I’ve had no time for writing recently. The huge effort of writing the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim 2013 report series, long hours at night moderating the marathonswimmers.org forum during the Diana Nyad controversy, personal crises, trips to Dover and other things have meant the blog has been quieter than since I started, I’ve always previously been able to carve out time and desire to write.

Do I still want to write? I certainly haven’t recently. Though Sylvain Estadieu’s record-setting English channel butterfly solo is something I do want to write about and share. And since I was on the infamous “review panel” I need to set out my own thoughts and response here, away from the forum. So bear with me. And let’s see if the Sun is setting on loneswimmer.com, if it coming to the end of a natural lifespan, because I just don’t know.

In the meantime, as much for myself as for you, I went back to my first ever post here. I didn’t remember that the very first two words I wrote here were “lone swimmer”. I need to think about that.

Things have changed. Things have stayed the same.

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Lone swimmer or solo swimmer?

We’re all solo swimmers.
I happen to like being a lone swimmer also, not that I have much choice.

Open Water swimming is an individual expression of freedom, challenging one’s physical and mental abilities in a dangerous environment. The activity does not damage any other humans or its environment.

Want to be an open water swimmer?

Go swim in open water. Rinse. Repeat.

(But some information would be helpful if you’re not sure. Loneswimmer.com is about trying to address that.).