Whilst this is a safe guide to swimming the Gannel Estuary please remember that it is only a guide. There are no guarantees to safety, when open water swimming. If unsure or not very experienced either take a guide / water safety or don’t attempt the swim.
Tom lives on the outskirts of Penzance, so knows the area really well….and what an area! In terms of swims you’re spoilt for choice. In the immediate area you have Penzance sea front which is best at high tide, the Battery Rocks being a particularly popular area. Along the same stretch you have the famous Jubilee Lido and Penzance harbour - which offers great sheltered conditions at high tide.
The highlights of the Penzance area are St Michael’s Mount (you need to swim this in the right conditions), Mousehole Harbour and Island, there are some wonderful cave swims on the outer Penzance area (but the area is my favourite and I’m not telling!). A little further out you have Porthcurno, Penberth Cove, Lamorna Cove….all stunning.
The issue with Penzance, much like St Ives is the fact that pretty much all face south. If you have chop and wind coming in from the south you’ll struggle for a local swim. You do have St Ives just up the road though, that is north facing.
Image from www.saltwaterimages.com
St Ives offers some fantastic swims in the local area and a great holiday destination, where a car isn’t really required and open water swims are in easy walking distance.
Most of the beaches and swims in St Ives face north / north east. If you have any wind, with a reasonable strength you may be out of luck when it comes to swimming. Anything from the south however and you’re in luck. It’s useful to point out, at this stage that the coast around Penzance mainly faces south….so a northerly wind isn’t the end of the world! Penzance is also easily reachable from St Ives, on train or bus.
In the main town Porthmeor beach is better known for its surfing. If it’s flat, Porthmeor offers a really nice swim…either wild dip or a more lengthy swim. Swimming around the ‘Island’ is a fantastic experience but I’d exercise caution. You’d need to attempt this is really flat, calm conditions and I definitely wouldn’t attempt it by yourself. Taking water safety / a guide would be your best bet.
Porthgwidden Beach is a lesser known beach in St Ives and offers stunning swims. It suits shorter swim routes or a wild swim.
The harbour itself offers sheltered conditions but you’d obviously have to be careful of harbour traffic. You could only really swim in the harbour towards high tide.
Porthminster Beach also offers beautiful swims into the harbour and around the corner to Carbis Bay. Again, exercise caution if you decide to swim around to Carbis and assess the conditions before you swim.
Carbis Bay is my favourite. You don’t have to drive into St Ives itself to access the beach and there’s ample parking in the car park (on the hill) and it’s on the train route. From Carbis you can swim at the beach itself, swim around towards St Ives or the other way to Porthkidney (towards high tide).
If you’re a swim fan, St Ives is a must visit. With all swims obviously make sure you take all the necessary safety precautions.
Newquay is obviously far better known for it’s surfing but she does offer some fantastic swims as well. The issue with swimming in Newquay is quite simple. Most of the coast faces west / north west…meaning that if the wind is blowing in from that direction with any force you’ll be a little stuck for a flat and sheltered swim.
The summer season often offers high pressures and small swell. So, if you’re planning some swims in Newquay the peak summer seasons might be the time. Even in the peak months if you swim at around 8-9.30am it’ll be nice and quiet. To list but a few (we’ll try) check out :
Crantock Beach and the Gannel Estuary (we have a safe swimming guide on swimming the Gannel)
Polly Joke for a mid-high tide wild dip
Porth Beach at mid-high tide
Try body surfing! Great fun
There are also short drives up & down to areas like Mother Ivey’s Bay, St Agnes, Porthcothan…. A strong westerly wind may rule out swims in Newquay but St Austell and Charlestown are only a short drive away and generally offer safe swimming conditions. If conditions are horrendous Newquay Harbour and the Gannel may still offer a quick dip option.
Tom from the Sea Swim Cornwall team is very imaginative and has a background in photography and some graphic design. Over the early stages of 2020 he put these talents to good use and set about creating an open water swimming / wild swimming online shop. Most of the products we’ve produced have either been designed by Tom or sketched out….for a ‘proper’ professional to draw up for us.
We’ve tried our very best to create and design products that either didn’t exist or we’ve taken every day products and given them a swimming-twist.
From tote bags to pin badges, woolly hats (for you crazy winter swimmers!) to Calendars and car stickers. We’ve also done our research and sourced fantastic local products that we hope to post out far-and-wide.
The majority of our products are made locally (in Cornwall). Our products are as environmentally friendly as possible and if they’re not, we’re currently looking into alternatives. We’re also very proud of our packaging! In 10 months of trading the only packaging that we’ve purchased is brown paper. We sourced a shed load of old packaging from an old man that lives a few miles down the road at the start of the year and we re-use all of the packaging that we receive from our suppliers. It doesn’t always look entirely polishing when packaged up but….well, we don’t care! For the 2 minutes that the package will be seen we simply don’t think it’s worth the environmental impact.
With shops in lockdown, people in lockdown, the world in lockdown we decided to produce a Christmas card this year. Featuring one of the most iconic landmarks that you can swim around in the country….St Michael’s Mount. Taken from a few years back (by Sea Swim Cornwall’s Tom), in the snow. The card is reversible…so if you get bored of the one view (not that you ever could), you can simply turn the card over.
Available as a single plain card, a card with hand written message or a pack of cards.
To visit our shop direct, go to - https://www.seaswimcornwall.co.uk/open-water-swimming-shop/greetings-cards-for-the-open-water-swimmer
During the summer we often took out 2 rescue boards per paddler (water safety member), so we attached one board to the other using a leash. This was a Covid measure….so that if someone had stitch, cramp, had some sort of issue they could clamber onto the extra board without having to come into close contact with any of the rescue crew. This was a very good system (not that anyone actually needed it) and it also got Tom and Jo thinking.
We’ve had lots of enquiries, had a few nervous swimmers….there are lots of swimmers out there that want to complete various A to B swims but are nervous about the conditions and distance. So they miss out. We’d like to be as inclusive as possible but we’re also realistic - and have to be from a safety point of view.
So as of the 2021 season we’re offering a new service. We’ll offer people the opportunity to complete various swims that may not generally be open to them….because of their fitness, confidence, a disability….whatever the reason.
We’ll take swimmers on 1-2-1 swims around places like St Michael’s Mount and Kynance Cove using 2 rescue boards - which will be attached. The swimmer can pick-and-choose the sections of the swim that they complete and then hop onto the rescue board and get a tow around other sections…and a well deserved rest. This will ultimately allow the swimmer the experience of completing some world class, bucket-list worthy swims, without necessarily completing the entire distance. Opening up a whole new list of swims for lots of individuals.
If you are interested in this service simply contact us next summer and we’ll give you the full rundown.
We’ve been swim coaching in the pool for around 5 years. The bulk of our clientele are triathletes, people that want to push-on and improve their swimming, a few people new to pool swimming, open water swimmers… The following are very common problems with people that generally only swim on the odd occasion, took to swimming late, have come back to swimming after a long break etc.
1. Poor Hip Position – If your hips are too low in the water, your legs are too low in the water and you end up dragging your legs through the water, rather than having a nice streamlined position on top of it. As well as having a poor leg kick, they also consumer energy and Oxygen, as well as creating drag. Engaging your core and raising your hips is quite a tricky thing to coach. Have a look at the following video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQbjMjneBH0
2. Poor Leg Kick – closely related to the above issue. Quite often you’ll find that it people have a poor leg kick they’ll avoid doing any leg work in a session! You want your leg kick to improve you have to work on them. Common problems are kicking too low in the water, having too greater distance between your feet, bent knees, stiff ankles (all you runners)…
Whilst you have additional buoyancy in salt water (& wearing a wetsuit) you don’t in the pool. If you primarily swim because you enjoy open water and aren’t bothered about the pool one of the things you can do is to simply not kick. It really depends on your personal circumstances however.
Some dry land work - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4gXjneFXuI
The basics - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iirZS3oQ-Q&t=2s
3. Catch. This can be a problem for newcomers and even the most experienced of swimmers. One of the most important parts of your stroke is your catch. It’s getting your hand into a position where your palm is facing your feet nice and early. The longer your palm is facing the bottom of the pool/sea bed, the more your missing out on efficient pull. It’s really important your hand enters the water, you reach your full extension and then you focus on getting your hand into a position where your palm is facing your feet. The quicker, the better.
Check out this slow motion video of Ian Thorpe. Watch how early he drops his wrists and gets in an early catch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b1Fiw9uekM
We’ve officially lost count of the number of swimmers that we’ve taken around St Michael’s Mount. We’ve swum people to the harbour wall (away from the harbour mouth), we’ve swum them around the Mount, we’ve swum around the Mount as part of a 10k swim, we’ve swum around the Mount and back, we’ve done it at high tide, mid-tide and low tide, big groups, small groups, individuals…. We’ve even recently done it at night! NEXT YEAR we’ll offer assisted swims around the Mount for people unsure whether they’d make the distance. We’ll simply tow you part of the way, on your own rescue board and you can then choose when to jump off and swim sections of this amazing swim.
One thing that never changes is the stunning view. We think the best view available is from the rear East side. It takes in the castle and beautiful sub-tropical gardens.
Despite being a 3km swim, where you’ll be out of site whilst you’re swimming around the back, this is a fairly safe swim (in the correct conditions). It’s never particularly deep, if it isn’t too choppy it’s possible to exit the water at certain points. What we would say is - swim with a friend, take a mobile in a tow float (TAKE A TOW FLOAT), watch out for boats, inform someone of your swim and when you should be back, check the conditions and if you’re unsure don’t swim.
Swimming around the Mount isn’t always possible. There are often small boats ferrying people to the island. Avoid this boat lane.
WHEN TO SWIM IT
You can swim the Mount at any stage of tide. At low tide it’s tricky to exit/enter the water at the east side of the island, as seaweed prevents you from seeing the bottom. It is however, a shorter swim (being low tide), so you can swim the island anti-clockwise then turn back on yourself and finish where you started…the beach.
Mid-tide…from around 3.5m of tidal height entry and exit of the swim is fairly straight forward. Easiest to get out on the causeway. A mid-tide swim is around 2-2.5km in length. Best to swim clockwise around, as you’ll have no issues exiting the water at the beach.
High tide offers around 2.7-3km of swimming. You never really have anything to worry about in terms of currents but I would avoid swimming around on a large Spring tide.
WIND STRENGTH / DIRECTION
The longest swimming stretch around the island is on the west side of the island, running along the harbour wall. This should be one of your main considerations. When looking at the wind direction.
A light northerly is one of the best options as the wind hits the water where you’ll be setting off and doesn’t have a chance to create chop. Be aware though that you will have to swim against the wind on your way in.
In contrast, a strong southerly is the worst wind direct as the wind has hundreds of miles to influence the water and build up lots of choppy conditions. That chop will then hit the land and bounce back…creating carnage!
Generally, you want light wind under 20kmph, with little chance of increasing whilst your swimming.
BOAT TRAFFIC
There are regular small ‘ferries’ to the harbour so you need to be careful if you’re crossing the harbour mouth or their regular route. I’d advise that you where a tow float. The midday sun often makes it quite difficult for the drivers to see swimmers.
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.
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
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.
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.
This year we’re putting on a series of last minute swims. We’ll access the week’s weather forecast and by Tuesday / Wednesday we’ll publish where we’re putting on swims for that weekend. We’ll try and include bucket list worthy locations like Porthcurno, St Michael’s Mount, Kynance Cove, the Island in St Ives…
You can book once we’ve published the swims or pre-book a group or individual swim and we’ll match up the conditions with an appropriate swim. This way you get the most enjoyment out of your swim possible, in the safest conditions possible.
£30 per head.
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.
Found way out on the Lizard Peninsula - Coverack is a very sleepy fishing village…or at least it was. Offers nice swimming. There are no obvious swimming routes but the whole area is beautiful and well worth a visit. Best to avoid the harbour mouth and wear a tow float.
One of our favourites. A little remote but that isn’t a bad thing. If you’re unsteady on your feet probably best to avoid this one. Avoid the point in the direction of Praa Sands, particularly on an outgoing tide. You can get a .5-1 knot current running along there.
Having taken a few bookings for St Michael’s Mount swims that I’ve had to reschedule and cancel I figured we might be doing things the wrong way around. At which point I had a brain-wave.
We’re going to look at the week’s conditions on a Tues-Wed and then put on swims that weekend based on the conditions. This will mean that we can plan swims around St Michael’s Mount, Porthcurno, the ‘Island’ in St Ives, Mousehole Island etc with real confidence that the conditions will be ideal for that swim.
This will effectively mean that you can complete a world-class, bucket list swim in the ideal conditions!
We’ll arrange time slots for that weekend that you can book. Each slot will cost £100 and you can have up to 8 people (6 in some cases) per slot…meaning some swims will cost as little as £12.50 per head. With current Covid restrictions, if you arrange a group of 6-8 we’ll simply split you into 2 smaller groups. * If you’re an individual or couple without a group let us know and we’ll try and marry you up with a few people in the same situation so the swim is affordable.
We’ll also possibly look at evening swim in the week.
WE’LL ANNOUNCE SWIMS THROUGH OUR SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS - SO KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED
*** CRAZY CHARITABLE SWIM ***
It's that time of year again. Each year Tom & Jo train up, swim loads, get on the weights, board paddle, run, build some good core strength and conditioning... this typically happens directly after they do a crazy, endurance charity challenge and this year is absolutely no different!
On Friday 10th July (with the 17th as a back up date) we'll attempt to swim 1km on as many beaches in Cornwall as we can in one day – (hopefully 25-30) to raise vital funds to help other, less physically able people to experience the joys of the water.
Our story starts with my partner's Gran, Joyce Cooper who - at 92 and after a lifetime of open water swimming - is desperate to return to the sea, possibly for the last time. Having gradually lost mobility, she is now in need of all-terrain wheelchair access to the water, and we’d love to generate enough money for the iconic Jubilee Pool in Penzance to have a permanent sand chair so that a range of older and disabled people can be granted easy access into the new geothermal pool and the sea via the neighbouring slipway off Penzance promenade.
Joyce was at the Jubilee’s original opening in 1935 and has continued to swim there with four generations of her family ever since. She is proof of the positive impact that both swimming and seawater have on physical and mental wellbeing – and how important it is that everyone can have the chance experience this.
Wouldn’t it be a fitting finale to her Jubilee Pool story for Joyce to enjoy another sea dip and to pave the way for others to find similar freedom in the water?
Please share her story and donate what you can.
Thank you!
LINK : https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/wheelchair-for-jubilee?utm_term=6kEKPgnPe
So we’ve had to cancel a lot of our 2020 holidays and events but we’re not finished for the year by any stretch of the imagination! We’re working hard to change the format of our Sept holiday and ensure we hold it. We’re also offering the following for anyone wanting to get a little adventurous :
ONE-OFF SWIMS & WATER SAFETY : if you have a specific swim in mind or would like to complete a longer swim with water safety get in touch. We can safely escort you around St Michael’s Mount or across the bay at Porthcurno. We’re offering this option to individuals and small groups.
MINI SWIMRUN EVENT / TRAINING : if you’ve had your event cancelled or fancy a supervised mini-event or training session get in touch. We can provide routes and offer water safety and safely arrange a few energy stations.
SEPT EVENT : we’re currently looking to avoid cancelling our sept event. We’ll have to change the format a little but it’s still looking like a great event.
FLEXIBILITY : we pride ourselves on being flexible. If you have an idea or we don’t offer what you’re looking for, get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.
As guidance from the government changes we’ll look to adapt. We’re quite happy to take last minute bookings and arrange things with little notice. Feel free to give us a call at any stage over the summer and we’ll discuss your options.
All the best,
Team Sea Swim Cornwall.
