The Outdoor Swimmers' Handbook: Collected Wisdom on the Art, Sport and Science of Outdoor Swimming

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The Outdoor Swimmers Handbook is a really important, inspiring book, written by someone at the heart of the outdoor swimming movement that –– over the last fifteen years –– has encouraged millions of people to experience the wonders and friendships of Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas. Rew’s book combines hard-won, deeply researched information on how to swim safely and joyfully out-of-doors, with vivid first-hand accounts of swims in astonishing places and with remarkable people. The Handbook has a democratic purpose; to give anyone the confidence and the inspiration to begin to swim.

The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook - Outdoor Swimming Society

Dani is Much Better Adventures' Deputy Editor and the author of a novel, the Arctic Curry Club. She's interested in helping everyone find their inner adventurer, despite obstacles they encounter. Kate: “Word of mouth is good, there’s a lot on the media now about swimming spots, guidebooks, lots of wild swim groups as well. So it’s really easy these days just using Google. I would add there is no such thing as a safe swim spot, only a safe swimmer. So it’s really important that you consider what your own swimming ability is. The guides you find online are guides, but you really have to think about it when you get there and assess if for yourself, and take responsibility for yourself. Think about cold – it’s much easier to start swimming in summer. We’ve got this situation that I don’t think anyone in the OSS would have predicted of people starting swimming in the midwinter. Normally people build up to it with a few years of summer swimming.” This includes making the choice of how many people you would like to swim with. Although much of the media coverage of wild swimming shows large groups of people, it’s perfectly okay if you prefer going out alone, or with one other person. You'll find your breathing becomes regular again, and you'll start to embrace the slightly fresh feeling, rather than be afraid of it,” she explains There are no hard and fast rules on how long to stay in the water for - some people have far higher tolerance for cold than others do. Even experienced swimmers like Kate still feel the cold! Photo: The Outdoor Swimming Society.The Channel More team’s swim took place after months of training with Professor Greg Whyte to get the participants, all of whom had no sea swimming experience, ready for the swim of their lives in the English Channel It's very much a matter of choice,” Kate says. “For the cold-averse, wetsuits have become amazing. If your focus is that you want to swim up and down a river, and enjoy nature and relax, then having a wetsuit might be a really important part of your journey - you won’t need to worry if it’s too far for you anymore.”

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Modern life has made many of us feel tamed and now we want to turn to swimming for rewilding. When swimming, we are not passively consuming the landscape, we are pulled into it, breeze flattening the water surface beneath our faces, warmth draining from our bare feet like colour leaches out of the landscape in the cold autumn light. We are there, damp from the clag by a tarn, underneath the belly of a swan as it takes off. We are part of the planet and all the elements again, in a place where moons wane, storms swell and life ebbs and flows throughout the seasons. Rew suggests several reasons why this might be - freedom from gravity, immersion in nature - but at the end of the day, she doesn’t want to over-analyse it. Kate Rew, founder of the Outdoor Swimming Society. Photo: Finisterre MicroadventureKate Rew is the Founder of The Outdoor Swimming Society and author of The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook (Rider) and Wild Swim (Faber), (both also available signed in The OSS Shop). On insta: kate_rew. I have been doing what writers do: playing secretary to the world, listening in, listening out and writing it all down,” she explains. Owen Hayman is a horticulturist, member of the OSS Inland Access Group and founder of SOuP (Sheffield Outdoor Plungers). On insta: @owainhaeman. While the fear of being grabbed by a monster and pulled underwater while swimming might sound laughable on dry land, when you’re swimming across a cloudy lake, it’s far more pervasive. According to Kate, this fear doesn’t go away, but the anxiety can be managed. Swimming with your head up helps prevent fear of deep water. Photo: Getty.

The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook - Guernsey Literary Festival The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook - Guernsey Literary Festival

I'm absolutely crap at cold. People expect, because I run the Outdoor Swimming Society, that I'm going to be tough as nails, so I find it really difficult to admit I need to get out when other people can stay in.” 2. You don't need lots of expensive kit For some dips, all you really need is a swimming costume! Photo: Liz Seabrook Kate has several strategies for dealing with it. One of them is making sure you have someone swimming with you. Another is counting strokes, and focussing on the feeling of the water against her hands. Just as there was a time before triathlons, skateboarding, surfing, mountaineering or mountain biking, there was a time when mass-participation open-water swims were not commonplace. That time was 2006. In the fresh grip of a love for adventurous swimming and eager (messianic in fact) to get more people out of pools and into British rivers and lakes with me, I set up ‘Breastrokes’, a one-mile charity swim, and I chose the two best-known lakes I could think of (perhaps the only two lakes I could think of) in which to host it: the Serpentine in the middle of London, and Windermere in the Lake District. This is a wonderful – in the old sense of that term – and joyful romp of a book. Roger Deakin would have approved. Dive in.”

Through her profound creativity and enthusiasm, Rew’s efforts and publications have literally encouraged, guided, and inspired millions of people – first starting in the UK and then expanding globally – to take to the open water. The handbook is a fascinating compendium of knowledge that Kate has acquired over the past 16 years. Outdoor swimming, she explains, is a largely oral tradition, with one person passing on their knowledge and expertise to another. If you’re unwilling to drop a lot of money on a wetsuit, there’s always the option of using a wetsuit rental company to try out more expensive models, or to buy second-hand. 3. Be the type of swimmer you would like to be

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If you see crashing waves or unhealthy looking foam on top of a river, or currents swirling, then these are danger signals. Don’t make any assumptions that because it was okay the day before it's ok now,” she says. On 16 October world-famous athletes Dame Kelly Holmes, Sir Chris Hoy and Ross Edgley will embark on a ‘Tri for the Sea’, to raise awareness for Talisker’s ongoing marine conservation with Parley for the Oceans Through the lenses of community, the environment and mental health, Toes in the Water is a collection of inspiring stories exploring why the underwater world can have such a profound impact on people. Features, Conservation, Greece, Rewilding, Case Studies How Hiking is Helping Wild Brown Bears in the Mountains of Greece

There is a perception that you need lots of kit when getting started with wild swimming - in particular, the much maligned Dryrobe. This is not necessarily true. Finding 300 people with the same desire to swim In. A. Lake. drew gasps of surprise and column inches from everywhere in Britain,” she writes in her new book The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook, describing one of the society's first events at Windermere. Hafsa Mughal went from complete beginner to English Channel relay swimmer, all in the space of five months. Now an open water lover, she tells us about her incredible experience being part of Optimum Nutrition’s Channel More project There are people that just dip; there are people who use it as a form of fitness and do lengths. There's adventure swims, where you might be planning A to B swims; there's people that just lie around meditating, or those who love to go night swimming,” Kate says.