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Open Water Swim Coaching
Open water skills, practised in the pool.
Weekdays, 6am–3pm: £85 first session, filmed
- 1-to-1
- Sighting & starts
- In the pool
- Then £70 an hour
What we
cover
1-to-1 open water skills coaching in the pool at The Venue, Borehamwood: sighting, swimming straight, starts without a wall and race pacing. We don't coach at lakes. We make sure your first open water swim isn't the first time you've practised the skills it needs.
Each open water skill is specific and learnable, and most of them can be drilled in a pool lane. These are the areas we work through, all in the pool.
Sighting technique
Lifting your head efficiently without losing stroke momentum or sinking your hips. How to read the course, set a sight line, pace your sighting frequency and navigate accurately around buoys.
Drafting
Where to sit on feet or hips to save energy, and how to hold that position without losing your own line. Learned in the lane, ready for your first group swim.
Starts without a wall
Starting from treading water with no push-off, then the first 200m: going hard enough to find space without blowing up, and settling your breathing once you have it.
Breathing control
Bilateral breathing, and breathing calmly when your heart rate is up, so a choppy start or a wave in the face doesn’t knock your stroke apart.
Pacing without a clock
Holding an even, sustainable pace when there are no walls, lengths or pace clock to tell you how you’re doing. Race-pace sets that teach you what the right effort feels like.
Swimming straight
Drills that keep you on line without a black line to follow, so you sight less often and swim fewer extra metres. A straight swimmer needs fewer corrections.
The pool doesn't
prepare you for this
In a pool, you have lane lines, a black line to follow, fixed walls to push from and a controlled breathing pattern. Take all of that away and many confident pool swimmers find themselves anxious, disoriented and working twice as hard for a fraction of the pace.
Open water swimming is a learnable skill set — sighting, swimming straight, drafting, starting without a wall, pacing. Coaching these specific skills in the pool closes the pool-to-open-water gap faster than any amount of plain pool yardage.
Start coaching →
In the pool,
not at lakes
All coaching takes place in the pool at The Venue Leisure Centre, Elstree Way, Borehamwood WD6 1JY: a 25m, 8-lane pool with paid parking. We don’t coach at lakes. For your own open water swims, choose a supervised venue with lifeguards and take the skills from your sessions with you; your coach will tell you what to focus on.
Swimmers travel to The Venue from across the county. See the areas we cover.
Who open water
coaching is for
Pool swimmers doing their first OW event
Comfortable in a pool but about to race in open water for the first time. Bridging the gap before your event rather than finding out on race day.
Triathletes with open water anxiety
Your pool swimming is fine but the mass start, the dark water or the loss of landmarks sends your heart rate and anxiety skyward. Confidence built in the pool first.
Ironman athletes adding OW-specific work
Training for long-course triathlon and want dedicated open water skill work built into your pool sessions. Race simulation and distance confidence.
Wild swimmers extending their range
Not racing — just want to swim further and more comfortably outdoors. A more efficient stroke, calmer breathing and better sighting, built in the pool.
Swimmers moving from pool to open water racing
Club or competitive pool swimmer making the move to open water events. Adding the open water skills to the technique you already have.
Athletes preparing for a specific event
A lake swim, a sea swim, a long-distance challenge. Targeted pool preparation for a specific open water event — however ambitious.
From enquiry
to open water confidence
Enquire
Tell us about your current level, your event or goal and what specifically worries you about open water. We'll match you with a coach and advise on a plan. Takes two minutes.
Pool assessment & skills session
Your first session assesses your stroke mechanics and starts on sighting, bilateral breathing and the key drills that transfer directly to open water.
Progressive skills sessions
Building the skills one at a time in the pool — sighting, swimming straight and starts first, then race-style sets that put them together under pressure.
Race simulation & event prep
In the weeks before your event: race-pace efforts, starts without a wall and sighting at speed, plus what to rehearse in your own open water swims so race day feels familiar.
Common
questions
Pool technique is the foundation, but open water racing needs extra skills: sighting, swimming straight without a black line, starting without a wall and pacing without a clock. Most of these can be drilled in a pool, which is where we coach them, so your own open water swims are spent putting them into practice.
No. All our coaching takes place in the pool at The Venue, Borehamwood. We build the open water skills in a lane, and you take them into your own swims at a supervised open water venue.
Yes. Open water anxiety is very common, and a lot of it comes from not knowing what to expect. Coaching takes some of the unknowns away: in the pool you practise sighting, breathing control and starting without a wall until they’re automatic, so there is less to think about when you get in open water. Most athletes are surprised how quickly their confidence grows.
Not for coaching: sessions are in the pool in normal swimwear. For your own open water swims and races, check the wetsuit rules for your venue and event.
More effectively than you might expect. Pool sessions drill the head-lift mechanics — the timing, the positioning, the hip-drop correction — so that when you're in open water the movement is automatic and energy-efficient. We also use sighting targets, altered lane line navigation and breathing pattern drills that transfer directly to open water racing. You'll be practising real sighting technique from session one.
Ironman & 70.3 coaching
Racing at long-course distance requires more than open water skills — pool technique, pacing strategy and T1 preparation all matter. Our Ironman coaching programme covers the full picture.
Ironman Swim Coaching
Specialist long-course coaching for Ironman and 70.3 athletes. Technique, pacing, open water confidence and T1 preparation.
Find out more →Enquire about
open water coaching
Tell us about your goals, your current level and what you want to achieve in open water. We'll be in touch within 24 hours.