Cold water swimming

In at seven.

A cold water swim club on the east coast. Tuesdays and Saturdays, all year round, and nobody makes you stay in.

The water is the point.

Four degrees in February and fourteen in September. We post the temperature the night before so you can decide about it somewhere warm.

Two minutes is a swim.

Nobody here is doing lengths. Most people are in for three or four minutes and out again, and that counts as having been.

Somebody counts you out.

One person stays on the shingle with the flask and a list. You do not go in until they have your name, and you do not leave until they have crossed it off.

Then the flask.

There is a van, there is tea, and there is usually cake that somebody's neighbour made. That part of it is not optional.

Join a swim

The water

Above it, and under it.

The bit everyone photographs is the surface. The bit everyone remembers is the ten seconds after your shoulders go under.

Move over it

Swims, and what they cost.

Tuesday, seven in the morningFree
Saturday, eight in the morningFree
First swim as a guestFree
Membership, a year, insurance included£24
Winter series, October to March£12
Club hat, so we can see you£8

How a swim goes.

ArriveTen to seven at the slipway. Change on the shingle, because there is no hut and there is no hurry either.

InWalk, do not dive. Get your shoulders under and your breathing back before you decide anything else.

OutTwo to four minutes for most people in winter. The person holding the list will tell you when you have had enough.

AfterDry off, dress from the top down, and stand by the van with a flask until you have stopped shaking.

Enquire

Join a swim.

Tell us which morning suits you and whether you have swum cold before. We reply with where to park, what to bring and who to look for.