It’s that time of year again when Christmas has come and gone and we start to look ahead to New Year’s Eve and the new year ahead.

A new year brings new opportunities and of course New Year’s resolutions once the celebrations have finished.

New Year’s resolutions needn’t be ones that you have to keep for the whole year (although, these are good, too), sometimes the best, and easiest, to tick off are goal-based.

So, with that in mind, here are our five favourite New Year’s resolutions for ocean swimmers this year.

1. Take a swimming holiday

Who doesn’t love a holiday, and, for ocean swimmers, combining it with swimming is the perfect match!

A trip away is a great way to escape the busyness and chaos of our daily lives but one where you can escape into the freedom of the ocean will leave you refreshed and ready to dive back into your daily routine.

OceanFit has an incredible swimming holiday you’ll want to take in 2023.

The Swim the Whitsundays tour is an epic four-day, four-night holiday aboard the beautiful 120-year-old Solway Lass tall ship.

This epic holiday is filled with swims at secluded bays, along white sand beaches and around tropical islands in the most exquisite waters of the Whitsunday Islands.

Sounds like the holiday you’ve been dreaming of for 2023? It sure is.

Bookings are now open for dates from May to October 2023.

2. Swim at least once a week all year round

In a perfect world, we would all be swimming a couple of times a week, but life can get in the way.

Then winter comes around and it’s a whole other story. The mornings become too dark, the air and water become too cold and ocean swimming gets put in the too-hard basket.

In 2023 it’s time to commit to swimming at least once a week all year round. Yes, even throughout winter.

Make a plan to fit at least one swim session into your schedule for the whole year. If the cold isn’t your thing; hit the pool throughout winter or buy a wetsuit to get you through the cold months.

3. Learn how to swim onto a wave and bodysurf

Bodysurfing is one of the single most gratifying things you can do in ocean swimming.

The feeling of swimming onto a wave from out the back and bodysurfing it all the way back to the shore is truly magical (and, it’ll reduce the amount of swimming you need to do on the way back to shore!).

This year, commit to learning how to swim onto a wave and bodysurf.

Use our four P’s for bodysurfing:

1. Placement: Pick unbroken waves that will go on to spill, not dump.
2. Position: Aim to put yourself in the right place to catch the wave as it begins to break.
3. Pace: Accelerate to match the speed of the wave and continue kicking to ride in front.
4. Posture: Turn your body into a surfboard by stretching long, straight and stiff. Keep your head down.

For more bodysurfing tips check out OceanFit’s article 4 Steps to Better Body Surfing.

4. Double your ocean swimming distance

2023 is the year to step up and challenge yourself to swim twice as far as you have before.

If the furthest you have swum has been 1km, this year it’s time to step up to 2km. Or maybe the furthest you’ve swum is 2km, so why not step up to a 5km ocean swim?

It can be easy to get stuck in our comfort zone on our ocean swimming journey but to keep pushing ourselves and improving we need to challenge ourselves.

In 2023, why not up the ante and tackle a new swim distance by doubling the furthest distance you’ve ever swum?

5. Get better at surf swimming

You might be fairly new to ocean swimming or maybe you’ve been doing it for years; either way, there are always things to learn to get better at swimming in the surf.

Swimming in flat open water is lovely, but the ‘real’ challenge comes from being able to tame the waves and feel completely at home in the surf zone.

The best way to become more efficient in the surf is to brush up on your skills such as; wave negotiation, timing, and your surf IQ.

If you’re looking for that extra 1% to beat your mate, then learning how to draft, buoy turn, wade and dolphin-dive will give you the edge.

If you need some extra help becoming better at surf swimming sign up for OceanFit’s Learn to Ocean Swim clinic this summer. The tips you’ll pick up will completely transform the way you approach your swimming in the surf zone.