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swimming in cornwall : june 2004

(Feb 2006 : this page is now part of an archived web site. I have been unable or too lazy to update this web site for 18 months)

When I started swimming regularly last autumn, one of the factors that motivated me was the thought of long swims in the sea in Cornwall during our holidays down there. No longer would I thrash around for a few minutes before retiring breathless to the shallow waters, where bobble hundreds of fellow holiday makers. No, I would be swimming in the open sea, gliding through the water like a seal, at one with the elements.

Last week was my first chance to see how much - or how little - I'd improved over seven months ploughing up and down indoor pools. And had those lessons borne any results?

We didn't choose a good week for our holiday. After weeks of dry, warm weather, storms took hold through the middle of the week, and we had only the one day - Friday - that wasn't windy: so the sea was choppy throughout. On tuesday there was torrential rain all day, which was accompanied by strong winds in the afternoon and evening, and on wednesday there were gale force winds all day.

Nevertheless it was only on the tuesday that I didn't swim at all; that day there was no question of swimming in the sea and when I went along to Hayle swimming pool in the late afternoon I was not surprised to find it closed. Overall I was a little disappointed with my sea swims; I had under estimated how hard it is to swim in a choppy sea. I had planned to spend a few days working up to a log swim on the thursday. On Sunday and Monday I swam on our local beach at Riviere Towans, in the bay opposite St Ives. The tide was out most of the day so I had to walk seemingly miles to find deep water. On tuesday I couldn't swim; on wednesday I swam in the Penzance Jubilee pool during the gale. Thursday was windy again, and we had planned to go to Godrevy Head, where the sea was extremely choppy, so I had a swim instead at The Hayle outdoor swimming pool (lovely cool water). It wasn't until Friday that we had calm weather. We went to Porthcurno, where the sea is wonderfully clear, and you can get into deep water within a few feet of the beach. I had a couple of long swims that day, but I finished my weeks holiday without trying a really long sea-swim. Maybe I wasn't strong enough anyway.

The Jubilee Pool, Penzance
The highlight of my swimming week was my visit to the Jubilee Pool in Penzance. I went along there on wednesday afternoon of June 23rd, fully expecting it to be closed, given that there was a gale blowing. In a way I was lucky to pick such a day to go there, as I only had to share the pool with two other swimmers. On dry sunny days up to 1000 people visit the pool. The one life guard was huddled up in against a wall, swathed in clothing. It wasn't as cold as I expected, but with spray blowing around it certainly wasn't a day for paddling around: swimming against the wind was hard work. I enjoyed a short but most exhilarating swim, which was made all the more worthwhile by it being such a foul day, when going swimming might appear a ridiculous endeavour. This really was 'proper' swimming, not the sanitized experience of modern indoor heated pools. My swim there made my day.

The pool is considered, along with Saltdean Lido, to be one of the two best examples of lidos still operational in England. I quote below from http://www.braggs1.fsnet.co.uk/lidos.htm, a web site devoted to the Lidos in the UK:

One of the most unusual and pleasing designs of the era was the Jubilee Pool at Penzance designed by Captain F Latham, the Borough Engineer. The pool was opened in 1935, the year of King George V's Silver Jubilee. It was built right on the shore line at Penzance and had to be designed to cope with the full ferocity of the Cornish seas. The pool is triangular in shape. In spite of this, straight edges have been avoided and gentle curves make it a most pleasant environment. A contemporary guide book tells us that:

"In many respects the design is unique architecturally, partly from a point of view of necessity in conforming with existing conditions of wave elements and rocks which controlled the outline. Streamlines have been used to the greatest advantage in meeting the direction of the storm waves, while a Cubist style has been adopted in the interior in providing diving platforms and steps...
The whole pool is surrounded by high streamlined sea walls terraced up within the interior so as to give aspect and effect. They also serve to strengthen the structure."