A Complete Explanation of Swimming Afterdrop
A comprehensive explanation of swimming afterdrop, the causes & effects and the relationship to hypothermia in coldwater swimmers
Real Sport
“Did you see that video on Facebook Donal? Complete tool”. “I mean what the hell Donal, is your sport all gobshites like that?” “It doesn’t matter you don’t use Facebook. It was on the news last night as well. Here it is here on my phone. Look!” “What kind of a fool goes swimming in…
The Open Water Swimmer’s Dilemma
The summer and autumn of 2019 and winter of 2019/2020 have been unusual at the Guillamene cove. Not for the weather or for the sea but because we had a higher number of safety incidents than previously. There were a number of serious incidents that I am aware of that required intervention of inshore rescue…
How To: A Guide to Rough Water Exits in Open Water Swimming – Part I – Understanding Rough Water
Introduction I haven’t previously tackled the subject of water exits specifically, though I have covered it in general terms in a number of articles. Especially those articles which try to condense the basics of open water swimming considerations for beginners and irregular swimmers, such as beginners or triathletes I haven’t written about exits because anyone…
How To: Essential Skills For Every Open Water Swimmer
If open water swimming was as simple or simplistic as is sometimes portrayed I’d long have ceased writing. Olympic or professional open water swimmers who distil the skills associated with open water swimming to a mere “learn to sight, swim straight” have over-looked all the other skills they may have learned along the way. Similarly, amateur marathon…
How To: Escort Kayaking for Open Water and Marathon Swimming
I just have to start this with a disclaimer: I’m not really a kayaker. I have spent maybe eight hours total escorting swimmers on a kayaker and my total kayaking time is only about twenty hours as I write this. I’ve done so little kayaking that I can estimate the total time spent. However I am a…
An Analysis Of Open Water Drownings
Any experienced open water swimmer will be, or at least should be familiar with evaluating personal risk on an ongoing basis. (I have written many posts about the Do’s and Don’t’s of open water). One thing we don’t talk about is drowning, because we put ourselves in the category of people unlikely to join the…
How To: Using Tide Tables
Because I live and swim in Ireland, I am constantly made aware of the large tidal range here. I’ve written extensively about tides previously because I feel they are an aspect of open water swimming not appreciated by enough swimmers and because global variations can mean that many people never see nor even realise the…
LoneSwimmer 