West Bay Sea Swimming
WELCOME
The main aim of this website is to provide swimmers with information about swimming here, and what to be aware of in terms of safety. There is a page devoted to safety equipment - where it is,what it is, and how to use it- which regular swimmers might like to bookmark and keep an eye on for updates, and a page on what to do if things go wrong.
There is also information on reading surf forecasts – how to understand wave direction, prevailing winds, wave periods and heights, tides etc. and importantly, how these factors relate to sea conditions on our fabulous beach
The beaches in West Bay offer amazing opportunities for swimming in a glorious setting; when the sea is mirror calm and the sun lights up the iconic golden cliffs on West Beach, or when an evening swim coincides with a sunset over Lyme Bay, then it is hard to beat. However, West Bay is not a particularly sheltered location, so sea conditions can vary enormously- from a heavenly to a heaving sea,with waves that can be playfully choppy or monstrously shore crashing. Sea swimming here, as with sea swimming anywhere, can have it's challenges.
That may look like far too much information to have to be bothered with, especially if you are only thinking of a bob or a dip on a good day. But gorgeous and wonderful though it is, sea swimming has it's dangers, so the more ‘tooled up’ you are with info, and the more you are able to understand how the sea might behave, then the safer your swim will be.
About us
This website has been put together by local regular and year round swimmers. We have had some superb swims and seen the sea looking utterly splendid. We have also seen the sea looking far from lovely, and some of us have had some fairly terrifying swimming experiences, hence the focus on issues around safety and on learning how to understand surf forecasts.
If you are new to swimming in West Bay, there are usually different groups swimming here at different times between 7am-9am ish, or one of the best ways to join in is to get in touch with local Bluetits swimmers.