As private clubs with swimming pools get expensive and restrictive in their entry, Mumbaikars embrace the open waters. Ever experienced the thrill of swimming in the open seas vis-a-vis the pool? Mumbai has a community of open sea lovers who are taking their passion to another level.
Recently, the city hosted the MSS Ultra Open Swimming Competition which saw participation in large numbers by people across age groups and with different swimming abilities. The event featured 28 amateur open water swimmers, who took on the stretch between the Gateway of India and the Atal Setu Bridge in Mumbai on November 17.
It also had solo swimmers as well as seven mixed relay teams, that included youngsters as well as those in their late 60s. The relay races began at 6.30 am in choppy waters while carefully negotiating the boat traffic closer to the bay, and by the end of it, each member had swum for a duration of 45 minutes. Solo divers had to wait for the tide to calm down before taking a plunge.
Open water swimming in India, say experts, is still a fairly unexplored territory because of various factors including lack of funding, problems related to cleanliness and hygiene and lack of insufficient training infrastructure.
While research and academic papers on the pros and cons of open water swimming in India remain tough to find, a cross-sectional study by Scottish swimmers titled, 'Self-reported benefits and risks of open water swimming to health, wellbeing and the environment...' says that open water swimming can 'uniquely benefit mental and physical well-being,' one reason why it has a rapid increase in popularity.
The other aspect is the growing interest in re-connecting with nature for environment-health interactions, says the academic paper. Using a national-scale online survey of 717 open-water swimmers, it also provides insight into how risks to public health and the environment resulting from this recreational pursuit are perceived.
Also, while wild swimming has grown massively in popularity in recent times, as a way of enjoying the sunshine and green surroundings, it can also help to relieve stress, burn calories, exercise muscles and elevate our endorphins. But along with the joys of outdoor swimming come some dangers, says Clement Fernandes, who coaches amateurs for open swimming in Mumbai.
"We need to manage and negotiate the risk from tides, currents and swells as well as unsafe and unclean water and the bugs and bacteria lurking in it. However, as experts, we know the areas where one can safely dive in for a swim in the open waters, but those are specific spots. One cannot just go about swimming in the open waters in Mumbai without awareness and knowledge about the right way to do it," says Fernandes.
Training for an open swimming session involves cardio and weight training - or even an hour of brisk walking every day without a break is good enough, says the coach.
We currently lack a detailed understanding of how perceived trade-offs in benefits versus risks associated with open-water swimming vary in space and time.
While challenging, longitudinal analysis of the open water swimmer community would be advantageous to understand, how perceptions of risks and benefits vary over a swimmer’s life course and how spatial and temporal changes in water quality driven by, eg., climate change and government policy, influence those perceptions.
As per the UK Government's Health Security Agency, open-water swimming can increase the risk of gastrointestinal illnesses, or stomach bugs, which may cause diarrhoea and/or vomiting, as well as respiratory, skin, ear and eye infections.
Most symptoms of these illnesses caused by micro-organisms such as norovirus, giardia and cryptosporidium, will generally be mild.
“These waters are not monitored for the 2 types of bacteria; intestinal enterococci and E. coli, which are used to assess bathing water quality. They can contain levels of sewage, faeces from livestock and pollution from farming or industry which are harmless to wildlife but would not be acceptable in designated bathing waters,” says the HSA.
