What is the best way to train in a pool for an open water?

I only just got into open water swimming this year, so I don't have a ton of experience to draw on--but I do vividly remember what the biggest adjustments were for me since they weren't so long ago. The swimming is a hair different with chop and all, but nothing my swimmer's instincts couldn't handle. The really big difference, for me, was adjusting to very different visual cues. In the pool, you're following a black line on the bottom, which you see through very clear water. In the open water, visibility underwater is often quite limited and you've got to catch glimpses of your path when your eyes are out of the water. So I followed the sighting advice in the video that's already been posted here, and I also practiced swimming with my eyes closed. The drill I saw suggested was to do entire lengths eyes shut, and I did some of those, but what I think was most helpful was to combine that with a sighting drill: whenever my head was submerged, I closed my eyes. I opened them for every breath, and I practiced sighting every other breath. Then, as I got more comfortable with sighting and keeping myself on a straight path using only the visual cues that I got from sighting, I pulled back to do it every third breath, or every fourth--still with my eyes closed whenever my face was submerged.

I only just got into open water swimming this year, so I don't have a ton of experience to draw on--but I do vividly remember what the biggest adjustments were for me since they weren't so long ago. The swimming is a hair different with chop and all, but nothing my swimmer's instincts couldn't handle. The really big difference, for me, was adjusting to very different visual cues. In the pool, you're following a black line on the bottom, which you see through very clear water. In the open water, visibility underwater is often quite limited and you've got to catch glimpses of your path when your eyes are out of the water. So I followed the sighting advice in the video that's already been posted here, and I also practiced swimming with my eyes closed. The drill I saw suggested was to do entire lengths eyes shut, and I did some of those, but what I think was most helpful was to combine that with a sighting drill: whenever my head was submerged, I closed my eyes. I opened them for every breath, and I practiced sighting every other breath. Then, as I got more comfortable with sighting and keeping myself on a straight path using only the visual cues that I got from sighting, I pulled back to do it every third breath, or every fourth--still with my eyes closed whenever my face was submerged.