Swimming in the sea - Minimising the risks

BogMonkey

I'm taking up a sport because its a way more fun way to exercise than running on a treadmill at the gym etc. I live right beside the beach so I'm taking up swimming starting today or tomorrow. I can swim but I'm not very fit at all so I need to minimise the likelihood of me drowning.

Firstly, to minimise the likelihood of me drowning, I'm gonna get a body board and attach a cord to it that I can tie to my arm. What other risks are there to consider then? If I get caught in a current would it be impossible for me to swim back to land on the body board? I know nothing about the sea. Secondly, what risk do seals pose? Do they attack people unprovoked?

banjobongo

My advice - do NOT swim in the sea until:
1/you are comfortable swimming in the pool, you should be able to swim say 20 lengths without stopping, before you start thinking about swimming in the sea.
2/find somebody (ideally an experiecned open water swimmer) to swim with you when you do venture out for your first sea swim. Never swim in the sea (or any open water) by yourself. Im a strong swimmer (I do both pool and open water swims regularly) and I would never swim in the sea by myself.) If you cant get somebody to swim with you, get somebody to canoe with you etc.
3/And always swim parallel to the shore.
4/seals? dont know about that but i dont think it should feature on list of concerns at present....

BogMonkey

Theres no way I could swim 20 lengths of a pool without stopping and I'm not gonna have someone canoing beside me every time I go for a swim. I don't even know anyone with a canoe. Your advice is a bit extreme. Did you miss the part where I said I'll have a body board on me at all times? Most people who drown in the sea, drown from exhaustion. On a body board, the average person could swim for miles without getting exhausted. I'm not taking about swimming the English channel or going swimming in a hurricane, I'm just talking about swimming along the beach for some exercise. I've swam in lakes on my own before and a couple of times, I went out too far and was real tired on the way back. There were no waves so I was able to float there to regain energy, if it was the sea I woulda drowned. Thats the purpose of the body board. If I get dragged away from the shore by a rip current, I'll just swim back on the body board. If I get a cramp, I'll grab the body board etc.

mad m

You have asked for advice and you have got good advice....you can drown in very little water, what would happen if a wave came along and your body board hit you on head....at least you will be attached to body board when they find you.....

All joking aside though,

Try and not swim alone!
Swim parallel to shore.
Don't get out of your depth.

Don't mind seals, they are more afraid of you. Be more aware of Jellyfish.

Enjoy...

AngryHippie

Using a body board is all well and good, but I body-board quite a bit, and one thing you will find is that compared to a long-board you don't move nearly as fast, and it takes a lot more effort. I normally wear fins when body-boarding, as without them it takes a massive effort to catch a green wave before it stacks up.
As for not being able to swim 20 lengths, if you can't swim 500m (even mixing up your strokes) non-stop, then you would not be either skilled enough or fit enough (pick one) to swim your way out of the most tame of rips, so I would suggest you do a bit more work in the pool to increase your stamina levels before you decide to jump in the sea.
Worrying about seals makes me think maybe you are having a bit of a troll here, I can understand worrying about sharks, hypothermia, jellyfish, cramps, exhaustion or drowning. All of those things will kill you a long time before a seal decides to have a nibble. They are harmless creatures, they may come over and check you out and swim around you looking at you with their big cute eyes, but the only way they could harm you is by over-curiosity, which can be easily curbed with a shove.
I would suggest you take the advice of banjobongo, get in the pool and work on the fitness/stamina/skills then try having a swim at a patrolled beach without any major known rips/undertows and get used to it before you get carried away.

BTW. if you are a half decent swimmer having a body-board hanging out of you will be more of a hindrance than anything else. Handy for buoyancy, but by the time you need it, your swimming time is already over.
Best of luck with it. Please don't become a statistic.
Believe me when I say that open water swimming has killed experienced fit healthy swimmers before.

agreenyblue

I swim in the sea. I can swim fairly strongly but I have been swimming irregularly of late so I tend to stop every 100/200 meters for a breather. I swim alone mostly, though I´d rather not.

Try not to swim alone.
Swim parallel to the shore.
Do not swim out of your depth.
Only swim at safe swimming beaches (no rips), ask local swimmers for advice.
Do not swim in heavy weather/poor conditions.
Stay within your comfort zone.

The danger with seals, as with the danger of most things when you swim, is if you were to panic.

The body board will irritate you and slow you down but if it makes you feel comfortable on the first day it´s no harm.

okane1

I something swim on my own in the sea but I do so calculating the risks.

1. I am a strong and experienced open water swimmer
2. I swim in location I know are safe, have safe entry and exist points, no currents, sheltered and popular with people.
3. I use a swim safety devise from http://www.ishof.org/cgi-bin/mivavm?...tegory_Code=SF
4. Swim parrellel to the shore and I know when I am getting tired and when to turn for home.

If you can barely swim 500m in a pool, you will not be able to swim miles towing a body board. No way. Just because you have something to hold onto when you get tired, doesn't mean you will be able to get your energy back to swim again.

If you want to swim in the sea, do but do not put your life or others in danger.

Go to a beach that has lifeguards. Tell the lifeguards what you are doing and swim inside their zone. Swimming in OW compared to the pool is tough, very tough. Waves make breathing difficult, moving water means your good stroke in the pool turns into a mess. It takes time and experience to understand what happens to your stroke and how to work with the currents and not against them.

See if there are any OW or triathlon clubs near you and join them.
Safety in numbers

Oryx

A body boards wont save you if you have issues. People drown for lots of reasons not to do with pure exhaustion, they drown because they take silly chances or do something they are not able for. If you cramp, swallow water, panic or get pulled offshore in a current, chances are you wont be able to grab the board or keep hold of it before you are in trouble. Plus as mentioned it will hinder you terribly.

It is very easy to lose track of how far out you are in the sea, as it is hard to sight or gauge distance. It is colder than you think. Waves and currents can make things very tough. Youre asking your body to do something youre not used to, in unfamiliar surroundings, and difficult conditions. Please dont be irresponsible about your own safety.

If you must swim:

Swim in a wetsuit for warmth, buoyancy and safety.
Have someone with you, or someone spotting from the beach at the very least.
Stay within your depth AT ALL TIMES even if this means stopping to check every two minutes.

rabb_lbad

Your body board is designed to be effective only in big swells with plenty of powerful waves. In calm water without fins it would be exhausting trying to get back into shore.
I regularly train with a club in the pool and sea and totally agree with all the previous posters. There are too many hazards like rips, winds, choppy water, jellyfish, THE COLD.
Open sea races are organised in safe swimming spots and even at that there are always atleast two boats in the water and lots of kayakers not to mention the gangs on dryland spotting for distressed swimmers. All those safety measures are set up for what you would consider to be strong swimmers!!, and it's still not uncommon to see one or two get hauled out.

BogMonkey

Alright, well I suppose I'll take up cycling instead lol.

biomed32

Open sea swimming is brilliant. My only reccomendation is never to enter the water alone, always go in with a couple people and possibly have a spotter on shore which usually happens when I go swimming down in sandycove

paddy no 11

Went on friday evening for the first time.

Twas horrible

10 times harder than swimming in a pool, was gassed after 100m. If you gas on a rip your finished.

Even with 1 foot swells you are up and down all the time and so the sea bed is moving and quickly got very disoriented.

Wont go again till i can do 40lenght in the pool comfortably and with someone beside me on a surf board.

Foyler

BogMonkey wrote: »

Alright, well I suppose I'll take up cycling instead lol.

I wouldn't be put off entirely.
There is of course a lot to be said for being cautious but as with most things in life there is a happy medium.
I would say to NEVER swim alone or always have someone watching you on the shore is a tad OTT.

I've been swimming for years but have only gotten into decent distances in open water in the last few years, almost exclusively swimming alone apart from my trusty lab who trundles along behind.
Not by choice but simply because there are no clubs around here and I hate pool swimming.
I started out with short distances, maybe a few hundred yards, progressed to a 2k loop out to an island and back and am now doing upwards of 8k on a good day.

The bay I normally swim is quite enclosed and tidal so you're rarely too far from shore and at lower tides it is quite shallow which minimises the risk.

In all that time I've never had anything other than numb feet, the odd foot cramp but nothing that put me even close to being at risk.

Starting out I would definitely be hugging the shoreline but as your confidence grows and you get to know your body you can explore your limits a bit more.

I have a couple of swimming buddies now and we're training for a swim to one of the outer islands for which we'll take along some kayakers and a boat.

It's a fabulous thing to get into & the one place I can truly escape from it all, be sensible of course but don't be scared away from it by some of the above comments/experiences.

ThOnda

It is different, and a lot. Maybe because of tighter wetsuit, but tougher. Having mate on kayak helped. However he won't be available all the time.
Are there any regular places and times, where more people swim? I would like to swim a bit more often in the sea (Dublin area).

mad m

ThOnda wrote: »

It is different, and a lot. Maybe because of tighter wetsuit, but tougher. Having mate on kayak helped. However he won't be available all the time.
Are there any regular places and times, where more people swim? I would like to swim a bit more often in the sea (Dublin area).

Always people down at Seapoint Dun Laoghaire, especially on a good day...Keep an eye on the tides though, you don't want to be going out there at a low tide and wasting a journey.....But always water at the 40ft Sandycove

ThOnda

That's where I was. But there were only two people swimming out to the buoys. I got out and swam along the buoys towards the pier (not all he way) and back. Not having anybody with me would make it different. But maybe because it was first time in open water swimming, not surfing.
Swimming mantra was: "no seals, no jellyfish, no boats, inhale" - helps with the alternate breathing