Open Water Swimming Coaching

Open water swimming coaching and guided swims at Bournemouth’s beautiful beaches, from qualified coaches, for all abilities.

For the love of swimming

From first time sea swimmers to triathletes and endurance swimmers, we want to help you achieve your aims, gain confidence and improve your open water swimming.

Whatever your swimming aspirations, our experienced and professional coaches are here to fine tune your open water skills and help you get there. For fitness, for fun, for competitions, for mental health, we are passionate about you getting the best from your sea swimming experience.

SWIM WITH US

Open water Swimming sessions and programmes

From confidence practices and acclimatisation for beginners, through to buoy turns and racing starts for competitors, we can cover all aspects of open water/sea swimming – all whilst having a firm foundation and focus on swimming technique, with your stroke at the core.

We run coached sessions in the sea from May until October, the rest of the year we have sessions in the pool (and some invitation-only sea swim events).

Group sessions

Develop skills alongside others in our regular group coaching sessions. Grouped according to ability, we cover swimming technique, open water/race skills and aim to develop your abilities with distance and pace. Join other like-minded swimmers at our weekly sessions in the sea on Tuesdays at Southbourne. Contact us to find out about spaces in the sessions.

1 to 1 coaching

Have the sole attention of your coach and work towards what you want to achieve. You may be new to sea swimming or wanting to improve something about your stroke, speed or endurance; these bespoke sessions are for all abilities and are also open to juniors. Contact us to book or find out more.

Pool to Pier to Pier

From October to June maintain your swimming technique, practice some sea swimming skills and get ready for the open water with our weekly “pool to Pier to Pier” workshop sessions, held in a swimming pool in Southbourne on Thursday evenings. Contact us to book or find out more.

Introduction to sea swimming/dipping

A one-off session that will give you a solid grounding on starting to swim in the sea. Once completed you can join our social swim pod and take part in social swims and organised Wave 23 swims. Contact us to find out more. These sessions run until September.

Southbourne Social Swim Pod

Anyone who has swum with Wave 23 can join our social swim pod Facebook group and come to our Wave 23 and friends social swims. We also have Whatsapp groups for triathletes/regular swimmers who swim every week throughout the year from Southbourne beach, near Bistro on the Beach. Get in touch to find out more.

Sessions for children

We run term-time courses for local schools to teach sea safety, water confidence, improve swimming abilities and give children the skills and knowledge to enjoy the beach safely. Over the summer we also run kids sea swimming sessions based on these principles. Contact us to learn more.

Events

We run sunrise and sunset swims, night swims and other distance swims such as pier to pier swims. Contact us to find out about our events.

GIFT VOUCHERS AVAILABLE

THE PERFECT GIFT

Sea-loving family member or friend? Wave 23 gift vouchers are available for our 1 to 1 open water coaching, group sessions or guided swims. Contact us for more details.

who are we?

Meet the Coaches

Ellen

Ellen got into sea swimming with her desire to start competing in sprint triathlons about five years ago. Each year her love of the sea has grown stronger and last year was her first year swimming through the winter months. Ellen competes in local and national surf life saving competitions as well as the odd local sprint triathlon. Ellen is a swimming teacher, an open water swimming coach and also volunteers as a level 2 lead coach for her surf life saving club and for a local swimming club.

Lisa

Lisa’s family know that if they can’t find her she is probably swimming. It’s her passion and something she loves to pass on to others. A swimming teacher of over 25 years; as well as a tutor and open water coach. She has swum the Pier to Pier a number of times and also had the privilege of being part of a team to swim around the Isle of Wight. A volunteer at Christchurch Swimming Club and also a member of Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club. Her motto of “Your lesson. Your pace. Your time” comes from her swim school Swim and Tonic, but Lisa feels this is especially important in open water swimming. Focusing on finding peace and relaxation in the water as the foundation to build on for everyone’s goal.

Jane

A competitive pool swimmer when she was younger, Jane took to the sea three years ago and hasn't looked back! She is a swimming teacher, a keen member of Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club (and level 2 SLSGB coach) , a qualified surf lifeguard and open water swimming coach. Jane has done the last two Pier to Pier swims, as well as regularly competing in local and national surf life saving events - plus a couple of marathons! Jane has a young family and if she's not in the sea, is usually to be found in a campervan.

Testimonials

What our sea swimmers say

"An extra big thank you to Lisa, Ellen and Jane for all your support, encouragement and brilliant teaching. Feels so good to be out there with you."

Debbie

October 2020

"I ended up swimming 2.25km in the sea all front crawl. Can honestly say I couldn't have done this without Lisa and Ellen. You gave me the confidence to sea swim, thank you."

Carolyn

August 2020

"A big thank you for the lessons this summer which have been amazing! So pleased to have made it to the yellow buoy this summer. Thanks again"

Becca

October 2020

Come on in, the water's lovely

Develop your technique, confidence, and open water swimming skills. Tell us your aspirations and let us help you achieve them.

CONTACT US

We’d love to hear from you – to ask us any questions, to book or to have a chat about what you are looking for, please contact us using the form or email us at hello@wave23.co.uk.

CONNECT WITH US

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