Vicki sets out to follow in her father’s footsteps and swim down the River Avon from Bath to Bristol. She is joined on this adventure by her wife Oonagh. Along the way she meets up with her family for some reminiscing about her father, and talks to Johnny Palmer, a passionate swimmer and “disrupter” who inspires and enables many swims around Bristol. We also discuss swimming in the Avon with Luke and Charlie from All-Aboard Watersports who organise swimming in the Bristol docks. Vicki gets help from CK SUP and Paddle at Newbridge outside Bath, and then has a refreshing swim with Bart, one of her father’s rowing friends. Becca Drazin from the group Conham Bathing tells us about how much she likes her swim spot on the River Avon. To end we hear a beautiful poem about the river by Mrs Meg Avon. Find out how the swim goes….

In this episode Vicki meets musician and singer BE who has written the beautiful song Swim Through. The song is inspired by the women BE met whilst swimming, and hearing their stories. Vicki has a dip with BE at Hampstead Ladies Pond and a chat about how swimming helps us to get through stuff. We also hear from the women who helped to make the video of the song. Find the song, it’s very catchy and has a great rhythm if you want to sing along as you Swim Through your swim.

In this episode Vicki meets Neil Agius, an ultra endurance marathon swimmer who has set world records with his swims near his home in Malta. Vicki and Neil go for a swim at West Reservoir and discuss how you get from swimming a 400 meter race in the Athens Olympics to a 142 kilometer swim round Malta, Gozo and Comino. We talk about how you can manage such long swims physically and mentally and cope with the doubts and the jellyfish. He talks about his swims and the mental framework called the Ocean Mindset, which he has developed. This combines strategies like breathwork, ice immersions, and community to build resilience and focus and get him through his super long swims. He also talks about how a plastic bag gave him a big idea and a new charity.

Vicki explores pollution in our rivers and swim spots and how this affects us as swimmers. It’s quite a grim tale. The episode gives you heaps of great information about identifying and dealing with pollution, so you can be better prepared for your swim. Yvette Tetteh who has swum down the River Volta in Ghana, talks about her swim, the river and the clothing waste from the global north that is clogging it up. She also talks about her charity The OR Foundation  which is campaigning for change. Rebecca Duncan from The Rivers Trust talks about different types of pollution, how to spot them and what action you can take. Henry Shepherd from the charity River Action and Honor Teare from Friends Of The Thames meet up with me to test the river Thames and talk about testing and how the data is key for campaigning. Lastly I talk to Claire Robertson from Thames 21 in Oxford about how to get Designated Bathing Water Status for your swim spot. 

Vicki explores the glorious world of older women swimmers, highlighting their achievements, dreams and passions. Sal Minty-Gravett MBE, who has swum the English Channel in each decade of her life since she was a teenager, talks about her Channel swims and co-hosts the programme. Almost Synchro, open water synchro swimmers, try to set a World Record for the longest cold water routine. Deborah Vine, a Team GB Ice swimmer, explains her love of cold water swimming. Listener Nickie Gore discusses the extra challenges of swimming with Parkinson’s disease and Laura Reineke tells us about her love of the River Thames and her challenge to swim the Oceans 7. Kari Furre shares how she loves to teach Butterfly and her passion for teaching older swimmers.

Mikey and Vicki go down Deep, diving under the water, swimming in it and listening to its sounds. Halani Moss-Vete tells us about her epic swim across the Molokaʻi Channel in Hawaii, where the water is very deep and the currents are strong. Dee Newell tells the story of her swims under the ice in Päijänne In Finland. This piece was created by Dominique Ferraton for SwimOut. Charlie Stewart tells us all about why he loves scuba diving and the peaceful world he finds down there. Amorina Kingdon, in contrast, shares with us the songs of fish singing under the water, which led her to write her book Sing Like Fish. We also discuss the TV programmes that ignited our love of swimming.

Vicki tells the story of how she swam around Manhattan Island. She talks about how she prepared, including talking to Jaimie Monahan – who has swum around it more times than anyone else. She heads down to Brighton Beach to swim with CIBBOWS the Coney Island and Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers. Through recordings from the day made by Oonagh Gormley, her crew and wife, and her own memories from the swim, a rich aural story is woven. From the event organisers New York Open Water we meet the kayaker, observer and boat captain. Plus we hear from family and friends at home following the unfolding story via the gps tracker and WhatsApp.

Vicki delves into History in this edition and also finds swimmers who are making history today. She meets Sarah Thomas who made history most notably with her 4-way English Channel crossing. Anna Maria Mullally shines a light on Irish swimmers at the turn of the last century. Todd Balf, whose book Three Kings explores the lives of 3 unlikely Olympic heroes, tells us the stories he has uncovered. George Townsend looks at the history of river bathing in Oxford. Vicki and Kathryn Ferry discuss how Billy Butlin got involved in Channel relay races in the 1950’s. We also find out about a historic reservoir featured in the film Wild Water and meet Wen Erh Hsu, the first Taiwanese swimmer to cross the English Channel. There’s heaps of historic action!

Mikey and Vicki discuss Pride and open water swimming. Olympian, Peter Prijdekker, shares how he has swum with Pride throughout his life. Vicki has a chat with team-mates from Out To Swim, her LGBTQ+ swimming club. Kerry Andrew reads from their haunting book Skin about a non-binary swimmer looking for their father. Then we find out about swimming with Pride around the country starting with Brighton where we discuss a new idea.  We move to Kendal, where Jonathan Cowie explores how Pride is celebrated in the Lakes. Finally, Vicki goes to the Royal London Docks for the first in a new series of Pride Swims rolling out across the country.

The topic of this episode is grief and how the open water can help to soothe you at this time of crisis and turmoil. Vicki starts by chatting with Shannon House Keegan from Marathon Swim Stories about their stillborn sons. Then Dr Catherine Kelly shares with us the turmoil she felt after her mother died and talks about her book Blue Spaces that explains why and how water can help with grief. Kate Steels joins Vicki to talk about the son she lost to suicide and how swimming the Ice Sevens Challenge helped her to recover. Lastly Vicki talks to Cat Joy White about her beautiful film 54 Days and how taking up open water swimming was a major solace to her after the death of two people she loved.

Mikey and Vicki discuss the wonderful world of swimming communities. They chat with Rachel Jones who edited Toes in the Water – stories of lives changed by wild swimming. Vicki goes to Mamma Swim and finds out all about their group for mothers who want to swim in the open water. Mikey talks to fellow swimmers at Brighton Swimming Club– the oldest swimming club in England. Bill and Jeff share with us about their project iSwim4 which is for people recovering from substance addiction and Vicki finds out about a film called Rave On For The Avon and its maker Aggie Nyagari and star Meg who decided to become Mrs Avon.

Amy Ennion and Vicki explore training for the big event. They discuss their approaches to training and talk to Shannon House Keegan who works with people remotely. Vicki goes to meet Ray Gibbs who films you in his tank. Amy discusses training camps with Anna McCarthy, a regular at the infamous Irish swim camps and Mandy Bodemeaid from Dover Channel Training tells us all about their training weekends. Plus we hear from Mark Sheridan about a pool based group which provides support and inspiration and Jonathan Cowie tells us about his struggles with his sofa.

This season has seen a bumper crop of swimming records, so Vicki and Amy have sought out the record-breakers. We have Andy Donaldson who swam all seven of the Seven Oceans in just one year, and Sophie Etheridge chats with Jackie Cobell having taken her Longest English Channel Swim mantle. Jasmine Harrison, who has two Guinness world records, talks about her adventures. We chat with Anshuman Jhingran, who snapped up two records in his first year of marathon swimming and we join it all up with Julian Critchlow who gathers in all the English Channel facts and is himself a record holder.

Mikey and Vicki bring you a cornucopia of tales about Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel. With a dramatized section and interviews with her grandson Andrew Pember and bathing historian Anna Maria Mullally the program celebrates this iconic swimmer. We also find out all about the “Swimming a Long Way Together” project, a tribute to Mercedes created by Vanessa Daws. We bring Mercedes’ story to life and delve deeper into who she was and the legacy she has left.

In this edition of the SwimOut podcast we explore how swimming can boost our wellbeing and soothe our worries.

Join Mikey and Vicki with special guest Amy – AmySwims as they talk about the challenges they have with how they look. We speak to Gill – Stoma Chameleon about her Channel crossing and Jamie from Blue Mind Men, a mental health swim for men. We find some great swimsuits which bring us joy, made by Usual Objections  and for the more environmental feel-good factor we talk with Angela from Swim Wild Wye who campaigns to keep her river pollution free.

In this edition of the SwimOut podcast Vicki talks to Chloe McCardel- Queen of the Channel.

Chloe has swum the English Channel 44 times, more times than any other person. Also she holds the record for the longest ever sea swim. She is swimming royalty but also a passionate supporter of Women’s rights, always ready to call out injustice.  Vicki spends a day with Chloe finding out about her swimming, her past and what she is up to in Dorset this summer with her new boat Channel Queen.

In this edition of the SwimOut podcast we explore the joys of swimming in a Relay team.

Join Mikey Tees and Vicki as they talk about Relay swimming and the fun of it. Observer Deborah Vine answers listeners’ questions about the big day and the rules and Team Bits Missing discuss their North Channel swim. Plus we hear from Catherine Stefanutti, Dirk Gewert and more listeners about the joys of Relay swimming.

In this edition of the SwimOut podcast we explore the challenge of swimming in cold water.

Join Vicki and Jonathan as they talk about thier swimming exploits in Morocco and Cheltenham. Vicki talks to Ger Kennedy about swimming in Antarctica and how it feels to be in water that cold and how to recover. Plus Jonty Warneken and Michelle Lane talk about competing in Team Ice GB

In this edition of the SwimOut podcast we explore the team behind big swims.

Join Vicki and Jonathan as they chat to Padraig Mallon – North Channel Pilot, Ros Bailey partner of Hells Mouth Swimmer Frank Chalmers and Elaine Howley who likes to give back to the open water community. Plus listener and amazing swimmer Jaimie Monahan tells us where she likes to swim as does Fiona MacDonald, previous presenter of SwimOut.

In a very special episode we introduce our exciting new presenter Jonathan Cowie.
Our main guest is Lynne Cox, iconic swimmer and writer who swam the Bering Strait for peace between Russia and the USA in 1987 and still campaigns for Peace.
Plus we hear from Jackie Cobell who tells us about her Facebook page, Swimmers For Peace in Ukraine.

In the final episode of this series Hunter and Vicki are joined by the founder of WOWSA, Steven Munatones, and Gareth Jones who recently completed an EPIC 60 kilometre swim over Wales’ wildest water. We’re also joined by the the legendary Jackie Cobell who has the impressive (if undesirable) accolade of the longest ever channel swim. Plus, we catchup with our favourite fan Rick Cipolla. 

This month Hunter is joined by guest presenter Omie Dale to discuss access and inclusion in aquatics. We hear from bathing historian George Townsend about sociological barriers to water, such as race and gender, in the 19th century. Omie talks to the founder of Swimunity and Vicki delivers a special report on disability in open water swimming, including input from Susie Rodgers MBE

Hunter and Vicki delve into The Mind. The mind can be your best friend and your worst enemy on a long swim. It can soothe and wash away your troubles; it can also disrupt and ruin your flow.

In this episode we meet Cliff Golding; after 5 years and 6 failed attempts Cliff finally tamed his demons and successfully crossed the English Channel – he tells us his secret. Sarah Kennedy Norquoy lives in the Orkney isles and tells us how swimming helped her recover from grief and we catch up with Mental Health Swims about raising mental health awareness. Plus we speak to two Paralympian’s about their mental health journeys in the lead up to Tokyo.

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Vicki and Mikey explore Journeys

We hear from Cath Pendleton, who holds the Guinness World Record for the Most Southerly Ice Swim (female) in Antarctica, but also likes Mermaiding and chitty chatting.  Mikey leaps out of his sound booth to present this week and speaks to Sal Minty-Gravett, the oldest woman to do a 2-way English Channel swim. John Coningham-Rolls from SwimQuest tells us all about his passion for empowering people to start their swimming journey and stop punching below their weight. Pier to Pier’s are featured and Hunter tells his story of swimming to the Buoy.

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Vicki and Fiona – our guest presenter – explore The Environment.

We hear from Owen Hayman, a man who loves swimming in Reservoirs, on his mission to open up more water for us all to swim in whilst being kind to the environment. We catch up again with Calum McLean in the highlands of Scotland who finds awe in this magnificent scenery and is desperate to preserve it. We also bring you reports about the health of the sea from Papua New Guinea, a re-wilding project from East London and a Channel swimmer with a passion for collecting litter. Plus loads of ideas for great environmental projects to follow.

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Everything has been so uncertain! We hear from Jaimie Monahan doyenne of Ice swimming, about how she coped. We catch up with Steve and Norma talking about their fabulous Webinar which kept us entertained
and Emma France from Dover Channel Training about how to cope with the uncertainty that IS the English Channel

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It’s ICY out there, so we went in search of the Ice Swimmers. We hear from Jaimie Monaghan doyenne of Ice swimming, Ram Barkai who set up International Ice Swimming Association and Rostislav Vitek the fastest ice miler. We also meet Attila Manyoki, the fastest man to complete the Oceans Seven challenge who was hospitalised with hypothermia.

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Plus

The beautiful Attila film “Oceans Seven – The Hell of the North” can be found here

Sarah Kennedy Norquoy’s “Salt on my Skin” book is available from bookshops or here in the UK