About the swim

The Brownsea Island Swim has been organised and run by RLSS Poole Lifeguard since 1991.

The swim is held in the spirit of self belief and madcap adventure started by the few who wondered if they could swim around Brownsea Island. It is not so much a race but a voyage of discovery!

The Distance of the Swim is appox. 6.5Km - depending on the route you navigate yourself around the island.

It is organised and run by RLSS Poole Lifeguard with the assistance of a lot of great volunteers who make up our safety team and marshals team. 

The Swim is the primary income source for RLSS Poole Lifeguard and funds the clubs activities. These include promoitng Water Safety,  Training people in Life Saving Techniques and Providing Safety Cover in the local area, at various open water events.

Essentially the swimmers  taking part in the Bronwssea Swim are helping support a club which trains hundreds of young people in important Life Saving skills. Without these young lifeguards, there would be no safety cover for open water swims, so effectively this swim is helping the club continue with this invaluable work which is enabling swimmers to continue enjoying open water swimming events.

The Brownsea Swim is now an established fixture in the open water swimming calendar. We are usually oversubscribed for the swim places we have available. 

The swim is tidally assisted on both sides of the island. Tide times therefore dictate our choice of available dates and start times- and this is why the event happens on very different dates each year.

Please see our FAQs, Timeline, Event Rules and the Ts and Cs for more information. 

We do also have a Facebook group where you can ask questions to other swimmers.