Swimming Essentials

Goggles for the pool and open water

Every goggle here is built around the same two problems: a seal that holds for an hour without leaving rings around your eyes, and a field of view wide enough to spot a lane rope or a buoy without breaking stroke to look up. Aquasphere and View both answer that with large curved lenses rather than the small socket-fit gaskets you find on sprint racing goggles.

Wide vision, or a compact fit

The Aquasphere Kayenne is the wide-vision option: an oversized lens giving 4-point expanded vision, a low-profile micro-frame for hydrodynamics, and a stabilising bi-material nose bridge that holds the fit as you fatigue. The Kayenne Compact keeps the same lens thinking in a smaller frame made for smaller face shapes. Both use the Softeril skirt and a quick-fit buckle you can adjust one-handed on the poolside, both are hypoallergenic, and both are FINA approved for competition.

The View V1000 Xtreme goes at it differently. Large curved lenses again, but paired with an adjustable split head strap that spreads pressure away from the eye sockets, and hypoallergenic TPE eye seals. It is aimed squarely at open-water and competitive swimmers, and the split strap is the detail you appreciate somewhere in the second kilometre.

Choosing a lens tint

Lens choice matters more than most swimmers expect, and it is worth more thought than frame colour. Clear is the default for indoor pools and dull mornings. Smoke and mirrored lenses cut glare on bright open water. Brown polarised, offered on both Kayenne models, is the one to reach for if you swim into low sun, because it kills the reflection coming off the surface instead of simply darkening everything. The standard Kayenne also runs an adaptive lens that shifts with changing light — useful when a swim starts in shade and finishes in glare. All of them carry UV protection and an anti-scratch coating.

Swimwear designed by a dive brand

Fourth Element makes the swimwear in this collection, and it shows that it was drawn up by people who put wetsuits on. There are no clasps or ties in the places neoprene presses, the fastenings sit low profile, and everything has improved chlorine and salt resistance because it is expected to see a pool on Tuesday and the sea on Saturday.

The OceanPositive bikini pieces

The Tiger top is a sporty reversible crop, block colour on one side and print on the other, with no clasps or ties at all — which is exactly why it disappears under a wetsuit. The Reef top and bottom take a bandeau line with an adjustable bust band and low-profile adjusters. The Mako bottom is a classic hipster shape with contrast side panels in Fourth Element's abstract shark skin print. The Reef and Mako pieces are cut from four-way stretch Italian LYCRA using ECONYL recycled nylon reclaimed from abandoned fishing nets; the Tiger is recycled nylon too and ships in biodegradable packaging.

Stinger protection for warm water

The women's Hydro Stinger Suit is the properly technical garment here. It was developed to cover you against stinging jellyfish and zooplankton that appear seasonally in tropical water, and the generous close-fitting hood and finger coverings exist to close the gaps at neck and wrist. The fabric is a heavier grade recycled polyester made from ocean-bound plastic bottles, it carries UPF 50+ sun protection, and the seams are flatlocked so nothing chafes over a long snorkel. It works as a cover-up for warm-water diving as readily as for swimming.

Swimming kit and dive kit are not the same thing

We sell both, so we will be straight about the difference. A swimming goggle is not a small dive mask. It seals on the eye socket, it has no nose pocket, and there is no way to equalise the air inside it as you go down. At the surface that is an advantage — less drag, less volume, better vision. Below the surface it stops working. If you are ducking under to look at something, you want a mask and a snorkel, not goggles.

Where swimming and diving do overlap

The overlap is genuine all the same. Divers wear Fourth Element swimwear under wetsuits as a matter of routine, and the Hydro Stinger Suit sits honestly between snorkelling and swimming. If your swimming is drifting towards looking at things underwater, move across to the snorkelling gear. If it is drifting towards cold water, the rash guards add a layer and a changing robe is what you actually want waiting on the bank.

Sizing, care and asking us first

The swimwear follows Fourth Element's own sizing, and the bikini pieces are listed in UK sizes. Several items in this collection are end-of-line, down to a single size, so if the size you need is showing, it is worth not sitting on it.

Care is simple and it is mostly about restraint. Rinse goggles in fresh water after every swim and resist the urge to wipe the inside of the lens dry — that is what wears out anti-fog and anti-scratch coatings faster than anything else. Store them in a case rather than loose in a kit bag. Fourth Element swimwear machine washes at 30°C, and the stinger suit should be line dried in the shade rather than left on a hot radiator. If you are unsure whether a goggle will suit your face shape, ring the shop and ask — it is a quicker conversation than a return.