Sport Kilt Swimming

[Roan Carter]

I'm going swimming tomorrow in the lake ... My friends and I are swimming to an island that's kind of our little place. Is it a bad idea to go in my sport kilt? There are no metal parts or leather in it, just polyviscose cloth and the elastic waistband, and velcro. I was concerned about the weight of the kilt when wet, and if lake water would mess up any part of the kilt.

I don't see what harm could come of it, but I just thought I'd make sure.

[Yaish]

The water wont harm it, unless its a light color then the water might have some color which could stain until washed.

Its probably not a good idea to swim in the kilt though. All that material is going to be a horrible drag, and its going to be floating everywhere but where you want covered. You'd be better off in trunks, then change back into the kilt later. It will roll up and fit nicely in a gallon size ziplock bag.

Then you have something dry to change into when you reach the island.

[Riverkilt]

Not sure which Sport Kilt you have, but its probably poly/cotton rather than poly/viscose.

I agree on the swimming drag. Just gonna make it that much harder for the life guard to rescue you when it drags you down.

Ron

[cavscout]

The model of sport kilt makes all the difference. As Ron said, the kilt is probably Poly/Cotton which will be incredibly heavy when wet and if you have the elastic waist you can expect the kilt to be around your ankels out of the water.

[Chris Webb]

I think I'd try it at the pool first. SportKilt has a microfiber kilt now that would work much better for swimming though. They call it their Hiking Kilt but you can also order one in the same material in their regular style. They made me 4 out of this material that I am field testing now ... the are extra light and dry very fast. Mine have the pleats sewn down 4 inches, I don't recommend that for this material ... it would be cooler if not sewn down.

Kilt ON.

Chris Webb

[David White]

Its simple, walk to water, take kilt off.
:confused:

[Roan Carter]

There had been a picture on the Sport Kilt site of a guy jumping into water with his sk on. Idunno, it looked like a lot of fun. ; )

I'll consider all this though ... probably not use it for the long swims. Probably.

[Richland]

Definitely don't swim in the kilt. it will cause too much drag. It will wear you out
The Sport KLT is easy to roll up and stick in a ziplock waterpoof bag.
I have used a small daypack with a couple of heavy duty ziplock bags with kilt, towel. etc. for adventure race swims to islands etc.

[Kilted KT]

Well, I've done a bit of swimming in my UK survival ( cargo pockets removed) and it is fine. No problems, and the kilt size doesn't drag too much. I wouldn't swim the atlantic in it, but some good fun can definitly be had swimming in a kilt!

[Mumbles]

I would suspect that the drag would be pretty heavy as well. You can try it, but I wouldn't recommend it. I never actually gave any consideration to wearing a kilt for swimming until this thread =P