Swimming Days Out

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If you’re planning on broadening your horizons and taking on a new swim or two in the summer, it might well be worth planning a series of swims over the course of a morning, afternoon or entire day… If you’re going to make the effort to drive to a new area, you may as well do it properly!

Here are a few of Sea Swim Cornwall’s suggestions for some multi-swimming days out. Please bear in mind that you’ll need to check the forecast and ensure the conditions are safe to swim in. We’d always suggest swimming on an incoming tide, preferably neap tides and check the wind direction and strength. Under 20kmph is good and try and avoid a moderate to strong onshore wind. *More info on safe swimming, check out our ‘reading the conditions’ blog post - CLICK HERE.

LIZARD PENINSULA - a number of options here.

You could simply visit Kynance Cove and take on a few swims. Loads of options. Bear in mind that it isn’t lifeguarded. Best swimming on a low tide, with the tide coming in…and swim with company.

Porthallow, Porthoustock and Kennack Sands. Some really interesting swims, with really interesting old industrial features. Other than Kennack, these areas are generally quite quiet…even in summer.

Another option might be Gunwalloe Fishing Cove, followed by Church Cove and Poldhu. Church Cove is lifeguarded in peak summer weeks, Poldhu lifeguarded through the main summer season.

WORTH CHECKING OUT… Roskilly’s for ice cream and great food, also a great option with kids.

 

PENZANCE - again, a few options. You could look at Porthcurno, Porthchapel (be careful on the way down, a slight bit of bum-shuffling, climbing involved) and Lamorna Cove. Best to attempt either side of the main summer season as parking can be challenging.

Perranuthnoe is another option. Starting on Perranuthnoe Beach, you can then head east and you’ll find another couple of tracks leading to additional launching beaches. Obviously you are a little off the beaten track, so be careful when swimming.

WORTH CHECKING OUT - Pickle on the prom, Tremenheere Kitchen or the Beach Cafe (Perranuthnoe).

 

ST AUSTELL - Lovely short walk and options, simply look at Porthpean, Duporth and Charlestown. Best to finish at Charlestown on a high tide. You can park at Porthpean. Beautiful stretch of coast and if you avoid an easterly wind, normally very protected.

 

ST IVES - Porthkidney, Carbis Bay and Porthminster. Best during dry conditions, as part of the coastal path can get quite muddy. You can park at Carbis Bay and walk to the end of Headland Rd to access Porthkidney, follow the same route back to Carbis Bay and take the coastal path to Porthminster. Approx 2-2.5 miles of walking. Best heading for Porthkidney just before a high tide.

*You could also try Porthminster, Porthgwidden and Bamaluz Beach. Get the train into St Ives from either Carbis Bay or St Erth.

WORTH CHECKING OUT - Ocean Sports Centre on Carbis Bay.

 

ROSELAND - Porthcurnick Beach, followed by a short walk over to Portscatho and the swimming pontoon. You could then walk over to Porthbean or take on a much longer walk or drive over to either Pendower / Carne Beach.

WORTH CHECKING OUT - The Hidden Hut (although I felt like the prices were a tad high on the last visit but still worth a visit!).

Helford River Wild Swimming Event

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At the start of 2022 there were loads of westerly winds. In an attempt to escape the dreaded ‘westerly’ we popped over to the Helford and the lesser well known Gillan Creek. Thank God for those westerlies! Ever since we’ve carried out quite a bit of activity in both areas. Both are absolutely stunning and both areas are fairly well protected from most wind directions. More importantly, both are really safe areas to swim (in the right conditions) and have very easy exit points.

For 2023 and the foreseeable future we have put together a series of wild swimming days out. These are very casual, walking - swimming days out. They’re designed specifically for people that simply want to turn up and swim at their own pace. No open water swimming experience is required and participants can swim whatever stroke they like, over very flexible distances. We typically take in 3-4 swims over an afternoon or morning.

 

SUMMER FOOTAGE

AERIAL FOOTAGE

Some aerial footage, shot in the winter over a number of the areas and beaches we’ll hopefully include on the 2023 day out.

Safer Swimming Guide - Porthcurno

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I can’t believe that we’ve written dozens of safe(r) swimming guides over the last couple of years but never written one featuring Porthcurno Beach.

Well here it is. A guide to safer swimming at Porthcurno. There are also a couple of suggested swim routes, over to Logan Rock and around the corner to the Minack Theatre (for a very unique perspective).

Porthcurno to Minack and back - approx 500-600m

Porthcurno to Logan Rock and back - approx 2-2.5km…if you swim Porthcurno to Logan Rock on a fairly large spring tide, at low tide you could walk large parts of it. So if you weren’t up to a 2.5km swim to could do a swim-walk-swim. Just watch out for the nudists!

 

SWIMMING AT PORTHCURNO :

 

PREVIOUS PORTHCURNO SWIMS :

Open Water Front Crawl Breathing

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A high percentage of people I’ve coached over the years, that are typically learning front crawl (freestyle) or have learnt to swim front crawl recent to their coaching session, struggle with the breathing aspect of the stroke. One of the major barriers to swimmers progressing is a poor breathing technique and a lack of confidence when it comes to breathing.

So… the best way to typically improve a certain aspect of your stroke is to isolate that part of the stroke and carry out drills on that specific aspect without having to worry about the rest of your stroke. For example, if you want to work on your leg kick, you’d perform leg kick drills and ditch the arms. You’d use a kick float for example. This way your sole attention is on the aspect of the stroke that you’re trying to improve.

Breathing is no different. What I typically suggest is that you work on your breathing in the safest environment possible. This would be the bath tub. If you don’t have a bath, possibly a large bucket outside, on a table. The bath provides you with a safe, warm and calm environment. If you breath in some water, you simply have to lift your head and you’re sat in the bath!

STEP 1 : Start by kneeling in the bath and simply learning forward and putting your face in. When breathing during front crawl you’re not looking to fill your lungs with as much air as possible. Breathing is the slowest and least streamlined part of the stroke. You want your face out (well half out) and your breath to be as quick as possible. Also, if you open your mouth nice and wide and take a massive gulp of air, you’re more likely to get slapped in the mouth with some chop/small wave. So it’s a short sharp breath in and then a short sharp breath out, once your face is in the water. Should take under a second to breath in and marginally longer to breath out. You obviously breath out whilst your face is in the water. You should do so through your mouth and nose. If you don’t breath out through your nose, you tend to get water going up it. You’d want to repeatedly breath in and out in this manner for up to a minute or two at a time. Try this a few times, possibly on different occasions, until you’re confident and/or bored to the back teeth of doing it.

STEP 2 : You could then progress into the open water. Stand at around chest depth or slightly under and lean forward and carry out the same exercise. Again, 1-2 minutes at a time.

STEP 3 : Once you’re confident with your breathing you simply (hummmm), marry up your stroke with your breathing.

POTENTIAL ISSUES : the odd person has real issues with breathing out through their nose. If you have a persistent problem and find water going up your nose, it might be worth thinking about a nose clip. When you first start practicing front crawl, if you can only breath to one side ensure that any chop is hitting you on the back of the head and you’re not breathing directly in the direction of choppy water.

Another issue or problem you might encounter might simply come from you being too eager to start swimming. Always acclimatise and make sure you’re comfortable before starting your stroke. If you simply get in and start trying to swim or try the breathing stroke drills, you may gasp for air as you’re simply not used to the water temperature. Always take your time.

Just remember that the human brain can only really focus on one task at a time. We can multi-task but that’s simply the brain flicking from one activity to another very quickly. This is why it’s important to work on the breathing in isolation and get to a point where you don’t have to think about it. From there, you can then pay attention to the aspects of your stroke that you need to. Not worrying about the breathing aspect should also make you more confident when first starting out.

OUR TOP 5 ONE-OFF SWIMS

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These aren’t necessarily the best swimming locations that we’ve experienced. They’re the moments when the conditions were perfect and all those little, random elements aligned and we got it perfectly right.

  1. PORTHCURNO : I didn’t swim this one but covered the water safety. We turned up and swam at 9am a few years ago. The BBC had loads of vehicles in the car park for the filming of Poldark and we must have missed all of the action by about an hour. On the beach there was a very light off shore breeze. The sun was out and it was warm. There were nudists on the beach next door, kit off already it was that warm! The water was crystal clear and as we approached the 1km mark an opera singer started warming up at the Minnack Theatre. Her voice was carried across the water by the wind. This is a swim that has stayed with me for a long time and I doubt I’ll forget.

2. MOTHER IVEY’S BAY : during one of our Charity swims we swam at Mother Ivey’s Bay early in the morning. We’d already completed 2 swims and the sky was clear, so it was freezing! Despite being the middle of summer there was frost on the ground and our feet hurt walking down to the first swims. However, by the time we got to Mother Ivey’s it had warmed up. The sun was in the sky and the water was stunning. Pan flat, there were shafts of light piercing through the water and stretching down to the sea bed. Not a sole to be seen anywhere and perfect quiet. Mother Ivey’s remains one of my favourite north coast swims.

3. ST JUST-IN-ROSELAND POOL / HARBOUR : having been told about it on more than one occasion this was the first time that I swam in the tidal pool, at St Just-in-Roseland. We sailed and moored up fairly close, before rowing to a nearby beach. We then walked along the coastal path to the pool. As it was a glorious sunny day, I walked the coastal path in my swimming trunks. At the start of the swim is a beautiful old church and I got some curious…and some horrified looks from Sunday morning church goers as I walked past the church….at the exact time most exited the Sunday morning service. Lovely swim, phenomenal surrounds and landscape that surrounds this particular route. You need to swim in the pool on a Spring high tide or you’ll run aground!

4. NANJIZAL & THE SONG OF THE SEA : the walk to Nanjizal alone is worth the effort. ‘The Song of the Sea’ is the famous crack in the rock, just in front of the famous rock pool. Last year we walked down and swam through the crack. Breathtaking rock feature and stunning to swim through. There’s a real mix of excitement, fear and beautiful landscape and views when you do a swim like this.

5. LAMORNA TO MOUSEHOLE : a swim on our wish list for some time. I love Lamorna. It can get seaweed stuck in the cove and isn’t always ideal but when you get it right you have tranquil, beautifully clear water, an abundance of sea life… This swim started quite bumpy. The sea was full of jellyfish but they were all fairly deep….so I thought. Until I realised they weren’t really deep, just really small! Any ‘Father Ted’ fans out there might remember the scene with the cows! This was another swim with elements of excitement, beauty, slight fear and fatigue (I wasn’t that fit at the time) all rolled into one. I loved approaching Mousehole from the west, something I hadn’t done before. Incredible seascape the whole way along. Great swim.