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The Blue Balls Journey: Five Years of Cold Water, Connection and Change
Written by Lydia Burdett /
Since 2021, hundreds of men have safely taken the plunge with Blue Balls Cornwall, reaping the mental, social and physical boosts of wild swimming. This cold water brotherhood’s already crossed the border into South Devon – and beyond, as they’ve inspired blokes to get in together all over the UK too. On the five-year anniversary of their inaugural dip, we asked co-founder Tom Mason to reflect on their journey…
Last month we celebrated our fifth anniversary. When I took my first nervous steps into the tidal pool at Porthtowan back in December 2020, never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined what was about to happen.
Two friends, Ross and I, set up a cold water swimming group with the sole aim of creating a space where men could connect in sea for the benefit of improved mental health.
Those benefits are very well documented, from the mental and physical boosts to the feeling of connection that, sadly these days, is so often digital rather than emotional.
It’s easy to forget now, but we did this during a worldwide pandemic. Perhaps it was a distraction, or perhaps it was a calling?
But we fully understand what a difference Blue Balls has made to so many men across Cornwall and further afield. And we don’t take that lightly.
In truth, when we started Blue Balls, and somebody would compliment me, of course it gives you a little ego boost. But all these years later, whenever somebody says “I really needed that today” after a dip, that means so much more.
That’s the reason why we do what we do.
From the very early stages of Blue Balls, we’ve been supported by Red. A relationship which has evolved from an email interaction, to a collaboration, to a true friendship. It even led to the formation of the South Devon Blue Balls.
Five years on, our cold water community is ever-growing, particularly on social media with a reach of over a million people last month. Social media isn’t our driver – and those numbers don’t really mean anything. We’re not selling anything. Our page isn’t monetised.
That’s never been important.
But those figures are significant because if just one person sees what Blue Balls is about, and it encourages them into the water and they subsequently feel an improvement to their health and wellbeing, that means we’ve created something which is important.
And we’re proud of that.
Here’s to five more years!
You can follow what Blue Balls Cornwall are up to on Instagram @blueballscornwall
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