The Winter Swim
A personal project - 'The Winter Swim' a piece I put together with the help of my friend Dave Riddell. I was fortunate enough to be invited along to film an early morning swim on the clearest January morning you could ask for.
Dave has very kindly written a piece to accompany the film giving an insight into the process and how it makes him feel.
The Winter Swim
When the alarm woke me at 5:30 on a mid January Tuesday morning I immediately knew it was no ordinary Tuesday. Tuesday is the first of 2 weekdays where I slip from a warm and cosy bed with the intention of immersing myself in the now low single digits centigrade local lake. Since taking up open water swimming I’d always liked the idea of swimming outdoors through the winter, but the universe had other ideas until now.
However here we were in the middle of January and so far, the winter swim project was going to plan. The reason why this was no ordinary swimming Tuesday was because my good friend Christian Trampenau, a talented professional photographer had asked if he could come along to document the experience. This meant a slightly earlier start and a somewhat higher than normal level of adrenaline.
Having received all necessary permission and after scraping the ice from the windscreen I collected Christian at 0630hrs in my wife’s mini. Not the best choice given all the essential photographers equipment that we loaded onto the back seat along with all my post swim get warm fast kit. Christian got filming during the drive as he started to capture the normally solitary mental preparation for what is about to come.
The forecast had predicted almost perfect conditions apart from the zero-degree air temperature but with the full moon, clear skies and imperceptible wind it all made for a magical open water swimming experience.
After the short drive we parked up under the glow of streetlamps on the housing estate adjacent to the lake. From there we headed west into the darkness. A short 5 minute torchlit walk across a newly created meadow with the frosty turf crunching rhythmically beneath our feet. We stopped briefly halfway to capture some more pre-swim footage. As we did so we glanced back to see the orange hue of the new dawn breaking on the eastern horizon. In hindsight we arrived a little too early, but the hats, gloves and extra layers were enough to keep us well insulated until the others arrived. It also gave us the opportunity to take in the splendour of the occasion, the brilliance of the world lit by a full moon with the birds warming up for morning song.
With everybody present we entered the compound at 0715hrs after some freshly brewed coffee was used to de-ice the industrial sized padlock. Once inside and overlooking the lake the true majesty of the occasion was apparent to everyone present. The non-existent wind rendered the lake motionless and totally reflective like a looking glass. In the top corner an ethereal white mist hovered above the glassy surface.
At this point we are now only minutes away from icy immersion and as everyone except Christian stripped down to a thin layer of neoprene. He was busy capturing the ritual of last-minute preparations as gloves, booties and headgear is added. At this point you may be slightly disappointed thinking instead that we would be true hardcore Wim Hoff types entering the icy water in nothing but speedos but at this time of year this would result in a mere dip as opposed to anything that resembles an actual swim.
As I wade into the water the neoprene initially protects me with only a slight sense of the coldness starting to permeate the 3-4mm of rubber between my skin and the 4°c of H2O that I’m about to slide into. As I splash the water on my face, I get a true sense of the coldness before the water fully envelops me and the inevitable leakage which sends icy water running down the back of my neck. It only lasts for a few moments as we set off at a pace designed to generate some body heat to allow the neoprene to work its magic and hold the cold at bay for as long as possible. As the winter draws on and we are acutely aware of the temperature dropping there is no doubt that acclimatisation is real, and the body knows what to expect and responds accordingly.
At this point we are no longer aware of Christian filming but totally focussed on the act of swimming as we navigate from buoy to buoy and ignoring the fact that our fingers are quickly starting to freeze.
Unbeknown to us at this point Christian has now switched to aerial photography and the drone is hovering above us as we circumnavigate the lake. 15 mins later we are back at the starting point, and I wonder what would happen if I went round again. Common sense prevails and we head for the shore and the race against time to exit the neoprene and warm up as fast as possible is on. There is a feeling of exhilaration that you did something many would think insane in the middle of January when most people are stepping out of a warm shower and popping a couple of slices of bread in the toaster.
The inevitable question of why do it has often occurred to me as I anxiously look forward to Tuesday coming around again after leaving the compound at 8am on the previous Thursday morning. A question which I found hard to answer until this week. Until I saw what Christian had captured on film. I knew it had something to do with the challenge of lasting all through the winter. The camaraderie of the small group who remain when others prefer the warmth of the indoor pool. What Christian helped me realise is, there is so much more to it than that. The total elemental assault on your senses, going from warm to cold, darkness to light, the constantly changing weather conditions throughout the 4 seasons, coexistence with the other inhabitants of the Lakeland. The peace and tranquillity of being there in the early hours and experiencing the rush of being totally in the moment. A true privilege and a feeling that is not necessarily spoken out loud but at some level shared amongst the group.
Having seen Christian’s work before and been fully briefed on the project I knew more-or-less what was coming. Even this knowledge couldn’t quite prepare me for the emotions that surfaced when I saw the finished result.
And so now I know, that’s why we do it!
Copy © Dave Riddell 2022
