAL : is a massive festival put on each year in Penzance. They shut the towns roads down and turn the who thing into a pedestrian-bar. There are precessions and live music and dance throughout the whole weekend, as well as craft fayres and food stalls.

DESIGN YOUR OWN

If any of the above doesn’t suit simply contact us and design your own trip or swim. We offer open water coaching and bespoke swims, days and holidays.

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.

World Record Attempt

We’d like to thank everyone that turned up to our first body surfing world record attempt. We had well over 60 people turn up and had great weather and swell for body surfing…even if the water was a tad chilly.

We attempted to get 25+ people body surfing the same wave, for 5 seconds or more.

Sadly, we only managed 14. Whilst around 35 people caught the busiest wave, around 10 held it the whole way to the beach, 4-5 held it for 5 seconds plus and the rest didn’t quite make the 5 seconds.

The attempt, although unsuccessful, has given us the info and experience we need to make a few practical and logistically changes and come back and comfortably break/set the record.

A massive thank you to everyone that took the time to attend. From what I’ve heard everyone had a great time. We’ll also look to add a post-attempt social to the event next year. This was something we had in place for the original date that we cancelled (due to a lack of surf).

Straight Line Swimming

The second some of us get out of the pool, into the open water and no longer have a thick black line to follow we struggle. There is a definite art to swimming ‘fairly’ straight. We’ll try our best in the following few points to get you on the right path.

• BREATHE BOTH WAYS. If you were to breathe to your left every time, when your head comes up to breathe you roll your body that extra few inches. This means that you extend your right arm forward that extra inch or two. If you’re right handed you’re extending your dominant hand forward an extra inch or two. Doesn’t sound like much but that extra inch or two over and over again starts to make a difference and you generally start to via to the right. It’s like rowing a boat with one oar that’s slightly longer than the other.

• SIGHTING : You’ve probably read a million and one articles about sighting. I won’t bore you further…other than to say, you don’t have to sight forward. I had a recent discussion with a swimmer about swimming into the sun. You can sight to the side, and use the beach or river bank provided it’s relatively straight. You can also use the depth your swimming in to a certain extent - provided you know the water and know the consistency of the bank / sea bed.

• RUDDER SWIMMING (AKA THE ‘HEAD RUDDER’). I tend to drift the opposite way to the way I breath. To counter this I breath every 2 for 3 cycles, then every 3 for 1 cycle and every 2 again for 3 cycles…and repeat. This keeps me straight. Experiment a little with your breathing and see if it has an influence.

• SIGHTING FREQUENCY. Everyone is different. Again, experiment a little and see what works for you.

• DRAFTING. Draft off of someone’s feet and you don’t have to sight. Just make sure they’re swimming in a straight line!

Best of luck.

World Record Body Surfing attempt

A lack of swell meant that we had to call off attempt no 1 in June!

So….attempt number 2 will be happening at Towan Beach on Oct 5th, plan B Fistral if small surf. We’ll carry out a little coaching session for any newbies from 11. We’ll then have a safety talk at around 11.45-11.50 and look to have our first attempt at 12.

Rules are the following :

None of the body surfers are allowed any buoyant device other than swim fins and handplanes.

1. No body surfer is permitted to be pulled into the wave by a water craft.

2. The wave can be natural or created by a boat. If the wave is man-made it must be created by a single boat.

3. The duration of the surf is a minimum of 5 seconds. Any riders who fail to meet that minimum time must be discounted from the record total.

Slightly odd rules but basically don’t bring a wetsuit (although you can wear one in the coaching session from 11) but you can bring a hand plane and swim fins! Definitely bring swim fins if you own some.

The current World Record is only 25…so very beatable.

Straight after the world record attempt(s) we will hold an unofficial body surfing Cornish Champs, based purely on distance on the wave.

More details to follow…

Core Stability in Swimming

9 times out of 10 when we coach adults that have taken to swimming late or didn’t squad train as children they have the same issues - they don’t engage their core and allow their hips and feet to sink and they have a poor kicking technique. The following video isn’t the most exciting but contains some fantastic pool-based drills. I frequently use the first…the fly kick or your back and think it’s a brilliant drill. Really gets that core working. You should feel it within 25m.

Learn to swim a new stroke

Swimming front crawl over and over again without swimming any of the other strokes simply isn’t good for you. It’s like going to the gym and only ever focusing your weights training on your arms and chest. Whilst your arms and chest get bigger the rest of your body suffers and eventually you pick up a big, heavy object and you put your back out….or start to suffer with repetitive strain injuries or something similar.

Learn a new stroke today.

Are you a pushy parent?

This has been around for decades. It happened when I was a child (I’m now 37)….but seems to be getting worse. Possibly down to the popularity of social media and people’s need to broadcast every achievement (be it their own or children’s) online…I’m not sure. Definitely getting worse though!

Children in all sports develop and improve at different speeds. They hit long plateaus where they don’t improve and then all of a sudden they improve rapidly…with what looks like no rhyme or reason. The classic example is the big kid at school. A child suddenly grows (a lot) and dominates on the rugby field, for example. They’re faster, stronger and heavier than the other kids. They run though them…the problem here though is that it’s too easy. They don’t put the time in to learn and perfect vital skills because they don’t need to. Over time all the other kids grow just as big and strong and fast and the child prodigy is left behind and often then put off the sport, as for the first time they find it quite difficult and no longer have the same degree of success.

Time and time again I see parents hassling coaches to put their child up into the next group or squad. ‘’….all their friends have moved up and my daughter/son hasn’t…it’s not fair…they’re good enough to move…’’. Worst case scenario and again this happens quite frequently, is that the disgruntled parent joins the committee and tries to influence the club’s direction from the inside. From my experience this only hurts the whole swimming club…and whilst parents and children move on, stop swimming, move clubs etc the club continues to suffer long term because of misguided parents making decisions for all the wrong reasons.

The problem with promoting a child too early (in swimming particularly) is the following. If they haven’t mastered all of the strokes or a particular stroke, as they go up through the squads/levels they won’t get the time or attention to improve the stroke later on. If your child has a problem with a particular stroke and they’re promoted too early they may never swim that stroke correctly. Where you think you’re helping your child, your actions are actually having the opposite effect.

The other issue is that all children progress at their own speed. I was hopeless at Butterfly until I was 12-13 years old and made the slightest adjustment to my stroke and went on to be county champion and represent Cornwall swimming butterfly. Whilst I had early success in backstroke, from around the age of 14 I never got any better and it became one of my worst strokes. The fact is that your child doesn’t need to be the best swimmer at the club to become the best swimmer at the club. Nor do they need to be in the best squad. What they need is to develop at their own pace and ensure that technically they’re good enough to move up the ladder. Progress to the next squad isn’t necessarily down to speed (they might simply be quick because they’re stronger than everyone else). Technique is fair more important.

ARE YOU MAKING THE BEST DECISIONS FOR YOUR CHILDREN?

If you find yourself a little angry or upset. Frustrated at your swimming club / sports club’s decision not to pick or promote you or your child, here are some questions you might want to ask yourself, or some actions you might want to take.

1.       This isn’t an easy question to ask but you have to…and be brutally honest. Is part of your frustration at your child’s non-selection or position in a team down to your own ego? Are you angry that other children of the same age are moving up whilst your child has not.

2.       Has your child simply hit a bit of a plateau and is this the reason they’re not improving…Are they in the middle of a growth spurt and perhaps they’re tired. Or simply playing too many sports…

3.       Are you putting too much pressure on your child? Are the goals they have their own or yours?

4.       Do they lack motivation or are they distracted? In which case it might be an idea to ease off the training and allow them to start to enjoy swimming again.  

5.       If you’re not happy with your child’s progress perhaps you should have an open and honest chat with the coach. Find out what your child has to do to continue to progress.

6.       If you seriously think your child is being held back by a bad coach or bias of some kind then look at the cold hard facts. Is it because the squads ahead of them are overpopulated? Is there an issue at the club ie. a lack of boys or girls that progress. Are other parents in the same boat? Is there actually a problem or do you simply want there to be one as it’s suits your situation?

7.       Could your child’s lack of motivation be overcome by a side-ways move. Perhaps taking up waterpolo, open water swimming, surf lifesaving might ignite their interest.

In around 30 years of swimming in squads I’ve seen some fantastic coaches driven out of clubs by parents and poorly run, misguided committees. Swim coaches, especially in smaller clubs, are often poorly paid positions and often the coach takes the position because of their love of the sport, volunteering hours of their time for free. Not in every case but in a lot of cases they’re not shown half the appreciation and respect they deserve. There is a national shortage of swim coaches. Are you putting unnecessary pressure on a coach you should be praising?

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.

Sea Swim Cornwall Safe Swimming Guide - Penzance Sea Front

There are loads of local swimming groups to Penzance. It’d be well worth doing some research and contacting a couple before travelling down.