Whitby Sea Swim
Whitby Sea Swim
A while back in lockdown, I wrote a blog about Whitby, its coast line, the sea and how I would love to swim in the sea.
I mentioned this to a friend, Emma who told me about an amazing sunrise swim she had had on June 21st, Solstice day. Before I knew it, I had been lent a wet suit by another friend, Sophie and after a frenzied text conversation about whether I had to put my head in the water, and whether I could do breaststroke, I found myself down on Whitby beach one Tuesday night entering a calm sea. I had really mixed emotions – full of anticipation, trepidation, excitement and a lot of nerves. 
However the sea was that calm, I didn’t even get my hair wet as I did a slow breast stroke across the shore line. It was utterly amazing, quite cold but after a while my hands and feet stopped feeling so numb and I absolutely loved it.
There is something wonderful about being in cold water (its about 12 degrees at the moment) in a wet suit (which is quite warm once the cold water gushes around the suit) and looking at the coastline from the sea and admiring Whitby from a different view point.
Since the first sea swim, I have been in plenty of times, there is a open water swim group set up in Whitby (Whitby Wild Swimmers on Facebook)and they have been arranging lots of swim trips out to different places around Whitby and the coastal area. All like-minded people who just want to try out sea swimming, all have a mixed abilities which is the benefit of swimming in a group.
We’ve done a sunset swim, with no sunset, it was cloudy that day!, plus I didn’t do much swimming that evening as the sea was so rough. However as an adult, it is rare you get the chance to just ‘play’ in the waves – it was so much fun and so invigorating. I think I was in there well over 45 mins and didn’t moan once at how cold my feet were.
I will never swim the channel (not sure anyone has ever attempted it breast stroke all the way) but I love my random sea swims and am already aiming at how to keep swimming through the winter months. I definitely think I need to purchase some foot warmers for the sea swim plus a bigger flask. Open water swimming and sea swimming has had a lot of news coverage over these past few months. From what I have researched, there are also the health benefits:- 1. Better sleep. 2 Better circulation – when we become cold, blood rushes to our organs, making our hearts work a little bit harder. 3. Increased happiness. 4. Increased metabolism. 5. Boosted immune system. 6. Better skin
The other benefit to me and my sea swim is that once a week I get to sit down at the beach in the evening and watch the sun set after my swim, a bit of peace and quiet by myself. Always with my book and a mini bottle of prosecco or baileys.
It invariably makes me think of one of my Dad’s sayings –
“We’re not here for a long time, but we are definitely here for a good time”
