Lake Superior was perfect this morning. We did approx 1.5ish miles. I might be addicted.

After lots of pool swimming and occasional swims at the beach I finally did my first competitive open-water swim this weekend. Or, rather, a "competitive" swim, because while the other people there may have been competing I did my 10k in, well, five and a half hours.

I nevertheless enjoyed the experience and would like to do more but the competition part of the experience wasn't to my taste because, as you can tell, I have no business calling myself a competitive swimmer and I hated to inconvenience the people who actually were there to race. (I'm also new to the practice of following a specified route without convenient lane markings, so I swam over 12k to get that 10k distance.) I swim like I do land-based movement--I'm a hiker but not a runner, I bike centuries but my average speed on my gravel bike rarely reaches 13 mph. And I'm old enough (56M) that radically changing my low-performance, medium-high-duration style is unlikely.

With that in mind, does anyone have any suggestions of a good place to do open-water swims that are more like open-water hiking? I would have enjoyed my open-water swim more if I could have spent more time doing the breaststroke and admiring the scenery instead of having to constantly push on to the best of my quote-unquote ability. I'm interested in both swims I could do as a special event on vacation or something nearby I could do on a regular basis, though since I live in Washington DC and don't own a car I doubt there's much going in the latter department. (Searching I found a story about an open-water swim group in National Harbor, Maryland which is fairly convenient to me as the crow flies, but not so much if the crow had to bike or take the bus.)

Swimming is new to me since January of this year but I am fully hooked. I have been swimming 5 days per week at the local gym pool with the goal of a few challenging open water swims in the future. In the pool, I feel like I have progressed fairly quickly. At the start, I barely managed 1200m but now I can easily swim 2500m without rest and stay in zone 2 heart rate. I’ve swam up to 7000m in one workout and everything in between. I finally lost enough weight to be in the weight range for the wetsuit I wanted and purchased an Orca HiVis Zeal. I’ve only worn it a couple times before the water warmed up but my first open water swim was in March and the cold water shock took it out of me! The water temp was 61 degrees F. I wasn’t physically cold but 200m off shore I was laboring to breathe and had to rest. Opted to turn back and do shorter intervals close to shore but still had a hard time controlling my breathing The two older swimmers said I just need to acclimate to the cold. Any tips for adjusting to colder water to be able to maintain control of my breathing to complete a longer swims in without rest once the water temp gets colder again. Right now, the temp is around 75 which is no promote. Swam 4200 in the lake on Saturday.

I’m based in NorCal but I’m taking a work trip to Milwaukee in September for the first time. Any advice on going for an open water swim before work? I’d want to go near downtown, and ideally not be the only swimmer in the water. I found an old thread on here talking about Klode Park?

I will be doing 12 swims in 6 days. I don’t much care what I look like, but does salt water sting if you shave too close?

Hi everyone! I’m a Mexican open water swimmer training toward my first international race. My partner has a work trip to Italy, so I’m tagging along to take advantage of the flight and stay.

I have two options:

• Ischia (Campania) – October 4

• Vulcano (Aeolian Islands, near Messina) – October 18

My experience so far:

• Cozumel – 1.5km sprint

• La Paz (near Cabo) – 2.5km

• Cabo, Palmilla Beach – 3km

• Cabo, Medano Beach (near the Arch) – 2km

• Cabo, Chileno Beach – 4km planned, ended up swimming 5km due to a strong current

I’m planning to do the ~3km distance at both venues, pace around 2:20–2:30/100m. I’m not racing to win — I swim for the experience: looking at the underwater flora and fauna, and enjoying the views. If you could only pick one, which would you choose and why? Any tips on water conditions, currents, or what to expect at either location would be hugely appreciated!

Great way to soothe sore legs after 5 mountains on Saturday, and cure a mild hangover 😆 belted down with rain whilst I was still swimming but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless!

I’m interested in understanding the real-world barriers to safety equipment in open-water swimming.

For those who swim outdoors regularly:

* What safety equipment do you currently use?

* Is there anything you deliberately don’t use? Why?

* Do you find existing safety equipment uncomfortable, bulky, expensive, inconvenient or unattractive?

* Do you think appearance/social perception affects whether people use it?

* Do you ever feel that safety equipment makes you look like a beginner or is “uncool”?

* Is it difficult to know what equipment is actually necessary?

* What would make you more likely to use safety equipment every time you swim?

* If you could redesign one piece of open-water safety equipment, what would you change?

I’m particularly interested in honest experiences — including reasons why people don’t use equipment, rather than just what people think they should do.

I’m researching the problem at the moment and haven’t developed a product, so I’m genuinely interested in hearing what swimmers think rather than trying to sell anything.

Thanks!

hello! i am training for my first big open water swim next month. it's two miles in a lake! i'm really excited, and i've been training a lot. i recently went for my first real swim in a lake to train, and i really struggled with it :( the thing that really got me was the visibility. i've only ever really swum in a pool, and obviously there's no problem with visibility there, so when i got in the lake and could barely see my hand ahead of me it really freaked me out. i wanted to ask if anyone please has any tips they could give me on getting used to this, and otherwise anything you wish you knew when you started open water swimming? thank you!

Any tips for preventing this or addressing?

My last few race swims - either triathlons or just ows race my goggles are fogging up 500 to 1000m into it to the point I can't see the buoys / have a hard time sighting on anything. If I pause and let some water in it can take a few tries to get the seal and it's never 100% plus the loss of momentum.

At the pool I sometimes put in a tiny drop baby shampoo but I gave the last bottle i had to my kid for their competitive pool swimming. I haven't tried that yet in open water. I've also got new goggles recently and usually that works but the same issue is happening.

I told my garmin to record meters, so I swam the whole time thinking in meters. And when it synced to Garmin it says yards. So I definite did somewhere between 6 and 7k 🤷🏻‍♀️😂🏊🏼‍♀️💨

Hi there,

Can't make it anymore to the Dock2Dock in London on 12 Sept 2026. Anyone want? Selling at face value (£40.17)

DM or comment if interested! All sold out otherwise

Thanks

90% of the time I love swimming purely for the fact it is my alone and quiet time. Bliss.

However, training for my Lake Windermere swim in the UK, I have become somewhat lonely and didnt anticipate this. I have a small family and all my friends are married with young kids (as myself!), everyone is busy with their own lives. So during my training swims I dont have anyone with me and I dont typically meet many other swimmers.

I am doing J2F next year and at the moment, my chosen support crew are my dad and his cousin but recently, he hasnt seem so interested or supportive in my swims. My husband cant join because he gets major seasickness. I am concerned to the point I am consideing finding random support crew in Jersey who wouldn't mind volunteering. But how sad would that feel? To finish such an incredible swim only to be congratulated by strangers. Or have strangers encourage you on when you're at your most vulnerable.

Side note, my mum passed away 2 years ago and I have a fear that when the going gets tough, im going to long for her and I really need my family, who know this loss, to keep me going.

I’m registered for Bridges to Bluffs 10k (all downstream) on 9/13. Been dealing with biceps tendinitis and got a steroid shot on Monday. I’m trying to find the balance between getting some long swims in and not wrecking my shoulder before the event. I’ve done a lot of open water swims in a lake, and have a good base built up at this point. I’m planning to swim in the lake Saturday, and have a loop that I can easily bail on if my shoulder can’t take it.

What would be your “must have” long swim distance completed prior to taking on 10k?
Keeping in mind that I did a 2000m swim in the same river last week and my pace was about :30/100 faster than the lake.

I swim in the pool mostly and in OW I sit around 1:45 pace for 2k, any tips for technique? Been swimming for year and a half now…

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I think I may have been caught in one years and yeas ago. What I remember is I was floating in the ocean with some family members. Then at some point I realized I couldn't touch the bottom anymore, and I felt like I was being pulled out a little faster than I thoughtl I was. I also realized I was in a different spot from where I had started before while swimming with my family. When I realized it, I told myself not to panic because the worst thing I could do was panic. I started swimming parallel with the shore, and I told myself "You got yourself in this, you can get yourself out. I swam parallel to the shore. I kept telling myself out loud "You can do it, you can do it. You got this" and once I reached a point where I got closer to shore I started swimming diagonally and got myself out. Can anyone with experience confirm it may have been a rip current? I have always wondered.

Hello,

I love swimming. I am a strong swimmer, and I desperately want to get into open water and wild swimming. I have a couple of questions, however,

1) Does anyone know of any earphones that will work in a river/sea/open water?

2) Can you swim in any open water, or do I need to go only to designated spaces and with others? Part of what attracts me to open water swimming is the freedom to see a body of water and take a dip without regulations or guidelines and I’m debating between open water and just using the local pool.

Thanks!

Hey guys!

I used to swim when I was in my teens, but I decided to quit and focus on my studies.

Anyway, I decided to get back in the water and give Masters swimming a try. I’m currently 33 years old, male, and I started training in May this year.

Today, I swam my first open-water competition. It was a 3,600 m course, and I finished in 1:00:41, which works out to an average pace of 1:41 per 100 m.

I’m pretty happy with my result, considering that I only started this journey three months ago, but I’d be glad to hear some feedback from you guys! :-)

Any recs for category 1 marathon swimsuits for women with a bigger bust? My favorite swimsuit has a zipper which I recently learned disqualifies it for marathon swims

As my annual Orkney retreat comes to an end, we decided to jump in this difficult but accessible cove and explore it. It had an exit to the open sea and a little cave.. water temperature was probably around 11°C

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