Sea swimming is always safer and often psychologically easier when you do it with one or more swimming buddies.
It's important to check your swim buddies when sea swimming though, as they are sometimes hard to see in strong sunlight or rough conditions and also may veer off on a different route to your if their sighting is off or if you miscommunicate the correct landmark you're sighting from.
Scenarios which make it much harder to keep track of your swimming buddies are typically:
- Bad weather
- Rough conditions
- Strong sunlight
- Lots of sea traffic or bouys
- Differing levels of swimming ability
In this video we can see just how hard it is to see the other swimmer even though it is a 'perfect' day in terms of blazing sunshine.
With this in mind it is always a good idea to stop regularly and let everyone catch up to the group and then continue as one on your chosen swimming route.