THE DIP | Is cold water harder to swim in because it's thicker? | Mental Health Swims

THE DIP | Is cold water harder to swim in because it's thicker? | Mental Health Swims | Kids changing robes

Published: Sat, 10/28/23

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Dear fellow swimmers,

Could you help us remove more plastic from the ocean? All you have to do is register for our Finish the Year Strong challenge on the ClimateGames app and swim. We’re challenging you to swim 33km in November and December and for each kilometre you swim, ClimateGames will remove 1g of plastic from the ocean. For every person who completes the challenge, they will take out 666g of plastic. Take part here. To read more about how we work to support the environment, please see our environmental statement.

As we head into winter in the northern hemisphere and the water gets cooler, we’ve been pondering why cold water is harder to swim in. A reader asked us if it was because cold water is ‘thicker’. We know both water density and viscosity change with temperature but how does that affect our swimming? Elsewhere in this week’s newsletter, Deakin & Blue launch a new swimsuit to help keep Mental Health Swims afloat, we ask how taking a sauna can enhance your wild swimming experience and our team test two new kids' changing robes - but will they pass the kid-wriggle test?

COLD WATER SWIMMING

Is cold water harder to swim in because it’s ‘thicker’?

This great question from a subscriber got us scratching our heads. It is well known that the density of water increases as it cools, but does this make it hard to swim in?

GEAR

Wild swimming robes for kids

We try out the new Red Kids Dry Pro Robe and Poncho to see if they can keep little dippers warm and comfortable this autumn.

OUTDOOR SWIMMER EXTRA

How and why should I practise kicking?

“I wear a wetsuit and barely kick my legs when I swim in open water but I’ve been told I need to do more kicking with a float in training. Why?" (Premium content)

STAY INFORMED & SWIM RESPONSIBLY

ENVIRONMENT

Campaigners have elevated awareness of sewage pollution to the point that has become an important political issue. But how bad is it?

NEWS

Deakin & Blue launch new swimsuit to help keep Mental Health Swims afloat, with £15 from the sale of every swimsuit going to the mental health peer support community.

FEATURE

We spoke to Debbie Noble of La’al Sauna, a horse box sauna roaming the Lake District, about how saunas enhance the cold-water swimming experience.

NEWS

“Our oldest mixed relay across the English Channel”. How Dakvid Rock and his swimming buddies prepared themselves for the swim of their lives.

NOVEMBER 2023 - COLD WATER

Expand your swimming horizons and achieve your swimming dreams. Read Outdoor Swimmer on digital or in print from anywhere in the world. Purchase a single issue or subscribe to a monthly magazine and save up to 20% each month.

UNTIL NEXT TIME...

This weekend I'm heading to Ponds Forge in Sheffield for Swim England's National Masters Championships, my first such outing since before the pandemic. I know many outdoor swimmers also enjoy pool racing and I look forward to seeing a few of you there. Racing in the pool is very different to doing it in open water and I know it’s not for everyone but I do enjoy it. The 50m dash as an intensity you can’t match in a 5km swim. Wish me luck!

Simon Griffiths
Founder and Publisher, Outdoor Swimmer magazine.

p.s. Regular readers of our site may have noticed a glitch earlier this week. I managed to accidentally remove about a thousand articles and their linked images from our website database. We think we’ve restored these now but do let us know if you stumble across missing pages or images.

Main photo: Deakin & Blue, Vitamin Sea launch

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