the water holds me

Charlotte Bates ~ Kate Moles

[thewaterholdsme]

Best Creative Film Award Kendal Mountain Festival 2022

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The water holds me/The water binds us is screening at Kendal Mountain Festival 2022 in the WATER film collection.

‘Therapeutic, threatening, a daily practice, a life-long dream. These aquatic stories flow apart, and back together. Sink in.’

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Swimming without water: Buckets, bins and bathtubs

You crave a swim but it’s off limits during lockdown, so what do you do? Get creative – with mixed results, as Charlotte Bates and Kate Moles find out.

During lockdown, swimmers looked longingly at puddles, took cold showers, lay in icy baths, and swam in their dreams.

Continue reading at The Sociological Review Magazine.

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‘My cold hug and confidante’ – Outdoor Swimming Society

Two friends quickly undress at the edge of the lake. Pulling on wetsuits and helping each other zip up, they walk towards the water. The seasons are turning and there is no time to waste. Without hesitating they walk barefoot into the still clear lake. The water gently ripples around their ankles in reply. A few more steps and they are waist-deep. The swimmers pause, laughing and swearing at the cold, feeling the water seep and trickle in, and then their bodies plunge under. There are many different rituals that swimmers use to enter cold water. Some clap their hands, others speak words aloud – ‘delicious, delightful, warm, rejuvenating, refreshing!’. Some swimmers stand in the water, splashing their wrists and necks, waiting for their bodies to adjust and accept the cold. Some ease their bodies in slowly, keeping their arms raised, feeling the water inch up their bodies, touching their thighs, wrapping around their waists, approaching their shoulders, resisting immersion until the last second. Others rush towards the water, knowing that they need to get in without hesitation. Whichever approach you take, there is a moment of no return, in which you must commit to taking the plunge. As Roger Deakin describes in Waterlog, entering the water is a deeply important physical and metaphysical moment, whereby both we and the environment we are part of change and are changed. 

Continue reading in elsewhere - the monthly journal from the Outdoor Swimming Society.

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Floating

"I don't mind what the weather is doing, I am just happy to be in the water. When the water is calm and flat it is easy to float and relax. When the waves are high it is exhilarating to dive through or jump over."

~ Animation by Lily Mae Kroese.

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First peek

First peek at animating our research. A collaboration with illustrator Lily Mae Kroese and sound designer Jennifer Walton to share some of the stories from the project.

"Most days we see seals, big black heads looking very curiously at us, who also show as big black heads as we are now in winter gear wearing helmets."

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A group of women meet two or three times a week to brave the Norfolk sea, negotiating when to fit it in around their lives and the weather. They found each other, as a group of swimmers, three years ago and since then have swum together almost every week. Sometimes the weather gets in the way, and lockdown restrictions made it harder, but the draw of the water and the exhilaration of the swim pulls them back together. Separately in their cars, they arrive ready – wetsuits on – with only hoods and socks to pull on before heading straight into the sea, though one often lags behind, adjusting goggles, checking everything is packed away ready for the cold re-emergence onto land. Their time in the water and their friendship pulls together and strengthens each facet of their lives. Aged between 68 and 79 years of age, this group of women are year-round outdoor swimmers.

Continue reading on the Orca Community Blog.

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Suspended and immersed: Video methods and wild swimming

Immersion in cold water is widely lauded for its health benefits: scientific studies describe the effects on the immune system, blood circulation and mental wellbeing of participants. The physiological basis for these claims has become widely publicised, together with medical and psychological discourses of wellbeing. Historically, the ‘water cure’ has been regarded as a legitimate medicinal intervention, with spa towns and seaside retreats accommodating these practices. Today, the ‘water cure’ lives on in wild swimming; accounts of increased mental, physical and psychological wellbeing sit alongside regular practices of swimming outdoors, often in cold water. Numbers of people participating in wild swimming are on the rise in the UK, with membership of the Outdoor Swimming Society rising from a few hundred in 2006 to over 70,000 at the start of 2019, and the practice is gathering substantial attention in the media and public imagination. Sociologically speaking, wild swimming allows us to consider the ways in which people negotiate ideas of wellbeing, risk and conviviality in the water.

Continue reading at The Sociological Review Magazine.

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The project

What does it mean to swim outdoors? This project sets out to explore how swimming under an open sky in rivers, lakes and seas makes people feel about themselves and the natural world. Giving people GoPro video cameras to record their swims and make pre- and post-swim video diaries, we will investigate the rejuvenating effects of cold water and the connections between swimming and health and wellbeing.