The open water discussion has been a little boring lately so time to add some controversy. The above quote was affixed to a plaque my swimmers gave me when I retired as Head Coach of the University of Denver Masters Swim Team. Yes, they knew where I stood on the subject. Others share my view. In my day job as a stock broker I came across an article in the Wall Street Journal “Wimp or Triathlete, You Probably Like That New Wetsuit" by Kevin Helliker, published on September 24, 1999. In it were several memorable quotes on the subject. "How pathetic, says Betsy Brennan a Lake Michigan swimmer" "When I see people in wetsuits, I think: wimp." Another Chicagoan Ted Erikson, who did a double crossing of the English Channel without a wetsuit, said on the increasingly use of wetsuit by swimmers in Lake Michigan. "I ask them, 'Why don't you just get a boat? Boats have heaters.”:D
I certainly understand race directors decisions (I am an ER doctor and get the fact we do things based on the lowest common denominator--i.e. ordering way too many tests assuming the person is too dumb to followup with his own doctor or canceling swims based on the fact that the worst swimmer out there has no idea that he sucks and will do anything so he can tell his friends he is an ironman).
Drownings are bad but I wouldn't call them "unacceptable." I am not sure when life got where it had to be perfectly safe and sterile (don't get me started on malpractice lawyers). Bad things happen and it does not necessarily have to be somebody's fault. If I choose to race in a lake that happens to be contaminated with Naegleria and I die of meningitis, the race director is not necessarily responsible. Personal responsibility has disappeared from the current fault-finding modern society. Sorry for the rant but this subject makes me apoplexic.
I certainly understand race directors decisions (I am an ER doctor and get the fact we do things based on the lowest common denominator--i.e. ordering way too many tests assuming the person is too dumb to followup with his own doctor or canceling swims based on the fact that the worst swimmer out there has no idea that he sucks and will do anything so he can tell his friends he is an ironman).
Drownings are bad but I wouldn't call them "unacceptable." I am not sure when life got where it had to be perfectly safe and sterile (don't get me started on malpractice lawyers). Bad things happen and it does not necessarily have to be somebody's fault. If I choose to race in a lake that happens to be contaminated with Naegleria and I die of meningitis, the race director is not necessarily responsible. Personal responsibility has disappeared from the current fault-finding modern society. Sorry for the rant but this subject makes me apoplexic.
