The Birth of Buoyswimmer:
Much like the rest of the Good Being canon, as of October 2025, the truth is, Buoyswimmer is a vision for what might follow (with a following wind + your support). Between 2007 and 2021, I was a member of one of the world's oldest sea-swimming clubs. Living as it does, beneath Brighton's sea-front promenade. Religiously, come rain or shine, we would perpetuate the esteemed tradition of swimming around The Palace Pier. Apart from those mornings when it was foolhardy, and we would resort to "pilchards"; which basically translates to letting the surf wash over you whilst sitting tight on the shingle beach.
Alongside the who's who of those members on the club roll of those resilient individuals to swim The English Channel solo, another part of the many traditions that bound the club are swims to 'the red buoy'', see picture, below. For those of you who might have read my book, "I'm so, so Sorry", you will be aware of how swimming not only is my life, but how it changed my life too. It is the sense of camaraderie that the red buoy symbolises. Because we would seldom swim that far without a pod of swimming buddies to accompany us.
Although there was on occasion when I defiantly decided one Saturday morning over 15 years ago that I would go solo to the red buoy. My old friend, 'Irish Tony', inquired on the beach where I was going to swim to that day. When I told him, he scratched his chin and knowingly cocked his head to one side and said, "It's a strong tide today, Duncan. Are you sure you want to go to the red buoy?"
The upshot of which is that it took me 13 minutes to get there and 47 minutes to get back. The rush of the tide almost beat my will-power to return the way I had ventured on the outward leg. The walk back along the beach-front beckoned. In spite of which, I was resolute. But a tough lesson was learnt about the power of - what can appear from the beach rather innocuous - sea. God bless you, Tony!
All of these experiences distil into the values, principles and sensation that I want Buoyswimmer to ennoble and represent. In due course, the first product we will manufacture will be a weatherproof, warm changing 'cloak' that will carry a unique design theme that could only be synonymous with the symbol of the Red Buoy as the brand grows.
The Buoyswimmer Manifesto:
The Buoyswimmer is more than a brand, more than a marque, more than a logo: it is the living, feeling, breathing standard of Good Being.
Rising from the waters of memory and endurance, it declares that we are made not to sink but to swim, not to surrender but to find our rhythm, breath, and courage in the open seas of life. To be a Buoyswimmer is to embrace immersion, yet to know that, all along, like a buoy on the horizon, we are guided by our purpose.
The cold shock of reality, the resistance of tides, the endless horizon - these are not deterrents but initiations, rites of passage, waymarkers. Each stroke forward is an act of defiance against the torrent, the despair, the adversity that life may throw at us. Each act of refusal to succumb is an act of devotion to the vitality that still pulses within us.
Buoyswimmer reminds us that the body is not fragile when it flows, that the spirit is not defeated when it is carried, and that purpose is the truest current that bears us on. Buoyswimmer reminds us that life is not a straight canal but a wild crossing. Waves will rise. Storms will howl. Muscles will burn. Yet buoyancy is always available to us as long as we do not lose sight of our self-belief - born of alignment, resilience, and faith in the unseen bedrock of our inherent 'Good Being'.
This emblem belongs not to one swimmer but to all of us who are ready, willing, and capable of taking the plunge of good faith – to test our breath against uncertainty, to discover strength in rhythm, and transcendence in acts of flow in motion. Buoyswimmer is our vow: that even in turbulence we can rise, that even in solitude we are accompanied, that even in exhaustion we can float. It is a manifesto for courage. It is a reminder of resilience. It is the crest of Good Being.
