The English Bay Swim Club is an all-inclusive Masters swim club that practices out of the Vancouver Aquatic Center in the West End. They describe themselves as gay friendly and one of the largest swim clubs in British Columbia. They promote and support participation in swimming and uphold the Masters philosophy of fun, friendship and fitness for life in a positive, safe and socially active environment. The club caters to a variety of swimming abilities and levels, so if you want a structured workout this is an option for you.

Sarah Says -

There once was a time where I was on the high school swim team and I considered myself an excellent swimmer, but now I am weaker, fatter and slower. But that aside I was ready to try swimming with the Masters swim club. I stood on the pool deck in my racer back suit, swimming cap and googles feeling nervous about getting in the water. At first I wasn’t sure if I was nervous about swimming or standing in my swimsuit in front of everybody. When it was time to hit the pool our coach, Suzy, ran over what it was we were going to do in the water and put us in lanes based on experience and speed. I quickly nominated myself to the slowest lane. Once in the pool Suzy announced we would be swimming for 90 minutes, something I didn’t realize when arriving, so there were a few times I was gasping for air and swallowing water. In the end we swam just over 2km and I felt great, tired, but great. I really appreciated that our coach worked on our individual strokes and gave direction to help improve them. The 90 minutes went by really fast to me and I liked the variety of different strokes we worked on, everything from front crawl to butterfly. If this swim clubs sounds of interest to you then you should go try it, especially since your first 3 swims are free. They let you see if you enjoy it before joining!

My ratings for the English Bay Swim Club would be 3.5/5 for the facility, 4/5 for the fun factor and 2.5/5 for the chance of me doing it again.

*The only reason my rating is low for ‘chance of me doing it again’ is I live in North Van so the location is not easy for me to get to, but for those of you in the West End I say, go!*

Shayla Says -

There are a number of lanes for the variety of swimmers with workouts to challenge all levels. I have been swimming all my life, but thought I would start in the beginner lane. Good choice. The club states on the website that you need to be able to swim 1600 metres of freestyle in 60 minutes and have the ability to do one other stroke. We did a 90 minute swim workout and our coach, Suzy Stanton was great. She gave us a variety of drills and plenty of recovery time. This is definitely somewhere I could go to improve my swimming. As a recreational triathlete I could always use some more focused time in the water – it is just too easy to get in and swim my 2000 metres without pushing myself. The workouts were challenging and with specific feedback for improvement. It is a very organized, progressive workout. If you want to push yourself in the pool and get more out of your time in the water I would recommend trying the EBSC. Everyone gets three free trials – so you have nothing to lose.

My ratings for the English Bay Swim Club would be 3.5/5 for the facility, 4/5 for the fun factor and 5/5 for the chance of me doing it again.