Recommended Goggles?

My personal preference is to wear clear prescription goggles for almost every open water swim. If I know the sun will be low in the sky (morning or evening) and the course heads in the direction of the sun, I may wear smoked prescription lens instead. And when I say heading for the sun I mean the course markers are hard to see due to sun glare, not that the swim is straight up into the sun. Lately I have been getting Speedo Optical Anti-Fog goggles. A number of the USMS Sponsors listed on the www.usms.org/links site carry these goggles.

I always wear a mirrored pair of goggles which help to cut the glare and which I find give a little better contrast. That is a personal preference issue. What I think is a necessity, however, is to wear some goggles with a good strong fit, and with some rubber around the lense so that it can easily be adjusted with a single hand and has a firmer fit than, for example, swedish goggles. Even if you like going for a real small goggle in a pool race, in an ocean, you want some goggles that are going to resist being knocked off. Finally, do some workout swimming without goggles so that you don't panic if you lose them in a race. At Tiburon last year I lost my goggles almost immediately at the start of the race. I had prepared and went ahead and swam the race without them.

I prefer goggles with a slight tint as my eyes are somewhat light-sensitive. I also wear "off-the-shelf" corrective goggles. Whatever you decide upon, I suggest that you be sure to get either polycarbonate lenses or lenses that specifically say they block UV light. Many of the plastic ones don't block UV and being outside and with the glare on the water is not good from a UV/eye damage standpoint. I get mine at www.aquagoggles.com I prefer the Kiefer optical goggles, but they don't block UV. -LBJ

The Aqua Sphere Seal swim mask works better for me than standard goggles. It doesn't leak at all, has a seal that suctions to the face incredibly well, and doesn't need adjustment once it is on. If I press it on a bit too hard, it feels like it is gonna suck my eyeballs out. In fact, out of the water, I can put the mask on my face without the strap, and it won't fall off. I wear it for bodysurfing and there is no chance of losing it going over the falls and getting tossed around in the white water. (I lost two pairs of standard goggles earlier this summer doing that.) But the Aqua Sphere mask will fog (maybe not quite as much as regular goggles), and I don't think it helps with contrast. I've tried the smoke and mirrored, and, as with all goggles I've tried, it is more difficult to judge the distance of the waves when wearing the Seal mask. But the Seal mask relieves my eyes from the glare of the sun in the late afternoons, and it works much better than standard goggles for me. Aqua Sphere makes a photograde mask that changes according to the light level, but I haven't tried that one. I picked up my Seal masks up at Sportsmart when they had a 30 or 40% off sale. The best prices I've seen online is from www.makeityours.net I also have the summer version of the Aqua Sphere triathelete wetsuit. I use it for freediving/skindiving, and I am considering getting the Fall version for skindiving almost year round (in So. Cal. and I don't get cold easily). Some of the dive site coves I go to have water a bit colder than the beaches, I'm diving below the surface, and I wanted a little thermal protection without having to use weights for diving. I love the wetsuit. It is very thin, flexible, comfortable. I bought mine at a local shop (needed to try it on before buying) but I would buy the next one from makeityours.net, as those are the best prices I've seen. Good luck... I hope you find something that works for you!