Published on September 15, 2017 Comment(s): 0
Drove with bathing suit under the sports cloak 15 mins to Crummock Water, 9 degrees outside, not sure of water temp. No wind, no rain. At the lake shore swopped running shoes for swimming shoes, reluctantly whipped off the very cosy and comfortable swim cloak, stuffed it in its bag, strapped Lomo tow float round middle and walked into the lake. Swam for around 20 mins, and when got out put cloak straight on over my wet swim suit, took off swim shoes, stood on the bag and felt very cosy in my cloak. Felt comfortable enough to have walked back to car and driven home, but decided to try and change into shorts and long sleeve t-shirt as a test of the cloak. Swim suit off no probs, shorts on no probs, slightly more difficult to put on long sleeved t-shirt, but only because sleeves inside out and I wasn't used to rummaging about inside the cloak and my skin was still a bit damp from swimming. I hadn't used a towel at all, just the cloak to dry me. All this standing on the bag. Plenty of room inside the cloak to get dressed, even bending over to put shorts on the cloak was long enough - I'm 5ft 10 ins and a size 12/14. Very impressed overall, it does not feel bulky, over heavy or silly. Sat in car having hot drink and then drove home. The fleece inside was dry when I took the cloak off at home 15 mins later.
The sleeves on the cloak are elbow length, but I took cycling sleeves with me to slip on if I had felt cold. I would keep these in a pocket of the cloak to use if needed, very lightweight and dry quickly too and easy to slip on to protect arms if necessary.
I used the bag to put my wet swimsuit and swim shoes in and carried like a rucksack to the car.
Really positive addition to my rapidly growing wild swimming kit. I can see that I could also use it for other activities, like cycling or running where you get wet and cold and need to just put something warm on to drive home in. It's not so ridiculous looking either that I'd avoid nipping into the shop on the way home. And I forgot to pull in the drawstring, which would make it neater still.
Loads of pockets that I haven't fully explored yet, another outing for it planned for Friday.