Cove
A wave breaking against a cold grey sea.

Every morning at half past six, all year

Nobody is timed, nobody is coached, and the water was nine degrees this morning.

What this is

About forty of us go in off the steps at the end of the harbour wall. There is no membership, no committee and no fee; there is a WhatsApp group and a thermometer on a string.

Most people stay in for four minutes in February and twenty in August. Both of those are the right answer. The only rule anybody enforces is that you tell somebody you are going in and you tell them when you are out.

If it is your first time

When we swim

Every morning

06:30, off the steps

The main one. Between six and twenty of us depending on the wind. Somebody is always on the wall with a flask and a count.

Wednesday evening

18:00, April to September only

Longer and slower, and the one most new people start with because it is light and the water is at its warmest.

First Sunday

09:00, all year

The one we tell strangers about. Somebody walks you through it, lends you a tow float, and stands in the shallow bit with you.

New Year's Day

11:00, and it is chaos

Two hundred people, an ambulance on the quay by arrangement, and a bucket for the lifeboat. Not a good first swim.

Water, by the month

6°

February, the coldest week

9°

This morning

14°

June, most years

17°

Late August, at best

A shoreline at first light.
Six twenty-five, waiting for the last person.
Feet on wet shingle at the water's edge.
The steps are slippery for the first three.
The sea from above, pale sand under green water.
On a flat day you can see the bottom the whole way out.
Ice at the edge of dark water.
Twice in nine years. Both times somebody still went in.
The open sea under a wide sky.

Before your first swim

Come on a first Sunday
Nine o'clock, any month. Somebody is expecting new people and will stay in the shallow water with you for as long as it takes.
What to bring
A towel, a hat, and more layers than you think for afterwards. Gloves and boots in winter — hands and feet are what actually stop people.
Getting out
Four minutes is plenty in winter. Getting dressed fast matters more than staying in long, and shivering starts ten minutes after you are out, not in the water.
Do not go alone
Not once, not ever, not even in August. If nobody else is there, come back tomorrow.
Heart and health
Cold water is a shock to the body. If you take anything for your heart or blood pressure, ask a doctor first — we are swimmers, not medics, and we will say so.
What it costs
Nothing. There is a bucket for the lifeboat on New Year's Day and that is the whole of the finances.