Winter swimming

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Winter swimming is the activity of swimming during the winter season, typically in outdoor locations (open water swimming) or in unheated pools or lidos. In colder countries, it may be synonymous with ice swimming, when the water is frozen over. This requires either breaking the ice or entering where a spring prevents the formation of ice. It may also be simulated by a pool of water at , the temperature at which water freezes. In Nordic countries of Europe as well in Eastern Europe (e. g. Ukraine, Russia, and Baltic countries), winter swimming is a traditional cultural element and part of religious celebrations like the Epiphany in Eastern Orthodoxy. Competitions for winter swimming also exist. Many winter swimmers swim with standard swimsuits rather than with wetsuits or other thermal protection. Famous ice and winter swimmers include Lynne Cox and Lewis Gordon Pugh. Also, many locations in North America and Europe hold polar bear plunges, commonly to celebrate New Year's Day, although participants are not expected to swim and generally most do not swim. International winter and ice swimming competitions take place around the world with two of the larger organizing bodies being the International Ice Swimming Association and the International Winter Swimming Association. Both organizations have similar competition guidelines including water temperatures typically below , a pool often cut out of frozen bodies of water, and swimmers limited to goggles, one standard bathing suit, and one latex or silicone cap neoprene is not allowed.

One way that the hole is maintained at regular ice swimming places is with a pump that forces the water to circulate under the hole, preventing ice from forming. Small ice holes can also be kept open by keeping a lid/top over the hole to prevent ice forming. Most ice swimming places also use a specific heated "carpet" going from the locker rooms to the ice hole, both to make walking to the hole more pleasant and for safety as otherwise the water dripping from returning swimmers would freeze and create a dangerously slippery surface to walk on.

In Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia and Sweden the ice swimming tradition has been connected with the sauna and Banya traditions. Unlike dousing, it is not seen as an ascetic or religious ritual, but a way to cool off rapidly after staying in a sauna and as a stress relief. Ice swimming (avantouinti) on its own is especially popular in Estonia and Finland. There is an Avantouinti Society, and swimming holes are also maintained by other groups such as the Finnish skiing association (Suomen Latu). The Finnish Sauna Society maintains an avanto for sauna goers. There are many places to swim without sauna in Finland during winter. Helsinki has several places for avantouinti, with dressing rooms and sometimes with saunas. There is also a number of ice swimming and winter sauna locations around Tampere.

Famous locations include the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, London, and Highgate Ponds in Hampstead. The largest fresh water pool in the UK is the Tooting Bec Lido in South West London which is home to the South London Swimming Club. The pool is in length, i. e. nearly twice as long as an Olympic pool. As the winter approaches and the water temperature drops then swimmers stay in for less and less time, swimming just one or two widths rather than several lengths. Races take place all year including on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The Middle Yeo Surf Life Saving Club hold the annual New Year's Day swim in Clevedon. It is usually held 20 minutes before high tide or if the times are not conducive to a large crowd the swim is held in Marine Lake. The Middle Yeo Surf Life Saving Club swim every weekend of the year and the forthcoming swim times are published in their alcove in Top Beach, Clevedon. The Chester Frosties are an informal Facebook group of over 1,000 swimmers who swim all year around Cheshire, Lancashire, Wirral, Merseyside and North Wales. Local specialities include tidal bore and surge swimming on the River Dee. Sheffield Outdoor Plungers are another informal Facebook group of 3,000 swimmers who swim in locations all over the Peak District and Sheffield area, and campaign for better access to waters.

There are some clubs where people swim all year in a pool, a lake, or a river. Locations are Bruges, Boom, Deurne Dendermonde, Wachtebeek, Theux and Huy. The most famous race is across the Meuse each last Sunday of February since 1963.

The International Ice Swimming Association hosts an official ice swimming event at the Wöhrsee, a lake in Burghausen.

The history of winter swimming (pływanie w zimie, also morsowanie, a loanword from Eastern European languages) in Poland dates back to at least 16th century, when Wojciech Oczko, the physician to the Kings Stephen Báthory and Sigismund III Vasa, published a treatise Cieplice, which contained the information on the contemporary understanding of water based therapies, including the indications and contraindications to swimming in cold temperatures. The oldest registered association for winter swimming enthusiasts, the Gdański Klub Morsów, was founded in 1975.

In Russia ice swimming may have been practiced since pagan times. During the times of Moscovian Russia swimming in ice holes was a popular tradition. Records are dating the tradition back to as early as 1525. It was also an important court ceremony and a folk custom in Tsardom of Russia. In Russia and other Eastern European countries where Eastern Orthodox Christianity is the prevalent religion ice swimming is connected with the celebration of the Epiphany. The Epiphany is observed on 19 January according to the Julian calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. The day marks the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. To celebrate this, holes are cut in the ice on rivers, lakes or other bodies of water, usually in the form of a Christian or Orthodox cross. Around midnight, believers submerge themselves three times in the water to honour the Holy Trinity, after a priest says a prayer. Ice swimming on the Epiphany is relatively new. It was practised by only a few before the October Revolution of 1917 and occurred even less frequently in the time of the Soviet Union, when Christians were persecuted. However, the ritual became very popular in the 1990s since the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. Ice swimming is also practised during the entire winter by Walrus Clubs, whose members are called "walruses" (моржи, "morzhi"). Besides competitions in swimming pool created in lake the main event and longest discipline of competitions is swimming 300 m (980 ft) from Huxin Island to the venue of the World Cup.

It is held on beaches and rivers, as a Shinto ritual, winter exercises, or as a local traditional event. The one held on the Hojo Coast in Tateyama was originally held as a high school winter exercise, and has extend into a local event. Local junior high and high school students and men and women of all ages participate in this event. Sagami River in Sagamihara and Senbonhama Beach in Numazu are also well known.

Winter swimming can be dangerous to people who are not used to swimming in very cold water. After immersion in cold water the cold shock response will occur, causing an uncontrollable gasp for air. This is followed by hyperventilation, a longer period of more rapid breathing. The gasp for air can cause a person to ingest water, which leads to drowning. As blood in the limbs is cooled and returns to the heart, this can cause fibrillation and consequently cardiac arrest. The cold shock response and cardiac arrest are the most common causes of death related to cold water immersion.