Starting Open Water Swimming

gimpotronitus

Hi All,

Was down in dunlaoghaire peer yesterday on a walk and saw the swim race that was taking place down there. Looked like great fun.

I would like to start doing open water swimming and take part in these events. I am a a decent swimmer (I think?), train in Total Fitness pool 3 or 4 times a week, 60 - 100 laps each time etc.. so I am ok in a pool. Dont swim in the sea at all though, ever so a newbie to the open water stuff.

I am currently not a member of a swim club, just a gym.

So, can someone recommend how I get started? From reading other threads I need to join a swim club (live near Dundrum south dublin if anyone can recommend one), get some times under my belt and then go for it!

Any help much appreciated. Thanks a lot.

mad m

Glenalbyn in Stillorgan have a great swimming club, they have alot of members swimming the sea races and their club is currently 3rd in the club of the year standings, with only a few sea races left...

Glenalbyn have a 33meter pool also, plus they have plenty of swim classes going on through the year. The Open sea race season is nearly finished so it would be a good time to get your head down through the winter and train for next years season which starts around May...

Open sea swimming is totally different than in the pool. I was in that race yesterday and it was lovely all the way over to the light house, then it was like being in a washing machine. But it was a great day and boy was I a bit sore after it.....

Here are a couple of links for you...

http://www.swimleinster.com/

http://www.glenalbynswimclub.com/

gimpotronitus

mad m wrote: »

Open sea swimming is totally different than in the pool. I was in that race yesterday and it was lovely all the way over to the light house, then it was like being in a washing machine. But it was a great day and boy was I a bit sore after it.....

Nice one, yeah I was following the swimmers around, I could see the choppiness on the way back was pretty bad - the wind was coming in strong over the pier wall and was stirring things up. Though I have to say it looked like great fun - sore and cold and hard - but I would say crossing the line was a great feeling.

So, I am already in a pool in total fitness, is it possible to join a swim club that only do open water swims? What I would like to do is do my pool training in total fitness (convenient to work, home etc..) then join an open water club for sea training once a week or once a forthnight...possible?

gimpotronitus

Just had a look at glenalbyn swimming club website, I dont think I qualify for the "seniors":

"Generally ages range from 14 to adult. Members will be experienced competitive swimmers who typically will have achieved Irish Open qualifying times."

The other squads are for minors....

mad m

Look drop them an email, you should be fine...Ask them about joining. They do a training session on Sunday to improve your stroke which I think you should at least do. They do training sessions during the week at 7am, so you could do it before you goto work?

The choppy sea I think threw a good few people yesterday, as it was plain sailing on the way over, then bang!!! It put me off course a little which probably added another 100meters onto my race...

Note to self: Need new googles!!!!:)

speedo

You probably were on to Glenalbyn Swimming club which caters for young competitive swimmers. Glenalbyn Masters Swimming club is the club you need to contact. They are at ....... http://www.glenalbynmasters.com/ ..... This site will give you contact details, training times and fees. You have to be a member of a club and registered with Swim Ireland to compete in the races. Another South Dublin club is Dublin Masters operating from Sportsco .... http://www.dublinswimmingclub.ie ..... It is not necessary to be a former competitive swimmer to compete, having watched the Dunlaoghaire race you will have noticed that the races are run on a handicap basis with the slower groups going first and the fastest swimmer going last. It is too late now to do the swims as the season is nearly over but it is not too late to get in some open sea practice. Seapoint is fairly close to you and is a good spot for training. For sea swims you need to adapt to the cold, waves currents and jellyfish (Hope that does not put you off). Keep up the good work in Total Fitness you will meet a good few open sea swimmers and triathletes there.

speedo

Just a further note I know with Dublin Masters Swiming club it is not mandatory to attend training sessions. Just pay the annual club membership and the registration fee for Swim Ireland and away you go.

gimpotronitus

Thanks for the pointers. Will follow up.

Tritrier

I did the swim in Dun Laoghaire on Sunday - it was tough, like a washing machine as you said Mad M!!

Any idea when results are out - very interested to see how I got on.

mad m

Tritrier wrote: »

I did the swim in Dun Laoghaire on Sunday - it was tough, like a washing machine as you said Mad M!!

Any idea when results are out - very interested to see how I got on.

Still waiting myself Tritrier.....Should be out soon.....It was a big race, 172 men swam. Don't know how many women...

sock puppet

Tritrier wrote: »

I did the swim in Dun Laoghaire on Sunday - it was tough, like a washing machine as you said Mad M!!

Any idea when results are out - very interested to see how I got on.

Good on you. I'd probably last about 30 seconds before I ran back to the cosy confines of my pool:pac:

campbellu

Wondering can any one recommend a watch which is suitable for swimming and records an accurate sea temperature, have seen one which needs 15min to adjust, during winter might not be in that long!

speedo

Is the watch you mention a Casio I know they make watches that show the temperature. They are a good make, I have Casio that shows the tides in graph form which is useful for places like Seapoint where the water goes out very far on low tide. I dont think you should need to check the temperature before venturing into the water as as the temperature wont vary much from day to day. The main problem is usually wind chill especially if the wind is coming from the North or the East.

campbellu

Thanks Speedo
It's Timex expedition, I have reviews from a Trail magazine of watches for altimeter etc for walking purposes, they also do temp and lots of other uses but the Expedition seems to be the easiest to use, others who have been swimming during winter say that about the wind also. We were interested in trying to keep a record of how much is does vary, we swim on Greystones South Beach. Thanks.