An independent magazine about swimming in Fife and the Firth of Forth: learning to swim, club competition, pools, sea swimming and a life in the water.
Swimming in Fife and the Firth of Forth
An independent magazine about swimming in Fife and the Firth of Forth: learning to swim, club competition, pools, sea swimming and water safety.
Four sections
From a first splash to a life in the water
Each section opens with an index of its articles. Pick learning to swim, the club and competition world, the pools and the coast, or swimming as a lifelong habit.
01Learn to Swim
Water confidence, teaching children, the four strokes and the whole journey from a first splash to a swimmer who is safe in deep water.
02Clubs and Competition
How Scottish club swimming works: sessions, squads, the pathway, licensed galas and the times that come out of them.
03Pools and Open Water
The pools of Fife, the history of the Burntisland bathing pool, sea swimming in the Forth and the safety that makes cold water manageable.
04Swimming Life
Swimming as a lifelong habit: fitness sessions, masters swimming for adults, kit and the real cost of a weekly swim.
Section 1 of 4
Learn to Swim
Learn to Swim
Teaching a Child to Swim
A calm, step by step way to teach a child to swim: water confidence, floats, breathing, first strokes, and when formal lessons help most.
Confidence first, strokes much later.
Learn to Swim
The Four Swimming Strokes
Front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly explained: body position, breathing, common faults and how each stroke is used in a pool or the sea.
Four strokes, four problems, four solutions.
Section 2 of 4
Clubs and Competition
Clubs and Competition
How a Swimming Gala Works
What happens at a swimming gala: warm ups, heats and finals, timing, disqualifications, entries and the jobs parents and swimmers take on poolside.
A gala day, from entries to results.
Clubs and Competition
The Club Pathway in Scotland
From learn to swim to district squads: how the Scottish club pathway works, what each squad trains for, and how swimmers move up through the levels.
How a swimmer moves up the levels.
Clubs and Competition
Reading Swim Times
How swimming times work: short and long course, splits, personal bests, qualifying times and the difference between a recorded and an unofficial time.
Short course, long course, splits and PBs.
From the archive
Guides that keep their historical addresses
This domain published the website of a local swimming club for many years. These pages answer the questions those addresses answered, at the same historical paths.
Restored page
Pools in Fife
Where Fife swims, and how to get there.
Restored page
A History of Swimming in Burntisland
The 1886 club and the 1936 bathing pool.
Section 3 of 4
Pools and Open Water
Pools and Open Water
Pools in Fife
A practical guide to Fife swimming pools: where they are, what sessions they run, how to reach them by bus, train or car, and what to bring for a swim.
Where Fife swims, and how to get there.
Pools and Open Water
A History of Swimming in Burntisland
The story of swimming in Burntisland: the 1886 club and its humane society, the open air bathing pool of 1936, and how the town's swimmers kept going.
The 1886 club and the 1936 bathing pool.
Pools and Open Water
Sea Swimming in the Forth
How to start sea swimming in the Firth of Forth: tides, temperatures, acclimatisation, safe entry points, kit and the habits that keep cold swims calm.
Cold, tidal, and worth the preparation.
Pools and Open Water
Open Water Safety
The safety basics for open water: cold shock, rip currents, tides, the recovery position, calling for help and how to look after a swimmer in trouble.
Cold shock, rips, tides and rescue.
Beyond this magazine
Where the swimmers of Fife go next
The Forth Swimmer sells nothing and answers to no club. These independent organisations publish the calendars, the safety guidance and the pool information this magazine points to.
Outside this site
Scottish Swimming
The national governing body for swimming in Scotland: clubs, the competition calendar, the pathway and Learn to Swim.
Clubs, calendar and the national pathway.
Outside this site
Swim England
Plain guidance on stroke technique, teaching, fitness and club swimming from the governing body for England.
Stroke technique and teaching guidance.
Outside this site
Royal Life Saving Society UK
Water safety and rescue education: cold water, open water and how to help someone in trouble.
Water safety and rescue education.
Outside this site
Fife Sports and Leisure Trust
The trust that runs most public pools in Fife: centres, timetables, lessons and membership.
Fife centres and pool timetables.
Outside this site
SASA East District
The district body that licenses many galas in the east of Scotland, with its meet calendar and results.
The east district meet calendar.
Outside this site
Lidos and Pools UK
An archive of British open air pools, including the detailed record of the Burntisland bathing pool of 1936.
The record of the 1936 bathing pool.
Section 4 of 4
Swimming Life
Swimming Life
Masters Swimming
What masters swimming is, who it suits, how adult squads train, what masters galas involve and how to return to swimming after years away from a pool.
Adult squads and returning to the water.
Swimming Life
Swimming for Fitness
Build a weekly swimming habit: session structure, intervals, pacing, how many lengths to aim for, and why technique beats distance for fitness gains.
Structure beats distance every time.
The Forth in pictures
Five views from the guides
Five photographs from the articles below, each with the page that explains the scene in full.
Field note 1
Teaching a Child to Swim
A calm, step by step way to teach a child to swim: water confidence, floats, breathing, first strokes, and when formal lessons help most.
Field note 2
How a Swimming Gala Works
What happens at a swimming gala: warm ups, heats and finals, timing, disqualifications, entries and the jobs parents and swimmers take on poolside.
Field note 3
A History of Swimming in Burntisland
The story of swimming in Burntisland: the 1886 club and its humane society, the open air bathing pool of 1936, and how the town's swimmers kept going.
Field note 4
Sea Swimming in the Forth
How to start sea swimming in the Firth of Forth: tides, temperatures, acclimatisation, safe entry points, kit and the habits that keep cold swims calm.
Field note 5
Swimming for Fitness
Build a weekly swimming habit: session structure, intervals, pacing, how many lengths to aim for, and why technique beats distance for fitness gains.