Safia Bailey is a postgraduate researcher at the Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences at Cardiff University. She is currently conducting her PhD research into the swimming communities of England’s longest river: the Thames. Her research aims to explore the inclusions and exclusions of this community, the bodily entanglements that arise from immersion into…
Author: otleyhaynes
Hellespont & Dardanelles Swim 2025: A Highly Recommended Blast
Although I swam three open water events over the summer, the one that I was really looking forward to was the intercontinental Hellespont & Dardanelles crossing which is an iconic swim of just under 5k from the European to Asian side of Turkey. It didn’t disappoint and it’s hard not to be evangelical about the…
Dock2Dock, Canary Wharf and The Great North Swim: Silly Mistakes and Fun
I thought this would be as good of a time as any to venture more fully into open water swimming events and so I entered four over the summer. It’s now three down and one to go and time to reflect. Overall, it’s been fun with the best part being the conversations that I have…
Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style: An Argument for Retaining the Notion of ‘Culture’.
Anthropologists, for one, have long been uncomfortable with the way in which the notion of ‘culture’ has been used in pernicious or problematic ways which can result in racism, essentialism, ‘othering’, exotification or simply a lack of precision. This discomfort is captured in James Clifford’s often quoted phrase in the introduction to The Predicament of…
New in Chats, Stories and Memories: Elias Patel from the Goa Open Water Swimming Club
India is a country of over 1.4 billion people, and yet it is estimated that less than 0.5% of the population there can swim and out of that small number only a further half would be confident swimming in open water. Goa Open Water Swimming Club is working towards improving this situation by providing swim…
Is it Fresh? Llyn Cau, Cadair Idris
Although I have generally gone off the term ‘wild’ swimming, Llyn Cau, on the ascent up Cadair Idris, might actually be exactly what is on offer. On a recent trip to Cymru, four of us marched up the 350m ascent through the cloud and drizzle to reach the lake. There was so much overhanging mist…
Paddle Out Protest: Leeds Granary Dock
At times, it may seem that amid the ongoing wars and global conflicts, protesting about water quality may seem misplaced or even trivial. However, there are clear links between the political interests that privatise shared resources like water for profit and greed and the polarising narratives which legitimize violence and repression. Drawing connections between these…
“Je peux pas, j’ai piscine”
A friend recently shared a post explaining the phrase, ‘Je peux pas, j’ai piscine’ which is apparently commonly used in France as an excuse to get out of a social engagement or invitation. A rough translation might be ‘I can’t, I’m going to the swimming pool’ or the equivalent in English such as ‘the barbers’…
Arla Great North Swim 2025: The Quiet Half Mile Wave
In a fit of winter boredom and yearning for hot sun and open water, I booked a series of open water swim events both in the UK and further afield. As they draw closer, I’m slightly panicked that I may have bitten off much more than I’m capable of. My sense is that these events…
The Sky Pool: Stunning and Somewhat Depressing
On a recent trip to London, my head was spinning at the rate of development in the Nine Elms area as I remembered it being a bit of a wasteland on my last visit. Seeing rows of gleaming tower blocks made me feel like a ‘country bumpkin’ lost in the big city. I was then…
An Anthropology of Swimming 