Show Notes The Big Swim: 1,000 Women, One Epic Wild Swim! In this episode of HeadRightOut, I chat with Nicky Chisholm, adventurer, blogger, and founder of The Big Swim—an empowering International Women's Day event bringing together 1,000 women for a sea swim in Brighton & Dorset. We dive into the power of adventure, resilience, and community, plus why Surfers Against Sewage needs our support now more than ever. Whether you're a seasoned swimmer or just wild-swim curious, this conversation will inspire you to take the plunge—literally or figuratively! 🔗 Full show notes below! The Big Swim for IWD & Cold Adventures 021: Nicky Chisholm In this episode of HeadRightOut, I chat with Nicky Chisholm, an adventurer, blogger, and founder of The Big Swim—a wild swim event bringing 1,000 women together on International Women's Day. 🌊🏊♀️ We 'dive' into (pun intended): ~ The power of adventure for resilience & mental health ~ How wild swimming creates an uplifting, supportive community ~ The Big Swim—what it's about & how you can get involved ~ Surfers Against Sewage – Why clean water matters now more than ever ~ Why taking small actions can create huge ripple effects Resources & Links Mentioned: - The Big Swim – Sign up or learn more: IWD 2025 - #PinkNicky - International Women's Day – Find events near you: https://www.internationalwomensday.com - Surfers Against Sewage – Help protect our seas: https://www.sas.org.uk - Adventure Stories Exeter – Get tickets: Travel Stories of Adventure Tickets, Mon, Feb 24, 2025 at 7:00 PM | Eventbrite - HeadRightOut Newsletter – Stay updated & support my book launch: www.headrightout.com Want to help with my book launch? Become an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) reviewer Join my Street Team to help spread the word! Sign up via my newsletter above on headrightout.com Correction: I mistakenly said Bantham Sploosh instead of Bantham Swoosh! Sorry ... my bad. Tag us & share your takeaways! #TheBigSwim #WildSwimming #HeadRightOut @headrightout @pinknicky1 If you'd like to read through the transcription of this episode, please see below: Transcription Nicky Chisholm The Big Swim Nicky Chisholm The Big Swim [00:00:00] Zoe Langley-Wathen: Well, welcome back everybody to the Head Right Out podcast. This is the podcast where we are trying to encourage as many midlife women as possible to head out of their comfort zone in the outdoors doing things that they wouldn't normally do. Now, it has been a while since I have recorded. My name is Zoe Langley Watson and I have been Caught up, caught up in all sorts of life stuff. [00:00:39] Zoe Langley-Wathen We moved from our boat and we're now in a house, in Somerset and loving life and yeah, we have been caught up with all sorts of adventures and family things and yeah, personal circumstances with family that [00:01:00] needed more attention than I could possibly give if I was working and podcasting and writing. [00:01:05] Zoe Langley-Wathen: And yeah. Trying to get a book out into the world as well. So what have I got here to tell you? Yeah, there is lots of exciting news to share with you over the coming weeks. I'm hoping to record another couple of episodes, um, where I will include more stuff about my upcoming book, ways that you can be involved in the launch of that. [00:01:27] Zoe Langley-Wathen: And my adventure plans for 2025. So today we have a really fascinating guest and. I met Nicky at the Adventure Mind Conference 2023 and met up with her again in 2024 and we knew, in fact at 2023, we knew that we had to do a recording for the podcast but It just didn't eventuate, as I said, because I had all sorts of these family things going on. [00:01:57] Zoe Langley-Wathen: But, we have finally got it together [00:02:00] and I'm going to not chat anymore now. I'm going to get straight into the interview with Nicky Chisholm. [00:02:10] Zoe Langley-Wathen: Okay, welcome back everybody, I am so delighted that we have a much long awaited episode of the Head Right Out podcast. And I am here to welcome Nicky Chisholm. Good. Hello, [00:02:25] Nicky Chisholm: Nicky. [00:02:25] Nicky Chisholm: Hello, Luffy. Thank you so much for having me. [00:02:27] Zoe Langley-Wathen: You're very welcome. So Nicky is an experienced project manager. She is a blogger, also in the adventure industry, and she has been exploring since she was 18. [00:02:37] Zoe Langley-Wathen: So I am going to lead into a few questions where Nicky is going to explain all about who she is, what she's been doing, and what she's got coming up, because it's terribly exciting. So Nicky, could you explain where your love for adventure started? [00:02:53] Nicky Chisholm: Oh, that's a good one. I definitely remember I was 18 years old. [00:02:58] Nicky Chisholm: Um, I think just finished [00:03:00] a levels and I got invited to go along and attend a talk to be a crew on a tall ship. So it was the first time I think I've been away from home for any period of time. There were 36 girls on the ship. So it is learning about seamanship, learning about being away from home and homesickness and all You know, working and being with other people and in really cramped spaces and really wet and really windy and really seasick. [00:03:25] Nicky Chisholm: Um, it was a baptism of fire, but I really loved it. I remember going into St. Marlow Harbour in France and we'd basically manned the rigging. So we had all 36 of us up, up the three masts saluting as he went into St. Marlow. And I wish she'd had a photograph of that. Cause I, I feel really proud now. And that's like 30 years ago. [00:03:45] Nicky Chisholm: I just remember that moment, but it was before we all had. Cameras and drones and photos, but it just would have been a cracking, cracking shot. And I think that's. Although I was really homesick and I was really seasick, it sort of definitely [00:04:00] whetted my appetite for adventure and mum and dad were always into adventures as well when we were little, so I think it's their legacy to me and that's what I want to pass on as a legacy to my children to know that adventure and being outside is a way of navigating the many ups. [00:04:17] Nicky Chisholm: And downs and curve balls that life throws at you. It's a way of meeting people, new challenges, testing yourself, putting yourself, even in adventures, you have adventures in adventures, don't you? So if you go on an adventure, you're bound to have 10 adventures with inside one adventure. And it's all like a big puzzle that planes left. [00:04:35] Nicky Chisholm: I haven't got any money or that that's shut or that's closed. I'm not feeling very well. It's just like a massive puzzle all the time. So yeah, 18 years ago, still going strong now at 30 and yeah, loving it. [00:04:47] Zoe Langley-Wathen: Amazing. So, just hearing you talking about that tour ship adventure, I would have absolutely loved to have done something like that. [00:04:54] Zoe Langley-Wathen: When I was 18, I can imagine all of the emotions going on there, you know, the fear, [00:05:00] the adrenaline rush, climbing that rigging, the connection that you're making with one another, potentially the, the fractions as well, you know, the things going on, like the teamwork and how to work through things. So what do you think that experience taught you that you then brought through into later adventures and later life? [00:05:20] Nicky Chisholm: I think every experience has very similar pattern in terms. It's a resilience building is confidence building. It's problem solving. It's managing conflict. It's finding new opportunities. It's finding new people. They would be applicable to every one of us on every adventure that we've probably ever been on. [00:05:38] Nicky Chisholm: I definitely have a terrible habit of jumping in with both feet. I remember a few years ago for my 50th, I went to Greenland and ran a half marathon. I know I do it. I read the title, Half Marathon in Greenland. I just literally read a few words and I just signed up. And I always do that. I just sign up for something. [00:05:55] Nicky Chisholm: I don't read any of it. I just think I'm going to make it happen. I like the title. I like [00:06:00] the picture. I'm going to make it happen. So I do that. And I'm getting worse. I saw something yesterday. I thought, right, I'm going to do that. A hundred kilometers in a cross country ski in Sweden. Yep. I'm going to do that. [00:06:10] Nicky Chisholm: And then I just make it happen. I sort of work backwards. So I like jumping in with both feet. I don't know why. I think I'm not very good at reading manuals and I just jump in. Let me see if I can swim. Let me see if I can do it. And now over 30 years, I've done that so many times that the transferable skills have always been, okay, well, I can't do this, but I can do that. [00:06:31] Nicky Chisholm: And I think they've definitely transferred, transferred, transferred. And now I'm actually quite good at jumping in with both feet and not drowning. [00:06:37] Zoe Langley-Wathen: Yeah, no, that's, that's great. That's a bonus. What resilience and confidence to have carried through all of those 30 years since that experience. I was actually going to ask you about your next big adventure, which you've just touched on there. [00:06:51] Zoe Langley-Wathen: So I love the fact that you dive in head first, you grab it. That's not the way I can do it. I have to read through every tiny bit of small [00:07:00] print first before I, I'll commit myself. So it's funny how we're all so different. But yeah, so you said you've done this, was it a half marathon in Greenland? Is that what you said? [00:07:10] Zoe Langley-Wathen: Yes. Yes. [00:07:11] Nicky Chisholm: Yeah, yeah. So that, that was for my 50th. That was a couple of years ago. Yes. And I wanted to do something for my 50th, I thought. And I
