The Novice Open Water Swimmer - Hints and Tips

The Novice Open Water Swimmer

Open Water swimming is exciting and exhilarating and once you take the plunge you’ll certainly feel a great sense of achievement. Open water swimming has scientifically proven health benefits, including mood boosting and energising effects as well as improved memory, decreased tension and stress relief and as such, it’s not surprising that open water swimming is growing in popularity.

A step by step guide for the novice open water swimmer

We often get asked for advice on how to start off in open water swimming and for many newbies dipping your toe in the open water can be beyond daunting. So to give novice swimmers some guidance we’ve put together a number of updates which have plenty of hints and tips on what to do.

In this update, we’re going to look at the the best time of year to start open water swimming as well as the importance of choosing a venue. In future updates, we’ll look at other important factors, such as what equipment do I need, acclimatisation, stroke techniques and racing.

When is the best time to start open water swimming?

Most swimmers would love to swim all year around, but as the temperature drops at the end of the season and during winter, even many experienced open water swimmers will head back to the pool for the season.

After the new year, the interest and enthusiasm for novice swimmers to test out the open water increases, however, the water is usually still very cold and taking the plunge too early in the season will probably result in an experience many don’t want to repeat!!

We recommend that for novice swimmers it’s probably best to start off in the open water later spring when the water temperature has risen. To get the most out of your first swim, it’s probably best to wait until the water temperature is approx 11-12degrees. If the water is extremely cold, you’ll tend to be concentrating more on your breathing than swim technique, a topic we will cover in a future update.

Choosing an OpenWater Venue

Health and safety is paramount. When it comes to open water swimming it’s so important to think of your safety first and foremost. Wherever you’re swimming- lake, river or ocean, make sure you’re aware of water temperature, water depth and any boats that may be in the water and of course, also make sure that you’re not swimming in a restricted area.

Open water swimming can be quite daunting for novice swimmers but once you take the plunge we guarantee you’ll be hooked. Safety is the number one priority, so, as an open water novice we’d definitely recommend that you go along to an organised swim session. There are lots of lakes and open water venues that offer organised swims and have suitable safety measures in place, such as experienced water safety crews and open water induction and coaching sessions. Often at these venues there is the opportunity to buddy up with other swimmers who are new to the sport.

We organise an open water swim at Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club - Pennington Flash, through our sister company www.myopenwaterswim.co.uk. (MyOpenWaterSwim). We encourage novice swimmers to make the safety crew aware and they’ll happily explain courses as well as keeping an extra eye out for you.

Pennington Flash is a huge expanse of water and we have swim courses from 500m to 1.9km - there’s also an area close to shore big enough to swim and get used to open water swimming. In addition you can book individual or group coaching sessions.

Through our active social media accounts (instagram and facebook - MyOpenWaterSwim), there’s also the opportunity for members to ask other members for hints and tips whether you’re a novice swimmer and maybe looking for a swim buddy or an experienced swimmer or triathlete after some local knowledge and advice. There’s a real friendly buzz at our venue - Pennington Flash and in fact many of our swimmers call themselves - The Flashers, so come along and you too could become a Pennington Flasher. The venue is used for the UK Ironman Triathlon Swim and over the years we have seen many swimmers new to open water improve their technique, increase their confidence and improve from novice to Ironman Swimmer.

Check out our website www.myopenwaterswim.co.uk for more information on memberships, venue and coaching.

Next time we'll take a look at what equipment you need to start open water swimming, in the meantime you can take a look at our website MyTriathlon