Outdoor swimming events

The Outdoor Swimming Society announces upcoming dates

Spanning from April’s end to mid-July, The Outdoor Swimming Society’s (OSS) calendar is full to the brim with a deluge of events being organized in preparation for the summer season.

Even as far back as the 16th century, people of Britain have thronged in clubs and societies, bound by a common passion for facing the elements in near-nakedness. Up until the outbreak of the Second World War, people would gladly swap their daily attire for bathing trunks and wallow in murky rivers or tidal pools, braving the sometimes-sub-zero temperatures for a few strokes at front crawl.

Though with war came acceleration in the industrialisation of Britain’s landscape, and sadly a decline of lido culture. Pollution of river systems and a prizing of creature comforts: air-conditioning, thermostats and the settee, gave rise to a new aquatic era that found its home in the municipal pool. Post-war societal propriety had relegated outdoor swimming to an eccentric practice.

Yet, in the past decade a resurgence of al fresco swimming has emerged owing to a nationwide yearning for the great outdoors.

“More and more people are being drawn back to the woods, hills and waters of Britain and Ireland. That’s the way to see the world, in our own bodies,”
says OSS’s Patron, Robert Macfarlane, whose ideal mountain-climbing day ends with a plunge in the river, loch or sea.

“When you are swimming outdoors, your sensorium is transformed,” he says. “You see the world in all-new glorious full-body technicolour. Everything alters, including the colour of your skin: coin-bronze in peaty water, soft green near chalk, blue over sand.”

Macfarlane is quick to point out, however, that organised outdoor swims are not just about the beauty and wonderment of the natural surroundings. Rather, they are as much about companionship, fun, tea and a cheeky dram of whiskey afterwards. Some of the best swims are done on the backdrop of nuclear power stations or farm buildings.

But if spring waters, clean seas and picturesque forest rivers are more to your liking then the OSS also cater for you with one-mile laps around many of Britain’s favourite lakes. 

The society’s patrons include author and founder, Kate Rew; Bronze 10k Open Water Olympic Medalist, Cassie Paten; and Ric Cole, ex-Royal Marines Commando Officer. It’s safe to say that in company like this, you’re in good hands. Anyone for a dip?


Listed below are upcoming OSS events:

24 April-12 June  Each saturday morning at Ipswich High School for Girls, triathlon coach Isabel Smith will be help swimmers prepare for the summer season with hour long training sessions.
 
23 May - OSS Wild Swim, Derwent Water. A 1 mile lake swim around one of Derwent Water's picturesque islands, open to all swimmers.
 
24 June - Midsummer Party. OSS members will swim to London to celebrate midsummer with a swim and a party in London.
 
11 July - The Big Jump! The society's main event for 2010, to mark the new EU Water Cleanliness legisation, people all around the UK (and across Europe) will be jumping in their local river.