NIGHT SWIMMING

Finding calm in the North Atlantic after dark.

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Night swimming began during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As beaches became crowded during daylight hours, I found myself staying away. When darkness fell and the coastline emptied, I returned to the sea.

At first I did very little. I stood in shallow water, floated in the surf and slowly rebuilt a connection that had been interrupted by lockdown. It wasn't training or an endurance challenge. It was simply a way of finding my way back to an environment that has always felt like home.

Over time those short visits became something I looked forward to every evening.

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Learning the Darkness

Gradually the swims became longer.

I began swimming through the surf, body surfing waves back to the shore and eventually swimming the full length of my local beach in complete darkness.

Without daylight I could no longer rely on sight alone. Instead I learned to navigate through sound, movement and feel. I learned to recognise currents forming, to understand how the water moved beneath me and, perhaps most importantly, to trust instincts that daylight had always allowed me to ignore.

Each swim built confidence, not through taking greater risks, but through becoming more familiar with the sea after dark.

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A Different Relationship with the Sea

Night swimming isn't about pushing limits.

It is about simplicity.

In darkness the distractions disappear. The coastline empties and the experience is reduced to water, movement and awareness.

Swimming through the North Atlantic in winter demands respect. The conditions can be harsh, cold and unpredictable, but they are also deeply familiar. Over the years those swims have strengthened my understanding of the ocean in ways that daylight never could.

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What I Have Learned

Years of night swimming have taught me far more than how to navigate in darkness.

They have taught me patience, and trust.

I've discovered that I rely less on sight than I once believed, allowing other senses to guide me naturally through the water. As someone who is colour blind, I find the simplified visual world after dark surprisingly calming. It has also become a place where I think more clearly than almost anywhere else, free from the constant noise and distraction of everyday life.

Every winter I return to the sea, not because I have somewhere to reach, but because the experience itself has become part of who I am.

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From Practice to Public Campaign

The experiences and lessons I found through night swimming eventually inspired the Swim Through Darkness campaign, using open water swimming to encourage conversations around mental health and resilience.

While the campaign has grown into its own project, night swimming remains something deeply personal.

It is where it all began.

Visit the Swim Through Darkness website → https://www.swimthroughdarkness.com/

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Further Reading

The story of night swimming is explored in greater depth in my books Escape and Night Swimming.