"Swimming for free in the poor woman's infinity pool."

By a Devonian Mermaid

The sea is flat calm, no waves today. The watery November sun touches my shoulders with some warmth. The tide is out and the only sound to be heard is that of my swimming strokes breaking the glassy surface of the water that is gently lapping the shore.

I have always enjoyed swimming, but at a leisurely pace in indoor pools. Due to retinal damage I have recently been registered blind, although I still have some peripheral vision. This has made pool swimming quite difficult for me. 18 months ago I decided, after having read an article on cold water swimming, that I would have a go. I started swimming in the sea in the summer and carried on going in twice a week into the autumn just wearing a swimsuit and two silicone hats. When the sea temperature dropped to around 12° I started to wear my neoprene boots and gloves as well. At this temperature in November I am swimming for about 30 minutes. As the water gets colder my swimming time shortens, until at the coldest temperature of the south coast of Devon at around 7°, I would stay in for 10 to 15 minutes.

Last February I entered the World Winter Swimming Championships, which were held at Tooting Bec Lido. I prayed for warm weather and my prayers were answered with an air temperature of 16° and the water at 5°. My practice time would have won me a medal, but being unaccustomed to competitions, I became easily distracted and ended up five seconds from a medal time. I did however beat 21 of the 40 swimmers in my age group, most of whom were from serious swimming clubs around the world. When everyone got out of the water to shower, not one person was shivering. This is the marvel of becoming cold water acclimatised. So how do I do it?

Firstly I had to look at my health and obtain my Doctor's approval for my intended pursuit!

When I entered the water, (wearing swimsuit and two silicone bathing hats) before I was acclimatised, I walked straight in without hesitation and submerged my shoulders as quickly as possible. I did not think about feeling cold, just about my swimming.

I took long slow deep breaths to avoid hyperventilating and then started to swim.

For the first 10 minutes of swimming I experienced a pricking sensation all over my skin, but I persisted and then discovered the discomfort had gone and I carried on enjoying my swim.

I varied my strokes, as the face takes a while to acclimatise.

Everyone needs a Buddy to keep an eye on them whilst they are in the sea. In my case my husband, who also drives me to the beach and carries towels etc in a rucksack.

I always swim where I can touch the seabed so getting out is not a problem and at high tide there is only a short distance to walk to reach towels as wind chill can be a problem in the winter.

Now I am free of the acclimatisation process (so long as I keep sea swimming once or twice a week) I can enjoy the truly exhilarating feeling of this cold water pursuit. It gives you a buzz for the rest of the day, which can't be a bad thing in the long, dark winter months.

From my experience, it is a fairly solitary sport, as I have yet to find anyone else in the sea with me. Last December my husband was walking along the beach keeping an eye on me, when he heard a woman say to her husband "look there's a seal out there". "No" said her husband "it's a fella"." No" said my husband "it's my wife"!

This episode was shortly followed by an encounter with a seal. Unbeknown to me it was swimming behind me. My husband called out "look behind you" and as I turned I discovered only a few feet away from me, was the face of a seal looking at me. I think we were both scared of one another. It shot off down into the water, leaving me in peace.

I still do indoor pool swimming to keep up my fitness levels when the sea is too rough. But I now find the indoor heating, the warm water and loud pop music played in pools very stressful and yearn for the cold and freedom of my infinity pool.

I used my slow, relaxing Alexander technique style crawl and breast-stroke that I learnt with "Swimming Without Stress in the still waters at Cwm-yr-Eglwys near Dinas Head, Pembrokeshire, ". It is great for swimming long distance as this style conserves energy. I found this technique also complemented the lessons I had been having at Kelly College to refine my technique. My next goal is to enter some races. It is good to find that even in my 60s I can go faster and more efficiently than I've ever done, without injuring myself. You're never too old to take up new challenges.

I have to go now as the infinity pool beckons!