The story so far

Above Below are brothers, Tom and Will Watt. For years the brothers walked around lakes, bays and rivers wishing they could swim across and keep hiking. Seeing the water as an opportunity instead of an obstacle, this was how cross country swimming and Above Below was born. 

To make this new hybrid sport possible Above Below created the RuckRaft®, a two-piece kit to transform any rucksack into a raft to tow your kit across water. 

The expert Outdoor Swimming Society described it perfectly; "Cross country swimming has got ‘next big thing’ all over it. We’ve never seen anything as smart and as purpose built as the RuckRaft".

In September 2021 Trail magazine editor described ‘ruckrafting’ as “a glorious mixture of backpacking and wild swimming”.

Above Below has a UK and US patent for the RuckRaft®, with global applications in process. Sales rose 200% in 2020 on 2019 and our first three product runs sold out. 30% of sales are pre-orders, 18% are all over the rest of the world.

Sitting alongside the RuckRaft® are two events, a retreat in Devon and The Swimmer in London. Again, almost always sold out.

We have done all this working evenings and weekends. We cannot cash flow to meet demand. 

Now’s the time to invest our time, energy and finances to create a world leading performance brand in wild swimming. Here’s why….

Wild swimming is booming and Above Below is at the forefront of three big, growing markets - swimming, multisport and outdoor adventure sport.

More people swim than play football, rugby, cricket, netball, basketball combined. Swimming is the UK’s largest participation sport and the wild swimming niche is booming, growing up to 300% in 2020 (UK).

This is on top of 10 years of growth in aquatic multisports like triathlon, swimrun and Iron Man. Above Below offers two hundred thousand multi sport athletes a new challenge of cross country swimming.

And then there is the outdoor market, six times bigger than swimwear. As sector leading magazine Trail documented in the September 2021 issue – Above Below offers “a glorious mixture of backpacking and wild swimming. The Editor, Oli Reed, said that of all the trips with the magazine“this tops it all”.

Above Below offers the new challenge of cross country swimming to the millions of people who love outdoor adventure. Suddenly a body of water is an opportunity rather than an obstacle.

Photos below are by Tom Bailey for TRAIL Magazine

Imagine the sport of climbing before brands like Patagonia, Northface, Berghaus etc. existed.

Cross country swimming is the spirit of mountaineering but in the water. Already there are over 2 million wild swimmers, twice as many as go climbing.

This is the exciting opportunity – to pioneer the evolution of a new community, brand and business.

Above Below is a pioneering brand that is setting out to make some of the best kit and experiences for amphibious adventures over land and water.

From niche to mainstream is a well-trodden path

Above Below has created a genuine new hybrid adventure sport. Cross country swimming is unashamedly a niche. But a niche rapidly growing inside UK’s biggest participation sport of swimming; offering a new challenge to half a million aquatic multi-sport athletes and giving outdoor enthusiasts a chance to try a new“glorious mix of backpacking and wild swimming”(Trail Magazine).

Innov8 started in fell running, selling out of a van and sold a minority stake for £13.5m in 2012 and then sold to Japanese firm Descente.

Road cycling was a niche when Rapha, Pearsons started to make better looking kit. And Yoga was for hippies before LuLu Lemon.

“Cross Country swimming has got next big thing written all over it” Kate Rew, The Outdoor Swimming Society.

The numbers add up

The UK market for swimming was worth £189m (in 2014), the outdoor market is £1.5bn. This is just the UK - already 18% of Above Below RuckRaft sales are in Europe and the rest of the world.

We have a clear plan of how we will invest over the next three years to build a brand and business that makes the best kit and experiences for amphibious adventures – both in the UK and around the world.

If you are interested in being part of Above Below - please register below to be first to see our detailed pitch deck with all the market analysis, strategy and numbers. And then, if you like what you see, we hope you choose to become an investor.

Come on in the water’s lovely!

All the best

Above Below.

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you know it makes sense.

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