Coldest water you've ever swum in?

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Davepick

Well-known member
In 1954 when I was in the Army, on a June day we had driven our Daimler Dingo Scout Cars on a very hot dusty day. We were in Northern Germany on the Baltic Sea shore. We were all drenched in sweat.
We arrived near the shore, and into our swimming trunks. About 12 of us rushed down to the sea and went in. In less than a minute I was the only one left in. Too cold for the softies. 😉
In the 80s MrsDP and I were in Cornwall and I went in the water. It was effing cold. This bloke came up with his dog and threw a tin can in which the dog retrieved.
He did this a couple of times and the can then sunk to the bottom. The dog was swimming round frantically trying to find it, but it was on the bottom about 8 ft down. I dived down and got the can and held it out for the dog. The dog snatched it out of my hand and felt a short sharp pain in my little finger. I eventually went out of the sea and dried myself off. About 5 minutes later I noticed that my finger was bleeding. It was so cold it took that long the blood to circulate to my finger.
 
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I did a Sprint Triathlon at the Keswick Mountain Festival about 5 years ago - the water in Derwent Water was at about 10 degrees which was below the “safe” Tri limit so you had the option of not swimming but waiting by the side till the last person who did swim came out. Needless to say we were in wetsuits and to a man and woman everyone swam - it were a bit nippy but at least I didn’t have to worry about crushing my todger and nuts on the bike!

However even colder than that was the first ever Tri I did in Lytham a long long time ago where you ran 3k jumped on your bike, cycled 5k, got off and did 2 lengths of Lytham Open Air Baths and despite being May the water was that cold you just could not swim or put your face in the water - no wetsuits - and everyone walked the 2 lengths in the water blue and shivering!

You then had to get back on your bike and cycle another 5k to the finish. Being on my “racer” as I went past a lady on her bike toward the end she went “ahhhh” so being the gent I am I slowed down and let her beat me over the line, without word of a lie her bike had a basket and tassels on the handlebars, pah.
 
Llanddwyn island on Anglesey. Just where the Menai straits form on their passage east splitting Snowdonia and Anglesey.

It was June and the weather was sunny and hot. For those familiar with Llanddwyn there is a small beach at the pilots cottages by the lighthouse. On days like this it looks subtropical. A few people paddling but no one in the water. Blue and so inviting in the heat. Strange, but moment of truth was at hand. Took a run at it and plunged right in. That right there was the coldest water I ever swam in. Though swimming isn't what I was doing, I was trying to remember who I was through an ice cream brain freeze.
 
The North Sea in Northumberland is also pretty cold whatever the time of year. However, I got cold water shock in the River Tara in Bosnia a few years ago, it took 24 hours to recover and probably came pretty close to death, managed to push myself to the surface and get on a rock.
 
ballysboots said:
Llanddwyn island on Anglesey. Just where the Menai straits form on their passage east splitting Snowdonia and Anglesey.

It was June and the weather was sunny and hot. For those familiar with Llanddwyn there is a small beach at the pilots cottages by the lighthouse. On days like this it looks subtropical. A few people paddling but no one in the water. Blue and so inviting in the heat. Strange, but moment of truth was at hand. Took a run at it and plunged right in. That right there was the coldest water I ever swam in. Though swimming isn't what I was doing, I was trying to remember who I was through an ice cream brain freeze.
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Grange over Sands lido. Balls shrinkingly cold.
 
As a 17 year old, with a group including jnr Paras and Marines, I did a one month outward bound course at Eskdale, starting early in February. Every morning at 06:00, we had to jump off a jetty into the tarn breaking the ice and swim back to shore. This was bordering on torture but it did toughen us up ready for the mountain expeditions in the snow and ice.
 
Brett scores for fun said:
As a 17 year old, with a group including jnr Paras and Marines, I did a one month outward bound course at Eskdale, starting early in February. Every morning at 06:00, we had to jump off a jetty into the tarn breaking the ice and swim back to shore. This was bordering on torture but it did toughen us up ready for the mountain expeditions in the snow and ice.
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That sends shudders down my spine just thinking about it. I have a lot of respect for anyone brave enough to go though such hardship.
 
Had a swim in the Atlantic off the Mizen Head in Southern Ireland. Can't believe water could be colder without freezing.
 
Once went for a dip off the Isle of Wight and the cold felt like needles on your toes...
 
tried to go into the water at cape Town Camps Bay. Mid January, height of the SA summer about 36 degrees, the water was so cold after two minutes it was painful.
 
I swam in Windermere (tower wood) which seemed ok while on a school trip and about 15 years later swam in Wast water,that was like dipping in an ice bin for 5 mins.
 
Davepick said:
In 1954 when I was in the Army, on a June day we had driven our Daimler Dingo Scout Cars on a very hot dusty day. We were in Northern Germany on the Baltic Sea shore. We were all drenched in sweat.
We arrived near the shore, and into our swimming trunks. About 12 of us rushed down to the sea and went in. In less than a minute I was the only one left in. Too cold for the softies. 😉
In the 80s MrsDP and I were in Cornwall and I went in the water. It was effing cold. This bloke came up with his dog and threw a tin can in which the dog retrieved.
He did this a couple of times and the can then sunk to the bottom. The dog was swimming round frantically trying to find it, but it was on the bottom about 8 ft down. I dived down and got the can and held it out for the dog. The dog snatched it out of my hand and felt a short sharp pain in my little finger. I eventually went out of the sea and dried myself off. About 5 minutes later I noticed that my finger was bleeding. It was so cold it took that long the blood to circulate to my finger.
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Chill swim - Lake District - no wetsuit, below 5 degrees - not aloud to faff around - whistle goes and straight in - 50 m
 
Open air pool at Fleetwood in February from school ,if you didnt want to swim the teachers would push you in.
The teacher in charge used to say that most of our class would be going to sea on Icelandic trawlers so get used to it .
The year would have been 1962 the year before the big freeze.
 
Im not stupid enough to swim in cold water.

Once carried on swimming in a pool in Thailand. I just got in when a tropical storm hit. The pool and rain were both warm though👍.
People thought i was absolutely bonkers!

Looking back as the thunder came crashing in,
I may have been lucky to get out b4 being struck by lightning😳😂
 
Lidos seem to be mentioned a few times on here.

Circa 1955 I went to Prestatyn Lido, and remembering what my dad had told me (the only way to get into cold water is to hold your breath and dive straight in) I dipped my toe in the water and it was freezing, so I took a run and dived in, lost my breath and hit the bottom, I was pulled out by one of the staff who told me never to do that again, with a tennis ball-sized lump on my forehead, shivering and probably blue, I didn't need telling.

FOOTNOTE: My Dad was an NCO in the Army Physical Training Corps during the second world war attached to the Black Watch and had muscles on muscles. I was seven with little meat on my bones at the time.
 
Another time.
We were holidaying in Interlaken, must have been the 1990s. So I was late 50s or 60+ years old.
The nearest lake is the Brienzersee. As usual I wanted to swim so I got changed and waded in.
Now that was bloody cold. The lake is 654 metres above sea level.
Can't decide which of mine was the coldest.
BTW, as a kid I've been in the sea at Blackpool many times. That is usually pretty cold.
 
Norwegian sea in winter during a survival drill - pretty damn chilly, even with a survival suit on!!
 
Back in the 80’s up in Lakes on school trip we went canoeing, I capsized ( possibly showing off doing the roll thing ) it was so cold I started to hyperventilate and could do nothing to stop it !!! My mates thought it was hilarious 😂
 
Anyone remember the Boxing Day Charity dip in the Irish Sea about 20 years ago. I did it in Speedos on what was a cold day anyway and we all said we'd submerge ourselves and I swear I didn't warm up until New Year's Day!
 
Having spent a lot of time in the North Sea on the Northumberland coast I can defiantly say the sol pelicanos in march was the coldest water I've been in.
 
On a dinghy sailing course in January I had to do a compulsory capsize and then right the boat. That was all I had to do so changed into shorts and T shirt (with buoyancy aid). The instructor was a bit surprised I wasn’t wearing more but there didn’t seem much point as I’d be going straight back in to get under a hot shower.

Out we go, instructor puts the boat over and I do a backwards roll into the water - total immersion. Two things then happened.

As above I was left totally breathless and unable to speak.

Secondly my contact lenses slipped out of place. The way to get them back in situ was to roll my eyes.

So the instructor was left with someone in the water in front of him, 👀 spinning in his head, gasping for air and unable to answer when asked if he was ok. Don’t panic!!

Once the lenses were in place and I could breath, I assured him I was ok, righted the boat, sailed in in record time and hit the shower with clothes still in.

So that was a bit parky yes.
 
It wasn’t really a swim but, a number of years ago I took part in a Survival Suit test at Fleetwood Nautical School.
We floated in water of 3C for one hour .......... our inner core temperatures were taken before water entry and on exiting the water.
I have never been as cold in my life ..... but got £50 for it !
 
Took my two lads to a mate's caravan on Holy Island in Anglesey in October just gone, for a weekend, and told them I was swimming before dinner. They decided to come down too, even though it was going dark and raining. A bloke on the beach walking his dog shouted, "you actually going to go in?!" We swam around for about 5 to 10 minutes and ran back to the caravan. I felt uncomfortably numb. The dinner and the beer was bloody good after that though, and the banter. Does you good I reckon!

I also swam in Ullswater this summer during a day of cycling. Cold, but not as cold as Anglesey in October.
 
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I worked for Blackpool Council in the late 70s & was sent to do some survey work on South shore open air pool, not sure what time of Yr, but the weather was overcast😊, I was amazed to see a brave & lonely soul arrive on the poolside, he gave the grey depths a quick look & immediately dived in, the arc he took became tighter & tighter, till he arrived back on the pool side, cambered out & disappeared....... Didn't see anyone else in the pool all day....
 
Prestatyn Lido in the fifties, took my Dad's advice to dive into cold water in order to get the shock over with. Did as I had been told, lost my breath as I hit the water and hit the bottom of the pool. 6-foot end, splitting my head. had to be fished out. Like DavePick says it took a while for the head wound to start bleeding but it did eventually and quite freely.
 
School trip half way up some fell in the lakes a water fall rock pool. We were asked who wanted to try a dip . About 5 fools said yes I thought I was dying
 
We were on InterRail in Austria on a hot summer's day beside a lake in the Austrian Alps. We couldn't understand why people were sunbathing next to it but nobody was in the clear blue water... until we tried to go in. The locals found it very amusing as we dipped our feet and ran back out! We then dared each other to see who could swim in it the furthest. I think the winner managed about 3 metres and came running back out! Apparently the snow slides down the mountain into the lake for most of the year and it freezes over too in Winter so the water is always close to zero.
 
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Loch Spey 4am early February after a gallon or so of K Cider. Not by choice 😯 walking back to log cabin down a jetty type path a heavy shove in the back - oh how we laughed 😡😡😖
 
Once turned the shower lever the wrong way. Jesus Christ, wont be doing that again!

As an asside, I also seem to remember Mex going through a phase of taking daily cold baths, and being tasked with telling him when his 5 minutes were up. Of course I 'forgot'. He didnt seem best pleased. (I do hasten to add I was not in the bathroom at the time). Hell of a game.
 
The winter of 1947 was pretty cold and along with some pals went on to the frozen Stanley park lake over the course of a number of weeks along with some rather decent local ice skaters, then one day the ice gave way and I fell in, crikey that was bloody freezing and what seemed a hell of a long walk home, when I went to bed that night I was still shivering. .Before any one says it there was a warning sign with the of the dangers of going onto the ice.
As for feeling cold the winter survival course in Labrador took some beating, now that was mighty chilly.
 
Holyhead harbour c March1973. I was dropped in from a 22 squadron helicopter on exercise from RAF Valley. The aircrew thought it fun to drop me and leave me bobbing for a few minutes while they tootled off. I had an immersion suit on, but it was still bloody freezing!
 
It was a pool on holiday somewhere, can't remember which one. But it was quite early in the year, and the sun hadn't got into it yet. Strange thing was it was pleasantly warm in the days, so the pool was always tempting, but it took a lot of building up to.

Didn't actually go in of course, but I know it's the coldest I would have been if I had. New York in January a few years back, it was generally -5 to -10 around town, cold of course but perfectly doable once you're wrapped up. Then one day we went on the river trip, all sat inside but the windows were filthy so as we passed the SoL I went outside for a better picture. The cold out there on the river took my breath, stayed long enough to take one shot and got back in quick. Never known cold like it before or since.
 
white water rafting in Canada, in a river that was fed from a melting glacier. Part of the drill was to go into the water first !
 
Plymouth Hoe about1962, I and a few pals went on a camping trip on our motor bikes. On the hoe is an open air pool, this was mid March, a couple of blokes were just getting out we asked them what it was like, they said ok if you keep moving so we got changed an d dived in. Jesus Christ was that bloody water cold, for the first few seconds which seemed forever, we couldn’t breathe or move. What nobody told us is it was seawater, we swam straight across got out the other side, I have never been so cold in my life. After getting dried and dressed we were still shivering and my kneecaps and elbows were blue. Never ever again. Brrrrr
 
I think it's probably worse when the air temperature is hot and the water is freezing.

Two stand out.

New Year's Day 2000, working at the local hospice it was my responsibility to represent the team.

Off the coast at Redcar. Air temp about 7° sea temp about 4° the differential wasn't so bad and I was only in for maybe 7 or 8 minutes.

Second one, Portinax in Ibiza, in May after the coldest springs in years. The air temp was probably 16/17° and the water (outdoor pool heated by the sun) was probably 8 or 9°. Had to stay in ages with my then one year old. That probably felt colder!!

Studied limnology in Pennsylvania 25 years ago, interesting fact, the bottom of a lake generally never gets lower than about 4°C.
 
Didn't swim ,but new year's Day 2014 ,first day back off hols ,took dogs to squires gate beach ,one decided to chase the sandpipers ,got into trouble & yours truly was up to waste getting her out ,** freezing ,soaked and had to carry her back to car ,lovely shower though 😄.
 
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