“Yesterday the seal came to swim with us. It went under me,” says a swimmer as she prepares to go into the water on the boards of the Hermanville-sur-Mer lifeguard station, on the Côte de Nacre. This Sunday, October 29 morning, the sky is still threatening after copiously watering the coast. But around fifteen of them showed up in swimsuits for a one-kilometer outing.
Here are the Louphoques, an ociation created in March 2022 by two sisters, Gaëlle and Marina: “We have been swimming in the sea, almost all year round, for four years with a friend. During Covid, it was our breathing. We gathered with other swimmers.” The group brings together around thirty amateurs regularly, in all seasons and in all weathers.
Rémy is the new kid. The young man ” [cherchait] an open water club. I heard about the Louphoques. The atmosphere is great. A group effect is created, which brings a lot compared to swimming alone, especially out of season, where you lose motivation more quickly.” No danger here. The 14 degrees in the water don’t scare anyone. The troop smiles and quickly immerses themselves, before making two trips back and forth, in front of the beach.
And suddenly, a halo of heat
“It’s an astonishing feeling,” say Sandra and Candice. Initially it’s cold but with movement, it creates a halo of heat. After 25 minutes, you feel the freshness again.” This is good, the outing stops at 27 minutes this Sunday, in a sumptuous landscape, as Normandy knows how to offer, straddling several weather conditions. “You get used to swimming in nature,” praises Candice. You can see schools of mullet, seals, etc., not to mention seabirds and, recently, in the distance, dolphins.
The small group includes in its WhatsApp loop a certain Marion Joffle, ice water swimming champion, who trains regularly in Hermanville. If the Louphoques are not up to the exploits of the young Norman, they have decided to challenge themselves. There will be around ten of them going to Plouha, in Côtes-d’Armor, for a competition at the beginning of next February. A month which often records the lowest temperatures in the Channel, less than six degrees. “In February 2022, we participated with Marina,” remembers Gaëlle, the co-founder. I took the bronze medal in the 100m and Marina the gold! “.
By then, bathers on the Côte de Nacre will have taken the temperature of winter: outings are offered every morning and every midday during the week, as well as every Saturday and Sunday morning.