I worked at an event in Woolverstone and Harwich a couple of years ago, really lovely area. Bet it takes a while for the sea to warm up there though?!
I have a slot at London Docks for Sunday morning. In advance of that, Iāve now received the outline of the process that will be followed (theyāve been operating all week from early afternoons)ā¦
Covid-19 Process information for London Royal Docks Only:
Prebooking of swims is compulsory via the ACTiO app which you can login in to using your NOWCA details. There is a limit of 20 swim spaces available per slot.
We are releasing these weekly on Sundays.
Slots will be an hour long in total; PLEASE make sure you have fully vacated the pontoon by 5 minutes before the end of the hour slot - at the very latest, otherwise the group after you will lose time in water.
All changing is to be done in the open, away from the swim area and public benches.
Once changed, swimmers should move to the waiting line with their bags packed and ready to drop off. Please keep your distance and observe the 2m markers. Please make sure you are lined up ready five mins before your slot so we can get you in quickly.
Registration will be open on the hour ready for the pre-swim safety briefing. ALL SWIMMERS MUST BE IN ATTENDANCE.
Swimmers will be asked to come forwards one at a time. Staff will check names against the bookings list and check body temperatures before assigning a bag drop.
Swimmers should be ready to take their belongings to allocated bag stations, collect a tow float (or use own) and immediately head to the entry steps to get in the water.
Registration will be closed once all swimmers in the line are processed or at ten past the hour, which-ever comes first. There will be no late admissions and no refunds.
There is a greater onus than usual that swimming is at the customers own risk. One lifeguard will be on duty to provide non-contact safety (long-tow rescue).
The course is 200m long. Swimmers can swim round as many times as they like within the slot whilst maintaining social distancing in the water.
Swimmers can exit the water anytime. For those using the full allowance, a whistle will be blown before the end of the session time.
There are separate Exit steps. On exiting the water Swimmers should collect their belongings and immediately leave the swim area before starting to dry or change.
Sanitisation will be provided to clean hands after touching handles / surfaces.
Bag stations and tow floats will be disinfected before registration is reopened ready to check in the next group of swimmers.
Wetstuits are not compulsory, tow floats and bright hats/ headwear are compulsory.
A DETAILED COPY OF OUR COVID-19 OPERATIONS PLAN AND RISK ASSESSMENT CAN BE FOUND HERE
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We had a Zoom call with Swim England, BTF & RLSS today following the interim guidance they issued last week.
The elephant in the room is still whether it can be transmitted in the water as all the precautions seem to focus on the dry land side. They admit they have no answer but have asked and will ask again. I suspect no-one knows as itās still too new but I canāt see how water that was in someone elseās mouth 2 seconds ago canāt be a risk if I swim through it.
The RLSS are expecting to publish their lifeguard/rescue guidelines by the end of the week but they include both water & shore based people wearing PPE with extra PPE for the person rescued. It seems complicated and still a breach of social distancing for those involved but apparently BTF insurance will be invalid if it isnāt adopted.
The call was very amicable but there were clearly two camps with quite a divide between them.
Itās a fair point, but the few things I have read talk of the diluting effect of large bodies of waterā¦
and this, which is linked to in the above https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/water.html
This aligns with what my gfās dad (a GP) has told us, which is viral loading is as big a deal as raw exposure. My understanding is thatās why thereās the whole issue of being in close contact with someone infected, but also for an extended period of time. Itās necessary to get āsufficientā viral load to allow the virus to prosper. An extension of that is that my gfās dad has said heās seen evidence the most severely ill are the oneās who encountered the highest viral load. Itās why infected people have been recommended to self isolate in their own room, as that way you have no risk of further exposure to viral āemissionsā of someone else in your household who might also be infected. Or something like that.
Anyway, upshot is, Iām intending to go. The new policies introduced as I understand them mean we have moved from āavoid any spreadā to āmanage the spreadā, and effectively theyāre now expecting most people to get it at some point. They just donāt want everyone getting it all at the same time. And so if itās not even the goal to avoid any exposure to getting it now, then Iām going to try and do a few things that would make me happy.
But I completely understand that Iām making a decision just for me. Whereas you are making a decision that impacts a lot of others. And so you have to adopt a different mindset as an organiser.
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All good points and Iām not criticising any venues that have opened or anyone taking advantage of that.
I posted on our FB group that we wouldnāt accept any criticism of other venues as we all have limited information and are making the best decisions we can with it, there will inevitably be different conclusions from that same info.
Expecting a nice temperature for the morning swim after today 
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Just booked a slot at the local pond, theyāve created 5 lanes, 1 hour max, change at the car pre- and post-swim
No OW swimming - or unnecessary driving - allowed in Wales just now, so Iām cycling over the border with my kit to meet up with a club mate for a swim date in The Dee of Death at 10 this morning.
Should be interesting.
Edit:- If I do a run off, thatāll be kinda like a triathlon, right?
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Absolutely counts 
only if itās on Strava natchā¦ 
ā¦ as long as youāre not using segments!
are you allowed to cycle into a different country? 
Yes but he canāt go back again.
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Our local lake has mentioned an early June reopening once their happy theyāve got all the safety and social distancing measures in place.
Drove 30 minutes to a lake near Harlow for a swim this morning.
They have a nice one way system in place for signing in.
No bag drop, but car keys go on a board and are swopped for a wrist band (with sanitiser to hand)
Entry and exit to the lake are a good distance apart.
About 700m per lap.
Car keys are returned via a drain pipe
Changing in the car park
All seemed pretty well organised.
99% of people were keeping their distance apart from as I was getting out there was a group of 5 guys in a small circle chatting about a previous race and how fast they wereā¦you know the type
Obviously no records broken today (other than slowest swim in 2020) but felt good to be swimming.
Really noticed how tight my hip flexors were
Will definitely be going back, maybe a couple of times a week.
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Well I did my bike, swim, bike, run today but Iām beyond disappointed that my swim didnāt get picked up by my Garmin 
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Cycle there was easy, predominantly downhill with a tailwind.
The swim was surprisingly good as well. We have a route that runs to some telegraph wires that are more or less 1km upstream & then we turn & enjoy a current assisted return. Sometimes in early season Iāve started suffering with the cold & turned before the wires but today the temp was comfortable & we got up in just over 19mins & back in 14:30mins which isnāt too far off normalā¦although I may have problems lifting my gin glass tonight.
Cycle back was a bitch carrying a wet wetsuit uphill into the wind.
The run was pretty much threshold effort all the way
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Well done!
Yeah this is the bit Im not looking forward to, plus Ill be on my heavy classic/utility bike so itll be slow going up them thar hills. Panniers are the attraction though,
I used my commuter/old CX bike which has a rack for my pannier, but felt there would be too much weight & it wouldāve ripped the rack off the bike. If you have 2 panniers you may be more balanced though 
.
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Sorry to be just asking questions on first ever post (longtime lurker, shite, 3*IM, lousy in all) but Doonhamer, whereabouts did you launch from? Meadows or further upstream? Actually surprised Iām not reading about you on the Daily Post website, rozzers waiting by the shore to bust you for daring to enter Wales āfor exercise.ā Fair play!
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Eccleston Ferry.