June 09, 2025

2025 Activity & Suitability

June 09, 2025/ Tom Foreman

At this stage, lots of our swimming activity has booked up BUT we still have availability on a number of activities and swims.

Below, we’ll highlight different swimming abilities and which activities will be suitable. We go over 3 categories of swimmers, from ‘bobbers and plodders’, slow swimming middle distance & middle and longer distance swims.

BOBBER, PLODDER, SHORT DISTANCE, NOVICE…

These activities will be suitable for people looking to have a good old social, bit of a dip with water safety, in very favourable conditions, looking at beautiful surrounding and areas a bit off the main drag.

JUNE 21 : St Anthony’s Lighthouse leisurely and short(er) swim (flexible distance). Stunning location, with multiple members on the water safety team. Option to swim again later in St Mawes. Bit of coastal path walking and steps to access. CLICK HERE for more info.

JULY 4 : Leisurely Crantock double. Two dips, one at Polly Joke and one on the Gannel Estuary (bit of a swoosh). Again, a certain degree of choice to distance. Beautiful part of Cornwall. Coastal path access. CLICK HERE for additional information.

JULY 8 : Slow Swimming Holiday, West Cornwall. This one also includes the option of a vineyard tour, at the award winning Polgoon Vineyard. Swims picked from a number of stunning west Cornwall options. Swims completed at a slow(er) pace, distances of around 800-1500m…depending on the swimmer. CLICK HERE to view the booking page.

JULY 16 : St Mawes Double. Very casual, leisurely shorter distance swims. Swimming in stunning, sheltered conditions. This would be ideal for a lovely day out. Fairly easy access, either down some steps or down a slipway. To find out more, CLICK HERE.

AUG 6 : Shorter swim at Porthcurno, swimming out to the point and getting a great sea side view of the Minack Theatre. We’ll then swim across the beach. Optional distance swim, to a degree. Access to the beach across a 250m coastal path and then 200m over a sandy beach. Bucketlist worthy swim in the right conditions…CLICK HERE for more.

SEPT 20 : Sunset and night swim opportunity to swim in a lake that rarely has public access. An event for all and has the option of a lake side sauna. CLICK HERE.

SEPT 21 : Rare opportunity to swim in a lake with very limited access. Lake is positioned near Falmouth. You’ll also have the opportunity to pop into the lake-side sauna post-swim. Perfect for swimmers of any ability. Fairly easy access across a slightly uneven woodland path. CLICK HERE for additional info.

OCT 4 : Full moon swimming event, on the Lizard Peninsula. Ideal for anyone that can swim. Appropriate for all swimming abilities. A large degree of choice when it comes to how long you’re in the water and how far you swim. Great activity to do with a group of friends. Very easy access into the water. Get more info, CLICK HERE.

SLOWER SWIMMING MIDDLE DISTANCE

JUNE 21 : Meander up the Percuil River. Approx 3km up and back down the Percuil. A stunning river and should be a stunning swim. Aimed at the middle lane of your average public swimming session. Faster swimmers can attend but may well need to double back occasionally. Read on, CLICK HERE.

JULY 19 : Lantic Bay Double. A rare opportunity to try out a couple of swims right up the county. A lovely beach and beautiful surrounds. Find out further info - CLICK HERE.

AUG 2 : St Mawes / Roseland 5K Day. A series of swims over the course of the day…equating to 5km. We’ll pick the best swims for that days conditions. We’ll also plan them, to minimise travel and problem parking. CLICK HERE and find out more.

AUG 6 : Longer swim at Porthcurno, swimming out to Logan Rock and back. Perfect swim in the right conditions. Access to the beach across a 250m coastal path and then 200m over a sandy beach. Bucketlist worthy swim in the right conditions…CLICK HERE for more.

SEPT 2 : these holidays always book very well. The Lizard Peninsula offers so many world class swims! Access to most swims are fairly straight forward but do require some walking over coastal paths, beaches, the odd rock hop… CLICK HERE to view options.

SEPT 19 : Our ‘End of season’ swimming holiday covers a huge range of swims, with a central base for the swimming holiday. As part of the holiday you also get entry to our night swimming event. It’s a great way to see out the season. Swims will cover a range of speeds and offer variable distances. CLICK HERE to read more…

SEPT 20 : Sunset and night swim opportunity to swim in a lake that rarely has public access. An event for all and has the option of a lake side sauna. CLICK HERE.

MIDDLE & LONGER DISTANCE SWIMS

JULY 19 : Lantic Bay Double. A rare opportunity to try out a couple of swims right up the county. A lovely beach and beautiful surrounds. Find out further info - CLICK HERE.

SEPT 19 : Our ‘End of season’ swimming holiday covers a huge range of potential swims, with a central base for the swimming holiday. As part of the holiday you also get entry to our night swimming event. It’s a great way to see out the season. Swims will cover a range of speeds and offer variable distances. CLICK HERE to read more…

SEPT 20 : Sunset and night swim opportunity to swim in a lake that rarely has public access. An event for all and has the option of a lake side sauna. CLICK HERE.

November 10, 2022

Sea Swim Cornwall's Safer Swimming Guide - Whipsiderry

November 10, 2022/ Tom Foreman

We swam two route here, as part of our 2020 Charity swim. If you get the conditions right and plan this swim it should be perfectly safe. Don’t turn up and simply try and swim it! At certain stages of the tide, particularly with a large outgoing tide you get a lot of water movement. If you are going to attempt it, follow the safety advice on the guide and be careful.

May 18, 2022

Learning front crawl in the sea

May 18, 2022/ Tom Foreman

This year we’ve taken 3 people that don’t currently swim front crawl and we’re meeting them once a fortnight for swimming lessons. With each session they’ll have ‘homework’ to take away with them. The aim is to teach them to swim front crawl (or freestyle as it’s also known), over the course of the summer. We’ll then make a short documentary and release it at the end of the summer, charting their progress.

The idea is really to show exactly how straight forward it is to learn front crawl, particularly in the sea…where you have additional buoyancy. They may not (they won’t) be expert swimmers by the end of the summer but they’ll certainly make big steps forward. We’ll also set targets and goals throughout the summer and carry out some exciting swims, as they progress.

We’ll add to this article and video throughout the summer (particularly video footage), as we go.

SESSION 1 : really a meet-and-greet. We also set them some homework based on breathing. The idea being that you practise front crawl breathing in a controlled and safe environment at home, so that when it comes to swimming in the sea you’re ready and confident. It makes it far easier to think about your arm pull or leg kick, when you don’t have to think about your breathing.

SESSION 2 : We looked at what I call the ‘neutral’ position or ‘streamlined’ position in the water. A position where you lie stretched out in the sea and let the water hold your weight. From there, you then add the arm action and breathing. A poor leg kick is one of the main elements preventing a lot of people from achieving a good body roll. It’s also too much for the brain to focus on…simultaneously thinking about pulling and kicking, so we leave the leg kick ‘til much later.

January 01, 2022

Sea Swim Cornwall in 2022

January 01, 2022/ Tom Foreman

NEW : we’re still unsure about events for 2022. With the constant threat of new variants and possible future lockdowns we’re going to leave it til a little later… The likelihood being we’ll put on one event. What we are doing is the following : we’re running summer long events, starting in April and running through til Oct/early Nov. We’re running handicapped events, that give time advantages based on your gender and age. This format allows you to swim a particular route at a time of your choosing, either by yourself or as a small group. It allows most entrants a good chance of posting a competitive time, regardless of your age or gender. There will be an overall winner at the end of the summer that will win a cash prize. So far, we have Carbis Bay as a confirmed route and we’ll add an additional route at a later date. MORE INFO CLICK HERE.

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE : We’ll be offering a monthly subscription (4 weeks at a time), on tried and tested routes in the west of Cornwall. Typically on a Saturday morning but the odd swim may take place on a Friday evening or Sunday morning (if we’re not available on the Saturday). Provided we have good numbers we’ll also contact local businesses near the swim route and arrange some coffee and cake deals post-swim. FOR MORE INFO.

SSC MEMBERSHIP : CLICK HERE FOR FULL DETAILS. So....this year we've made a few changes to our annual membership. We'll simply list the perks below.

First option on all of our short-notice or planned weekend/midweek swims
Minimum of 10% off our short-notice swims - typically 25%
First option on events and 10% off
Occasional exclusive discounts on merchandise
First discounted option on any swimming holiday places that aren't booked up
We'll also invite you to bring a friend (at same reduced rate) on some swims
Discounted coaching sessions
*If we work on a collaboration with another partner we may not be able to offer discounts on these events ie. working with a pool provider
Generally - you'll be the first to hear about swims, events and holidays and have a head start on booking these, at a discounted rate.

SWIMMING HOLIDAYS : We simply require a £50 reservation fee for any of our holidays. We’re offering them the whole way through the summer. We try and make these holidays as inclusive as possible. If unsure of your suitability simply call us. As well as offering the same winning long weekend formula we’ve also added a wild swimming holiday / vineyard tour and a Lizard Peninsula camping trip. Some of these holidays are almost fully booked, others have good availability (generally down to when we published the holidays info & booking). Holidays generally cost anywhere from £160-250 for the weekend (Fri-Sun).

COACHING & WATER SAFETY COURSES : We’ll continue to offer the same high standard of coaching and water safety awareness courses through 2022. You can either book a voucher or book a slot. We typically start in April and finish early Nov.

October 01, 2021

Swimming Church Cove, the Lizard

October 01, 2021/ Tom Foreman

We’ve wanted to cover this swim for some time. Church Cove is absolutely stunning. From the walk down, to the thatched roof cottages on the walk down, the tiny harbour, the swim itself… We finally had the perfect conditions and tide to offer this swim…although best not to do it on a low tide, like we did. Was slightly trickier to get out of the water than I would have liked. You might want to try this one a couple of hours after low tide. It’s also very remote, so definitely don’t try it by yourself and take the usual precautions.

Best on a westerly wind. SW light to medium strength winds will also work.

Amazing swim. You can swim right up to the Lizard Lifeboat Station. The water was crystal clear, with seaweed in patches, as well as stretches of white sand. On a higher tide there would be a couple of arches and caves to swim through. Stunning swim. Well worth the effort.

*For the more adventurous swimmers or swim-runner you could swim from Church Cove to Cadgwith (or the other way around) and run back to the car.

That’s it from us. We’ll let the video do the rest of the talking. Church Cove, the lizard Peninsula :

Blog

BOBBER, PLODDER, SHORT DISTANCE, NOVICE…

SLOWER SWIMMING MIDDLE DISTANCE

MIDDLE & LONGER DISTANCE SWIMS