5 SEA SWIMMING ESSENTIALS:

Over the past few years, we have all loved becoming more active outside, especially through the form of sea/ cold water swimming. It’s simple, accessible, and amazing for your body – no wonder we all keep doing it!

 

 

As many of us are now out venturing in much colder waters, here are THE 5 necessities to help you swimming safely and for longer.

 

1/ DRYROBE: 

Probably the answer you were all expecting. Even though we all hate to admit it, Dryrobes are fantastic at keeping you warm in those first moments after coming out of the water, and so it 's our number 1.
Gone are the days of shivering and drying yourself in your sandy towel…now we can all change swiftly in dignity. Another bonus, why not stay in your Dryrobe on the drive or walk home and save the changing for when there’s heating!

This is definitely a must have if you are keen to make sea swimming a regular activity. It not only keeps you warm and helps you recover faster from the cold water, it also allows for the opportunity to have a nice chat afterwards, a fantastic addition as sea swimming is becoming a great community social too.

Dryrobe Advance is available as long and short sleeve.

 

2/ SOCKS: 

The perfect creation with swimmers in mind. Feet don’t last long as the temperatures drop, and boots are too heavy and don’t provide flexibility around the base of the foot for practical swimming. Either 3 or 4mm neoprene socks are the perfect product for keeping the feet warm without losing ankle flexibility for kicking, whilst removing the unwanted weight that a boot provides on the bottom of your foot for buoyancy.

As well as being built for the purpose of swimming, they are more practical than boots – they slip on a lot easier than any boot would, very ideal when your fingers are freezing and you want to get changed quick!

Check out our Alder 3mm socks, Alder 4mm socks, or C skins Legend socks.

 

 

3/ ZONE3 BUOY FLOAT:

Safety is always paramount. As well as keeping warm, staying visible on the water, especially as conditions can turn is something to think about. Zone3 – one of the leading swimming brands on the market that provide the ultimate swimming wetsuits and accessories- have supplied the buoyancy tow float/ dry bag in a high-vis orange and pink. This product simply clips around your waist and floats behind you to allow for on-land and water visibility through all conditions, and still provides practicality as all your essential items can also be stored in the dry bag element and remain with you at all times, on and off the water.

 

4/ GLOVES:

Swimming can be hard if you can’t feel the movement of your fingers… as such, gloves seem like a sensible accessory to have!
As standard, 3mm is the thickness we recommend, even in winter, going thicker does provide more warmth but it also makes it harder to move your fingers! 3mm is enough for your hands to stay warm and provide an effective stroke.

We have a wide range of gloves from leading watersport brands in store that are standard neoprene and suitable for all watersports throughout the year. Zone3 also provide a swimming specific glove, this is slightly thinner at 2mm and instead of being full neoprene, the cuff of the wrist is a synthetic material with a Velcro strap to fit nicely with a full length wetsuit and tighten. 
Either option is great for swimming, it is all about preference and comfort for each individual - so if you can, come to our shop and try them on!

 

 

5/ SLIDES:

Flips flops are normally the go-to shoe accessory, however, in the world of swimming, slides are taking over by storm! If you can’t feel your toes it’s hard to separate that big toe in flip flops! With slides, you can even wear them over your normal (or neoprene) socks when out the water to save your toes from the cold. Even when changed, who wants to put trainers on… slides are the way to go!

REEF even do a selection of slides now for men, women and kids.

 

Swimming is a fantastic sport, what's even better is we are seeing everyone getting out and doing this at any age and fitness, becoming a great community social activity too. 

Take a look at the rest of our Swim section to see what else you may need :)