"Outdoor swimming is not something you do, being an outdoor swimmer is something that you are." The February issue of Outdoor Swimmer magazine is titled 'I am a Swimmer'. In our cover feature we meet ‘The Swimmers’, beautifully captured by photographer Justine Desmond. Justine's courageous portraits and accompanying stories will bring some lockdown joy to us all. As our cover model Pippa says: “Swimming has made me stop bullying myself about my body. Life is too short, and I love swimming too much to care anymore.”

“I knew there were these perceptions of Black people not swimming and not being involved in the water – these stereotypes and myths,” says professor and swimmer Richard Dawson, author of a book uncovering aquatic culture in the African diaspora. In ‘Power and Water’, Elaine K Howley explores the history of swimming in Africa and enslavement in the New World. 

The melancholy power of abandoned places has a long history of holding us in thrall. We speak to Cal Flyn, whose new book, Islands of Abandonment, explores what happens when nature is allowed to reclaim its place. 

Plus, how to choose a wetsuit, why you should own your pain, romantic swim spots, how to relax your body and mind, wild swimming on Dartmoor, why you shouldn't fear octopuses in lakes and how you can help our lidos in lockdown.