The Blue Balls, Menopausal Mermaids, Frozen Fannies, Viking Dippers, Dawnstalkers, Soul Swims, Dip Club, Blue Mind, the Perkies, Bluetits, Cold Water Tingz & the Polar Bears
Hello Everyone,
Happy New Year! We’re starting 2025 as we plan to go on, revelling in the slowness of the bathhouse and the power of bathing to bring people together.
Read on to meet the women putting wildness back into swimming, discover our favourite films on the Sauna Channel and book tickets for the Culture of Bathing Variety Show, an evening of live entertainment and social bathing in NYC on 14 January.
Elena, Jane and Robbie
From dips in remote lakes to splashing in coastal waves, taking a swim in the wild has never been more popular.
We caught up with Vicky Allan who, together with photographer Anna Deacon, is behind a series of books charting the rise of wild swimming, to find out more about the allure of open water and freezing beaches and the people joining the call.
CULTURE OF BATHING: What do you think is driving the popularity of wild swimming?
VICKY ALLAN: The Covid pandemic was a strong influence as people began to find connection with the sea, nature and other humans through swimming. Since then, people have noticed the wildly good time others are having while swimming, and that getting in cold water is good for you, both mentally and physically.
But the resurgence really started nearly three decades ago, with Roger Deakin and his book, Waterlog, which pioneered swimming as a subversive act. The author not only coined the term ‘wild swimming’, but also told a little of that health story we are still telling now. “Natural water,” he wrote, “has always held the magical power to cure”.
CoB: During your book research, you met many swimming clubs - can you tell us more about them? Why is swimming so good at bringing people together?
VICKY: It’s less about clubs and more about self-organized groups. When we first started, the groups were mainly women with a couple of token men, but more recently the scene has diversified. That is reflected in the names: the Menopausal Mermaids, the Blue Balls, the Blue Tits, the Wild Ones, the Perkies (skinny dippers), the Dawn Stalkers, the Viking Dippers.
Swimming brings people together, there’s an element of risk when we enter the water; we are going through a form of physical shock together. The journey through that fear to thrill and laughter on the other side, can be instantly bonding.
CoB: Which group has the most outrageous name?
VICKY: Frozen Fannies! A group we found in Greystones, Ireland, while researching our book Swimming Wild Ireland.
CoB: What are your favorite swim spots?
VICKY: One is a white sand beach on the west coast of Scotland, Camusdarach, where I camp with a group of friends every year, enjoying jumps off rocks into the sea (after careful checks for depth and perils beneath), moonlight swims, bobbing around in the rain, snorkels through rocky outcrops swaying with seaweed.
A top memory is a challenging swim I did with a guide out to Pabbay Island in the Hebrides. One of our party was an opera singer and, to my surprise, dressed in a wetsuit, standing under a dramatic rock arch facing the Atlantic, she started to pelt out a goosebump-triggering aria.
CoB: How did you get into wild swimming?
VICKY: I had always liked a cold water dip, but it wasn’t until 2018 that I immersed myself in the routines and adventures of outdoor swimming culture when a friend lured me into joining a weekly swim group.
“Swimming brings people together, there’s an element of risk. The journey through that fear to thrill and laughter at the other side, can be instantly bonding.”
In the months after my brother died a few years earlier, I didn’t know what to do with myself. Nothing I did felt right. But, on a summer holiday in Ireland, staying on a tiny island in Lough Mask, I’d dipped in the water daily and felt some solace, floating and looking up at the vast wash of grey and feeling like perhaps he was somewhere out there. As we’ve researched our books, I’ve noticed that many people have stories like this.
CoB: What’s next for wild swimming?
VICKY: The past year has been all about the rise of what I call wild sauna - the grassroots sauna cabins that have been popping up around the country. We swimmers are learning to enjoy a bit of hot with our cold.
All photographs by Anna Deacon @wildswimmingstories
Anna and Vicky’s (@allan_vicky) books include Taking the Plunge, The Ripple Effect, The Art of Wild Swimming England + Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
Bathe your way around the world with The Sauna Channel
What’s inspiring your bathing journeys for 2025? Our first port of call is The Sauna Channel a platform celebrating bathing cultures around the world, from sybaritic hot springs in Utah, Colorado and California, to Finnish smoke saunas and revered Japanese onsen.
Bray’s Run Productions, founded by Seattle-based Greg Moga, instigated the platform to showcase their bathing films and share work by other filmmakers. Two of our favourite films are the Trevarefabikken Sauna, a cabin on a rocky outcrop in Lofoten Islands with a huge window to contemplate the mercurial seas, and Otakinoya, transporting us to a small town in Japan where the ancient bathhouses date back to the 17th century Edo period. Bathers must follow the strict protocols or face the wrath of the bathhouse attendants. Moga also produced the Perfect Sweat docu-series exploring the global art of sweat bathing presented by the legendary Mikkel Aaland. Catch it on Apple TV, Amazon Prime and Google Play from Monday January 6, 2025.
Join us for Culture of Bathing Variety Show
For one night only, the Culture of Bathing is coming to life on stage and in bathhouses all over town. After both a fun and seriously moving theater night, 150 attendees will have the opportunity to join speakers and bathing luminaries from all over the world in a late night of modern social bathing all over town.
Buy tickets HERE
Culture of Bathing Variety Show
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
6:30-8:00pm at New School Auditorium 66 West 12th St. NYC
Hosted by the insanely funny Negin Farsad, speakers include Leonard Koren (creator of WET Magazine), Machine Dazzle (“A true theatrical genius” - New Yorker), Dan Harris (Best Selling Author of 10% Happier, ex-anchorman on Good Morning America), Mikkel Aaland (the "Godfather” of Sauna, author of Sweat and the aforementioned Perfect Sweat) and The Sarafinas. See cultureofbathing.com for full list.
Bathhouse Bathe-Around
8:30-10:00pm
After the show, keep the night going and join us to experience modern social bathing at Elhani, Othership and Russian + Turkish Baths. This is a chance to visit some of the newest and oldest and hottest bathhouses in NYC.
$10 - just the show OR $25 for the show and admission to a local bathhouse.
Buy tickets HERE
In the news
“In the ancient city of Ephesus, a complex bathhouse, including a gymnasium and sports area, which was built in the Roman period over approximately 70 acres, is being restored.” Daily Sabah confirms that the restoration of the Roman bathhouse begins.
Daily Sabah, December 26, 2024
“I want to be the person that puts [group] emotional wellness on the map” Fortune speaks to Othership founder Robbie Bent.
Fortune Well, January 2, 2025
“Hot and cold therapy is becoming more accessible in the southern U.S. thanks to brands like Sauna House” Athletech News reports on the expansion of Sauna House’s tech-free contrast therapy studio to Tennessee.
Athletech News, December 26, 2024
One last thing
“The tourist is going to toss a coin, they don’t care about construction or no construction”. Read more about the ancient tradition of throwing coins in the Trevi for luck in the New York Times.
We’d love to hear from you - please send a DM, or email hello@cultureofbathing.com