Whilst I haven’t rated it particularly highly, this is because it’s a beach better known for surfing, than swimming and the conditions aren’t always favourable.
In the right conditions however, the beach offers some glorious swims! You have caves that can be swum through, stacks to swim around…there is a wealth of swimming options.
We’ve been offering water safety, swim planning and rip current awareness courses for a few years now and they’ve been really well received. So, we’ve added this course to a half day of training, which also includes :
First aid training
CPR
intro to using a defib
Choking (adult, child and baby)
towing techniques
short practical in sheltered, shallow water
We also spend a lot of time looking at hypothermia
heart attacks / cardiac problems and other medical conditions…
Group swimming has never been more popular and we’ve specifically looked at issues that might crop up with swimming in groups. So, we’ve included :
towing techniques, in case you have to tow someone to the shore. As an individual or as a group
Choking, specifically including child and baby…as lots of swimmers are parents and grandparents
There are a number of ‘mature’ swimmers in the water, so we’ve focused on conditions like fainting, heart issues (attacks, angina…), using defibs...
Swimming year round is popular so we’ve included hypothermia, cold water shock, after drop etc.
Pro-actively planning a swim and looking at the conditions.
The training is available through our website, with individual places and private group booking options.
We don’t do a great deal of swimming at Porthcothan, which is a shame as it’s a stunning part of Cornwall and not always that busy. It did feature on one of our charity swims and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Porthcothan is quite a narrow, fairly long beach, that starts to open up as the tide goes out. Due to the shape of the beach, we’d advise you to be very careful swimming there on an outgoing tide…particularly if there is some swell running. We’d also advise you not to be too adventurous with an outgoing tide and swim around either headland. There are a number of small islands and rock formations and you can get some strong currents and tidal movement.
Porthcothan is lifeguarded for a number of months over the summer, there is a beach cafe and reasonable parking.
Here’s our Safer Swimming Guide for Sennen Cove.
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.
