Open water swimming has grown in popularity among the fitness and well-being community – maybe it’s the health benefits? Maybe it’s the rush you feel on the first dip? I spoke to open water enthusiasts about why it’s the perfect time to get into this chilly sport.
Imagine going about your normal routine having a morning swim at your local leisure centre. You’re not the greatest swimmer, but you do it to help your back injury. You’re recuperating in the pool, challenging yourself to do one more length than last time. You pause, take a breath, start chatting with the other swimmers to pass the time.
You find out they’re preparing for outrageous challenges, one training to swim the length of Windermere Lake. They go on about their swimming journey, and the more they explain the more inspired you feel.
Then you think to yourself, maybe that could be me one day?
These were the very conversations that sparked Karen Quatermain’s love for open water swimming 11 years ago. Since that day, she has accomplished a Jersey to France Solo swim, Solo Windermere several times, Ullswater, Coniston and numerous English Channel Relay swims.
Open water swimming has been around for many years but has grown more popular since Covid when people would resort to this due to the closure of leisure centres and indoor pools. So why are more people taking the plunge?
Uswim is an open water swim club was formed by Karen’s husband, Dave Quatermain, as a way for him and a small group of his friends to train for swimming the length of the English Channel – 25 years later, it’s one of the most widely recognised open water clubs in Greater Manchester, hosting lessons, open sessions and events to hundreds of people in Salford Quays. Karen, who co-owns the club, reminisced on the club’s growth.
“It’s phenomenal,” she said.
“Back then it was a clipboard and a pen and people jumped off the side of the wall and the bridge. Now there’s structure, there’s processes, there’s a lot more to it than there was back then. There were 10 to 20 people, now our sessions can have up to 200 people.
“You sit back and you look at it and think, wow, he’s done this from his passion. He’s making people’s dreams come true and he supports people.”
There are plenty of health benefits to swimming in open water. According to Swim England, open water swimming can improve sleep, boost the immune system, increase mood and prevent or manage long term illnesses.
Karen said: “I think there’s lots of benefits. When you say open water swimming you haven’t got lane ropes, you haven’t got lane rage, you haven’t got chlorine chemicals, you haven’t got the heat.
“You can’t really go to an indoor pool and just sit there and quiet your mind, whereas you can go in open water and just find yourself a place and just shut off from it all.”
Her husband Dave began the club with his passion for open water swimming. He was one of the UK’s top open water swimmers in the late ’90’s, achieving some insane challenges such as becoming the first British winner to swim around Manhattan Island, New York, swimming around Africa’s Robben Island, and swimming many of the UK’s lochs and lakes races.
His love for open water swimming led him to set up Uswim to provide safely supervised swims to water-lovers. The club celebrated its anniversary during their annual Greater Manchester Swim event in May, where hundreds of people swam up to three miles in Salford Quays.
Celebrating the club’s roots, Karen said: “We mainly celebrated Dave because he was the founder and he was doing this before it was a business. He was one of the very first out there to run supervised [open water] sessions which stemmed from him training for the English Channel himself and not having anywhere to go, so he wanted a safe place for people to swim.”
Karen has been helping Dave run the swim club for 11 years. For her, open water swimming was a challenge to test her limits.
“My story is very different,” she explained. “Dave’s background is a swimmer, he’s always swam – I’m not a swimmer.
“I had a back injury and pushed myself to do a challenge. I was just recuperating in the pool, trying to learn to swim a bit better because it helped my back, and then before you know it I was speaking to some people about the Great North Swim in Windermere.
“You get to chat with people and you’re so inspired by them. You’re like, yeah, I could do that. The next minute I did the mile swim, then it became a 5k, then you swam the length of Windermere and then you swam to France before you knew it. You just get hooked on it and the feeling in the community around it.”
A core belief of Uswim is water safety, especially during the winter months where temperatures of the water can plummet to seven degrees celsius. According to the Royal Life Saving Society UK, there were 226 accidental fatalities in the UK in 2022. The report found inland water such as rivers, canals, lakes, reservoirs, and quarries continued to be the leading locations for accidental drowning with 60% of deaths in 2022.
On water safety, Karen said: “We’re a professional business with insurance. The water’s been tested, we risk assess it, our business is covered and insured. We would always say to come to a commercial venue where you know you’ve got protection, you know the water you’re going into is of safe quality, it’s been tested, there’s lifeguards, there’s experienced people to help you on your first journey open water.”
For Karen, the most fulfilling thing is watching people achieve great things from the club.
She said: “Seeing people on their own journeys, seeing them from day one and being part of that. A couple of years down the line, they’ve swam the English Channel or they’ve done the length of Coniston or they’ve come back and they’ve done some crazy challenge.
“You’ve seen them from day one, you’ve done an introduction with them, you’ve helped them with the technique, you’ve given them pointers and you can see how much they can develop within themselves, but they don’t know it.”
Although Uswim train only in open water, many local swimming clubs resorted to open water swimming during the pandemic. Lucy Bull, head coach of Marple Swimming Club, was one of these clubs who chose to train her team at Sale Water Park.
Lucy said: “What we tended to do when the pools were closed was take the swimmers to Sale water park and swim in the open water. We went every couple of weeks and we took about 60 people to Sale at a time. It meant we didn’t really lose a lot of swimmers, because they were still swimming and they could all have fun.”
“People used to have to pre-book onto the [indoor] sessions so we couldn’t charge a monthly fee because we couldn’t guarantee that they would get on. We were only allowed 24 people in the pool and they had to be five metres apart. So as a club, it meant that we weren’t generating as much income from the swimmers.”
Speaking to one of Lucy’s competitive swimmers, Abby Wood, who went along to the open water sessions, she enjoyed testing her limits and utilising it as a way to train with her teammates while restrictions were in place.
Abby said: “I found open water swimming really fun. I love swimming and it was a way to keep swimming during Covid when the pools were shut. It gets you out of your comfort zone by trying something new.
“I felt very refreshed and energised once I got used to the cold water. I would love to go again when I have time and I would recommend it to anyone.”
Open water swimming has more than meets the eye. So, if you’re looking for a new year’s resolution, maybe open water swimming might be one to dive into.
Uswim’s next event is their New Year’s swim, more information here: https://www.uswimopenwater.com/
Main image credit Uswim
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