Aquamania - Beach

Let's face it, the point of many beach sports is to get wet and enjoy a refreshing dip every now and then. The beach is a great place for summer fun. In this section we give you some ideas to help this along a little bit. Over time we intend to report on as many wet beach sports as we can find.

The thrill is in the uncertainty when you get wet, especially when you're fully clothed. You try to stay dry for as long a possible, but soon your clothes get splashed a little. Before you know it a wave hits you, or you fall in and get completely soaked.

Sun Protection

Sun lotions wash off after a while. Well fitting clothes, possibly with hoods, stay put even in the water. Cover up on the beach and stay healthy.

Sea Swimming

Sea swimming differs a lot from regular indoor or outdoor swimming, not just because it is done fully clothed for safety reasons. It is a multidiscipline sport, involving rock hopping, coasteering, and sometimes boats.

Smart adventure swimmers often wear clothes in the water, mainly to protect from cuts and bruises when passing through wild terrain, but also to add fun and excitement.

The choice of clothes depends largely on the terrain and the climate. All clothes must be unlined to avoid pockets of air and water. You can layer them to suit your needs.

Here is a check list to get you started.

Long sleeve top, preferably hooded.
Long pants or jeans, with belt.
Windproof anorak and pants.
Robust socks and shoes.

Safety

Never swim alone. Go in a group of likeminded people. One of them should be a qualified lifeguard. Take a waterproof mobile phone with you.

Terrain

The challenges you face depend largely on the terrain. Pick an area you can easily reach as you may carry a fair amount of kit. Avoid disturbing local wildlife in the reed beds or other bushes along the water. Some of them can bite.

Stream

A rocky mountain stream has many interesting features which you can explore in a small area. There are eddies and waterfalls to get soaked in. Put a robust rope across the water to play with.

The rocks are often slippery from algae. That is why you should wear robust clothes like t-shirts, jeans and hoodies to soften the blow should you slip and fall down.

Lake

A lake is a great place to relax and play all day with your friends. Hop in whenever you feel like it, dunk each other, jump about, float on truck tyres, and take many photos.

Bring several sets of clothes and try out how different kit feels in the water. Change into dry kit if you get cold. Always start a swimming session in dry clothes, it can be brutal to put on the wet, cold and clammy clothes from the previous swim.

Beach

A long sandy beach is great for running in and out of the water, with surf to play around in. Where possible stay between the red and yellow flags on lifeguarded beaches.

Check out the rock pools which can get quite warm on a sunny afternoon. Be careful, there are lots of small animals in there. It's their home. Don't step on them.

Lay down in the pool, float in your clothes, relax and enjoy.

Camping

Overnight camping trips can be great fun with the right kit. The amount of clothing to take depends on the length and variety of your trip. Ponchos are essential as rainwear, shelter, tarps and ground sheets. Take several ponchos per person for more versatility.

If you only run down to the local beach for the day, you can simply jump in and then walk around in your wet clothes, or relax in a small beach tent while your clothes dry. For longer trips you may want several changes of clothes, plus clothes lines to hang them up to dry.

There are now sleeping bags that not only keep you warm even when soaking wet, they also move moisture from the inside to the outside. Go to sleep in wet clothes and wake up dry.

Posted by Mega

This happened last summer, but I thought I'd share it, looking forward to the start of summer here in a couple months.

I was at the beach with a group of friends. One of my friends and I always like to joke around with each other. We started by playing some volleyball in the sand. Afterwards, we talked about going out into the water to cool off, but didn't really want to go swimming.

However, the water at this beach only got about knee deep unless you went way, way out. So we decided to just walk out into the water, not intending to get wet or anything since we weren't wearing swimsuits (at least some of us weren't).

So, the whole time we were walking out in the water, my friend keeps saying how he's going to throw me in the water and get me soaked. After saying it like 5 times, I decided to get the jump on him. When the water got knee deep, I came up behind him, grabed him, and pulled him backwards, dunking him in the water.

He was wearing black shorts with a black and white t-shirt. As he sat there in the water, he almost couldn't believe what I just did. I told him, "You kept talking about throwing me in the water first, so I thought I'd get the jump on you."

He got up smiling and laughing and charged at me. We're about equal in strength and size, but I am slightly bigger. Being in knee deep water, I knew I wasn't going to get away, and since he was already wet, he wouldn't mind going down with me, so I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before I got soaked.

But I was going to make him work for it. I managed to hold him off for about a minute. I pushed him and he took another dunk in the water, then he stayed down and grabed my leg. I couldn't counter that, so I got dunked in the water wearing my lightweight black athletic shorts and a dark navy blue t-shirt. We were both laughing about it afterwards. Fun day.

Wet Fun on the Beach