Richard’s self-taught front crawl didn’t feel good. He wanted to know what he should be thinking.

“ Ian’s method is to involve you in the whole process of swimming. It’s as though you are both discovering the possibilities of what you can do, together.”

I have been swimming for years, but was self-taught, so my technique was not good.

I had swum in a few longish swims: across the Hellespont and the Straits of Messina, but somehow it wasn’t satisfying; there was something missing.

I looked around at various kinds of swimming lessons. Most of them were far too mechanical for me. The ‘Reducing-drag-and-increasing-propulsion’ school, didn’t appeal to me at all; I wanted a broader approach.

Which is what I found with ‘Swimming without Stress’.

Ian’s method is to involve you in the whole process of swimming. He is in the water with you. It’s as though you are both discovering the possibilities of what you can do, together.

After 5 lessons my attitude to swimming had changed completely. I could relax and enjoy it, because I felt I was getting more out of it and therefore getting better at it.