Swim safe this summer

Local TV

Swim Wales are giving people their best advice on how to swim safely in Wales this summer. With 18 water-based deaths across the country in 2024, they want to help people stay safe, but still enjoy all the natural waters that Wales has to offer.

Transcript

00:00Wales is full of amazing beautiful swimming spots from local ledger centres to rivers and lakes and

00:08swim whales are making sure that people are able to use areas like these to go swimming but it

00:12doesn't come without its risks with a number of people losing their lives while swimming around

00:16Wales last year. The organisation urges caution wherever possible but wants to give people the

00:22best chance in swimming in our amazing waters as safely as they can. Well I think that the message

00:27is that you know people need to be aware that sadly you know there were 18 water related

00:33accidental deaths in Wales last year and that number is not going down and it's hugely important

00:41that we carry on with the key messages around water safety and awareness of the water and the dangers

00:49we want obviously and the day job that I have we want as many people to be aquatically active as

00:55possible because of all the health benefits and and the impact sport and activity can have physical

01:02activity can have on people's lives. Wales has so many natural swimming spots it's impossible to count

01:08them all but it's always important to remember that just because the sun's out and it's warm

01:13it doesn't mean that the water will be the same and plenty of inland water can be incredibly cold

01:17all through the year which can cause further risk to swimmers. Another big thing when people do come

01:24into contact with the water and of course you know we live in a in a in a country where we

01:29have thousands of miles of coastline and lakes and rivers and canals canal networks and reservoirs

01:38etc so you know that doesn't we're never too far away from the body of water. What people don't

01:43realize is inland water will only will be around 16 degrees throughout the year and inland water can be

01:52can be very cold and and as soon as people find themselves in difficulty or fall in we have what's

01:57called cold shock and and cold shock can really um negate any sort of uh uh way of of sort of helping

02:06themselves and that's that's a big problem.

02:08Felix is still encouraging people to make the most of our natural swimming areas where possible

02:14because Wales has so many and they can be an amazing way of feeling part of nature getting healthy

02:19and experiencing the natural beauty that Wales has on offer but as always he breaches caution.

02:24One hundred percent and you know there's if you look at the proportion and I get asked this question

02:29all the time because you know like I said with the day job with Swim Wales we're trying to promote

02:34aquatic activity trying to promote more people going to swimming pools clearly a swimming pool will be a

02:40lot more in terms of safety will be a lot more of a managed environment because you have the life

02:44guards etc etc it's a little bit more of a controlled environment you know the outdoor where I am today

02:50in Lisvain Lannish and Reservoir where there'll be outdoor activities and again you know the safety

02:56equipment is there the safety briefings are there

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