Toronto’s open-water swimming community has another waterfront resource to explore.
LoveQuay.com is a new community-built website documenting Love Quay, a roughly 400-metre pier stretching west from Toronto’s Inner Harbour beside the National Yacht Club. For years, swimmers have made their way to the western end of the quay, where the concrete pier meets deep, open Lake Ontario water.
The site brings together information about the location, photographs, known hazards, winter swimming, safety considerations and a growing volunteer effort called the Friends of Love Quay.
A remarkable swimming spot
Love Quay is unusual because there is no beach.
Walk to the westernmost end of the pier and the water is deep almost immediately. There is no sand, shallow entry or designated swimming area. Two ladders provide a way back onto the pier, including an angled ladder that can be considerably easier to use when hands and arms are cold.
That direct access to deep, clear water is also what makes the location potentially dangerous.
This is not a supervised swimming facility. There are no lifeguards, no designated swimming zone and no shallow end. Signs at the pier state:
“Danger — Use at Own Risk. Walkway Not Owned or Maintained by The City of Toronto.”
LoveQuay.com makes that warning central rather than treating it as fine print.
Before getting in the water
One of the most useful parts of the project is its swimming safety guidance.
The advice is deliberately simple:
Never swim alone. Check the conditions. Check the water and entry point. Know your limit.
Conditions on Lake Ontario can change quickly. Wind can create chop, water temperatures can vary dramatically and debris can move into an entry area that was clear the day before.
The site recommends checking the water before every swim and never entering head-first into water that has not been checked that day.
Swimmers also need to think about the exit before the entry. At Love Quay, that means checking the ladders and deciding which one you intend to use before getting into the water.
There is nowhere to simply stand up if you become tired.
Cold-water swimming requires another level of caution
Love Quay is also used outside the traditional summer swimming season.
Cold-water and winter swimming have become increasingly visible around Toronto, but swimming in very cold Lake Ontario water brings risks that should never be underestimated.
Cold water affects breathing, strength, coordination and judgement. LoveQuay encourages swimmers to decide on their limits before entering the water and to get out earlier rather than pushing for additional time.
Winter also introduces hazards that may not be obvious from shore, including floating ice and debris.
The site's advice is straightforward: never swim alone and stay within your limit.
Those two rules apply whether Lake Ontario is 20°C or approaching freezing.
Boat traffic matters too
Love Quay sits beside an active part of Toronto's waterfront.
Sailboats, powered vessels and other harbour traffic can pass nearby, and swimmers should not treat the surrounding water as though it were a protected swimming enclosure.
The site specifically warns people not to swim out into the navigation channel.
For anyone accustomed to swimming from a beach, this is an important distinction. Love Quay is an urban harbour swimming location, and awareness of what is happening both in the water and around it is essential.
Friends of Love Quay
Perhaps the most interesting part of LoveQuay.com is that the project goes beyond identifying a place to swim.
The Friends of Love Quay has been created as a volunteer group for people who use the pier and want to help look after it.
There is no municipal crew maintaining the quay as a swimming destination. Keeping the area clean, reporting hazards and looking out for one another therefore depends heavily on the people who spend time there.
It is a familiar idea within Toronto's open-water community: public access works best when the people using the waterfront also take responsibility for caring for it.
The site sums that idea up nicely:
“Nobody's job. Everybody's place.”
Another piece of Toronto's swimming waterfront
For SwimOP, Love Quay is interesting for a reason beyond the swimming itself.
Toronto has an enormous waterfront, yet many places where people interact with Lake Ontario do not fit neatly into the category of a traditional supervised beach.
Swimmers nevertheless discover these places, learn how they behave in different conditions, identify hazards and develop informal communities around them.
LoveQuay.com is an attempt to put some of that accumulated knowledge in one place.
It doesn't declare the pier safe. In fact, much of the website is devoted to explaining why swimmers need to make their own assessment every time they visit.
That is an important distinction.
For experienced open-water swimmers interested in learning more about the location, its history, safety considerations or the Friends of Love Quay volunteer project, visit LoveQuay.com.
And wherever you swim in Lake Ontario:
Never swim alone. Know your limit and stay within it.