Returning to sport following an injury is a gradual process, but when you’ve had a near-death experience it can seem unimaginable. Rhian Cowburn was 19 when she was dragged to shore unable to breath after a wave crashed down on her while surfing in Australia.
Rhi (pictured above on the right) didn’t go back in the water until she saw the story of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which ran aground in 2012. She heard how some passengers had swam to safety and realised she needed to overcome her fear.
Not one to do things by halves, Rhi signed up for a 1K open water swimming event in Dorney Lake, in Buckinghamshire, and started Swim Doctor lessons at London Fields Lido.
“I got myself to the point where I thought I couldn’t swim but the lessons were amazing and the panic around having my head under water went away,” Rhi says.
She learnt to swim as a child, but swimming was never a major part of her life until rediscovering it as an adult, and she has gone on to complete an Ironman triathlon.
If you’re keen to learn to swim or get back in the water and take on Swim Serpentine in 2025, here’s how to get started.
1. Find your lane
Whatever your starting point, there is a class to master the technique. You can either join group swimming lessons or one-to-one sessions which range from beginner to advanced. If you’re lucky enough to be a Tower Hamlets resident, you might even qualify for free swimming.
“There is so much you can learn,” Rhi says. “I couldn’t believe that even the angle your hand goes into the water can have an effect.”
Taking people on a fitness journey is Rhi’s day job as co-founder of fitness studio Strong + Bendy. She teaches a range of classes in Hackney Wick from strength circuits to pilates, but she says learning to swim was humbling.
“It's good to know how it feels to start something from scratch and to be scared of it. A lot of fitness is transferable, but a lot of it isn’t, and I must admit, when I first started swimming a few lengths, it was humbling because you can't just go, ‘Oh, I've run this far, so I can swim it.’”
Although it might feel like a daunting environment at first, everyone is there to look out for you. So just go at your own pace.
Rhi says: “You're not going to drown. The lifeguards are there for you. And if you've got any level of anxiety, start in the pool, not out in the open. You’ve got to meet yourself where you are at [with your confidence].”
2. Find hacks that work for you
Do future you a favour and remove any barriers to getting in the pool.
“It’s a silly practical thing for me,” laughs Rhi. “The first thing that put me off was forgetting my shampoo or this and that. It’s easy to let those small things get in the way. So now I have a swim bag, which means I don’t have to pack every time I go.”
Understanding your learning style can help you get ahead in lessons too. Rhi is a visual learner, so scouring YouTube helped her understand the training.
She says: “You aren't watching someone swim, they're having to describe it to you. I found that quite difficult, so I was going home and watching YouTube so I could actually see and I'd be like, 'Oh, I know what they mean by the hand going in now.’”
3. You are better off buying good secondhand gear
Like any sport, there is the inevitable gear trial and error while you find out what works for you, but Rhi says to be savvy when purchasing gear.
"So aim to get your more expensive kit like wetsuits second hand from eBay or Gumtree, choosing the well known brands like Orca or 2XU. Rather than getting a brand new wetsuit for £30 on Amazon because you’ve got to question how good it will be.”
4. Set yourself a challenge
One of the motivators for Rhi is fear of failure. “For me, you have to have that slight element of fear or failure to get it done.”
At Swim Serpentine, you can choose from a range of distances from half a mile to six miles. So choose what works for you.
Initially, Rhi signed up for a 1K open water swimming event at Dorney Lake, but completing Neptune Steps in 2017 was the moment she knew she had conquered swimming.
Red Bull used to host the annual event which it dubbed the “toughest open-water adventure race”. Neptune Steps challenged participants to swim more than 400 metres upstream in Glasgow’s Forth & Clyde Canal, navigating seven locks as they went. When swimmers reached the locks there were ropes and climbing walls to get up and over.
Rhi says: “It’s not the highest distance I have ever done but it was the moment of, ‘You are a good swimmer’, because I had to swim against the current.”
5. Take your time to transition to open water
When you are ready to transition to open water, you can browse Swim England’s list of open water venues in the UK.
Ensure that someone is with you and get familiar with the additional kit such as safety buoys to strap around your waist. You can view the ZONE3 range of buoys and tow-floats here.
Love Open Water offers an open water swimming course and you can browse British Triathlon’s list of swim clubs with open water swimming.
6. You’ll need to get the knack of sighting
If you’re in a pool, you turn to the side to breathe and see the lane rope, but out in the open water you’ll need to get to grips with sighting to keep swimming in a straight line. You can read more about sighting in Outdoor Swimmer magazine here. Learning to look up from your stroke will take a bit of practice but most open water courses go over this.
7. Be considerate of your environment
When you exit the water, consider what you are leaving behind. According to the Outdoor Swimming Society, roughly 14,000 tons of sunscreen enter our rivers and oceans each year.
Rhi says: “Anything you’ve got on is going in the water and you’ve got animals in there. Suncream, deodorant, all that will end up in there with them. So the main thing you’ve got to think is, ‘Would you want that going into the water?”
8. Inspire someone
You might just inspire someone else to take the plunge. This is especially important if you’re a parent or have children in your family and friendship circle, says Rhi.
“You've got quite a unique opportunity when those children are a certain age to instil confidence when it comes to swimming and make sure they aren’t scared.”