The 8 questions winter swimmers ask about cold

Kate Rew and the OSS team answer the questions new winter swimmers most commonly ask

DISCLAIMER: Own every decision you make: risks of entering very cold water include heart attack, asthma attack, panic attacks, cold incapacitation, cold shock, drowning, hypothermia and death. With the freedom to swim outdoors comes the responsibility to do it safely. The OSS is a peer-to-peer community that shares experience between individuals, but neither The OSS nor any of our agents are responsible for swimmers’ decisions or the accuracy of any information given. Understand more on the risks including high blood pressure  and cold incapacitation. 

1. What does it feel like?

Do not let images of smiling girls in bobble hats and bikinis and fashionable chat about ‘the cold water cure’ deceive you: winter swimming is, as Lewis Pugh puts it, ‘a violent physical assault’ on the body. With its immediate effect on blood pressure it is literally not for the fainthearted. 

Cold water will punch the air out of your lungs, it will bite your hands and feet off. After a minute or two I generally have the sensation of a giant lobster clamped to my buttocks. 

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