I started wild swimming a couple of years ago but I’ve only recently started trying to take a camera on swims with me. The desire was to try and explain to others why on earth anyone would want to venture into water that is very cold, potentially dangerous and difficult to film. My first venture involved strapping a GoPro to my head and swimming along, it didn’t work. There was no foreground, no feeling of what swimming actually felt like so I moved the camera onto my swim float and put a small dumbbell in the bottom of the swim float to keep the camera on top. Moving the camera gave me a foreground and I think gives the viewer a feel of the water moving around and the physical movement of the swim. This is ongoing but much better take a look.

The video was shot on one of our early morning swims in the river Thames, the water is 6 degrees and the flow is very fast. We know this part of the river well and the flow drops off near our exit point. Winter swimming with no wetsuit is no time to make mistakes, hyperthermia is a very real danger, our total time in the water was only about 9 mins which for us was ok at this temperature. Once the initial reaction to the cold is over, usually about one minute for me then the joy sets in and your body becomes strangely comfortable. This is the time to use your watch, get out while your still comfortable and don’t wait till you begin to feel cold as the cooling process will carry on once you get out of the water.