Whoa. Let's slow down here. Kicking someone in the face intentionally in an open water swim? Intentionally elbowing someone in the head? If I was a race organizer and I heard someone admitting to that type of conduct, I would ban the offender from the race forever. In fact, I think the swim organizer would almost be required to do so.
Open water swimming has a lot of unavoidable contact. It also has some basic assumed courtesies. Those include not hitting other people on purpose. Accidents happen. Contact happens. Deal with it. Be mature and civil.
People do draft in open water. Its pretty much unavoidable. If you have some courtesy, you can actually rotate who is doing the drafting and who is doing the pulling along. If that doesn't work and you are the leader, try varying your pace or your line. Slow down for 400 yards, speed up for 400. Try accelerating from a turn buoy when a sharp turn will usuallty give you a gap to take advantage of. There are lots of tricks, and tactics. If you are swimming, you may want to tuck in behind someone else for some period of time. I have a pretty good line in most races and I often find people using me to pull them along. Not the end of the world--I try to lose them by the end of the race if possible, or in the surf if not. Sometimes I draft off other people. When I do, its my responsibility not to have any physical contact with the person I am trailing and I will always make an effort to swim up and take a turn at leading. Sometimes the lead swimmer refuses to take advantage of my offer. That's OK too. Foolish but OK.
I did a race in Oregon once where there was an organized peloton of swimmers who planned a rotation pattern--it was a great idea. I've done that with less prior planning in swims where I have seen friends in the water.
I have done races where a swimmer drafting off me has hit me every stroke in the feet for a mile--annoying yes. I actually know the guy and he is a friend of mine. I try to lose him and whine afterwards but don't try to hurt him. I don't like it but I've never taken a cheap shot like was described here. I'm pretty competitive but you have to keep some sense of perspective.
Whoa. Let's slow down here. Kicking someone in the face intentionally in an open water swim? Intentionally elbowing someone in the head? If I was a race organizer and I heard someone admitting to that type of conduct, I would ban the offender from the race forever. In fact, I think the swim organizer would almost be required to do so.
Open water swimming has a lot of unavoidable contact. It also has some basic assumed courtesies. Those include not hitting other people on purpose. Accidents happen. Contact happens. Deal with it. Be mature and civil.
People do draft in open water. Its pretty much unavoidable. If you have some courtesy, you can actually rotate who is doing the drafting and who is doing the pulling along. If that doesn't work and you are the leader, try varying your pace or your line. Slow down for 400 yards, speed up for 400. Try accelerating from a turn buoy when a sharp turn will usuallty give you a gap to take advantage of. There are lots of tricks, and tactics. If you are swimming, you may want to tuck in behind someone else for some period of time. I have a pretty good line in most races and I often find people using me to pull them along. Not the end of the world--I try to lose them by the end of the race if possible, or in the surf if not. Sometimes I draft off other people. When I do, its my responsibility not to have any physical contact with the person I am trailing and I will always make an effort to swim up and take a turn at leading. Sometimes the lead swimmer refuses to take advantage of my offer. That's OK too. Foolish but OK.
I did a race in Oregon once where there was an organized peloton of swimmers who planned a rotation pattern--it was a great idea. I've done that with less prior planning in swims where I have seen friends in the water.
I have done races where a swimmer drafting off me has hit me every stroke in the feet for a mile--annoying yes. I actually know the guy and he is a friend of mine. I try to lose him and whine afterwards but don't try to hurt him. I don't like it but I've never taken a cheap shot like was described here. I'm pretty competitive but you have to keep some sense of perspective.
