Layering
The four seasons, they come and they go. We hope for the spring water to warm up. We rejoice when summer heats up the open water. We pray that summer temperatures remain in autumn and we pine as autumnal lows slowly rob the open water of the summer heat. We at FitandAbel.com swim coaching work with the many different open water groups: triathletes, open water racers, open water enthusiasts, sportive swimmers, neoprene addicts, the open water purest. Some groups overlap extremely well. Some groups remain clear of each other. Regardless of differences … we all have one conversation in common; The water temperature. How do we get...
Local Race Series
FitandAbel swim coaches Dan Abel and Ollie Hansen are pleased to announce the launch of RealSwim Race Series Christchurch in 2015. “The Realswim Race Series creates excitement and adventure through the medium of swimming. It is a community and family orientated event aimed at giving everyone an exciting, affordable and well-structured way to get active in the open water. Family and friends can enjoy a picnic on Corsair Beach while cheering and supporting participants in the RealSwim Race.” It will be following a very similar format to previous swim series held at Corsair on Wednesday nights with 500m, 1000m, and 2000m races. The 500m race involves one...
Swimming in 2015
Happy New Year. Welcome to 2015. We hope your swim adventures in 2015 are exciting, adventurous and safe in waters free from harmful pollutants. We wanted our first article of this year to be positive and inspiring for swimmers around the globe. We thought long and hard about discussing this topic as our first article of 2015. Although there is a negative context we decided that the quest for improved water quality and water standards is a positive and worthy start to the year. In late 2014 FitandAbel NZ Ltd submitted to the commissioners appointed by the Canterbury Regional Council to hear the application by Silver...
The Wetsuit Journey
My personal opinion is that swimming in normal swimsuit/bathers; the freedom of shoulders, the feel of the water, is the best form of open water swimming on earth. It’s a personal thing....
Queen Charlotte Sound
A jewel of a waterway located at the top of the South Island of New Zealand is Queen Charlotte Sound. This is the location for Queen Charlotte Sound RealSwim Adventure starting on 27 Feb 2015. The Queen Charlotte Sound is very well known for its stunning scenery, the Queen Charlotte track and as an arrival and departure point for the interisland ferry. It also happens to be a direct link with New Zealands Cook Strait, one of the world renowned ‘Oceans Seven’ Marathon swims. The Queen Charlotte Sound RealSwim begins with a meet up in Picton. We take a charter boat out to our accommodation; The...
RealSwim Bag
What is it? The RealSwim bag™ is an inflatable tow bag specifically designed for the open water swimmer. It has dual air compartments providing safety back-up, an inner storage compartment to take water proof phone, drink or food on your swim. A simple to use waist belt that allows the bag to be towed behind above the thighs ensuring minimal disruption during the swim – most of the time you will forget it is there. The RealSwim bag™ sits on top of the water therefore is it extremely low drag. Its buoyancy provides an added layer of confidence to the more anxious open water swimmer. Most...
Why Swim?
Why do we swim? It's often hard to capture the 'why' . What makes us want to head back to the water again and again. Two swimmers were gracious enough to share some amazing words from their swim experiences this summer. Both, very differently, answer their ‘why’: ...
The Athletes Goggle Guide
As a swim coach I get asked regularly ; “Can you name a brand of goggles that fit comfortably, don’t fog and don’t leak?” No I cannot . We all have different shaped faces. What works for me might not work for you. A good set of goggles should … be comfortable , not leak, be appropriate for the conditions (tints for sunshine or clear/blue/orange for cloudy days) . All goggles will fog eventually. The only way to find a good pair for you is to try them on. There are so many options. I looked around our swim squad a while back and realised...
Swimmable
As a an open water swim instructor and guide I would like to sing the praises of New Zealands clean green practices … but I can’t. Unfortunately New Zealand is excellent at watching the mistakes the rest of the world makes … and then copying them. My local river … too polluted to swim in. My local river flows into our largest catchment area river which Silver Fern Farms believes is a viable option for dumping waste http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/north-canterbury/9970873/Silver-Fern-Farms-dump-waste-in-river and http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/10029940/Works-filth-poured-in-river In this next article (below) Patrick Smellie asks if New Zealanders should expect rivers and lakes to be swimmable as standard or if having only some...
The Purple Duck
How regularly do I need to practice swim technique? Read on ...