Introduction to Cold Water Swimming

These introductory sessions will provide you useful information to get you started on your cold water swimming journey as well as providing you with the opportunity to do some cold water swimming with an experienced guide. The sessions will be relaxed, inclusive and informative, the aim is to get you in the water, maybe for the first time, arm you with the information you need to start swimming safely and answer any burning questions you might have.

We will cover the following

• Information on equipment (with an emphasis on what you might want but recognising that you don’t actually need much more than a swimsuit and a towel to get started)
• Safety consideration including venue selection, common hazards and how to keep safe
• Brief introduction to tides and weather
• Entering and exiting the water safely
• Swim duration
• Cold Water Shock, after drop and hypothermia
• An experience of a short cold water swim or dip to suit you

This course is run by Cathy Harshaw an outdoor professional with over 20 years experience of introducing people to outdoor and adventurous activities. She holds an Open Water Safety qualification, Outdoor First Aid qualification and a range of other National Governing Body Qualifications.