Drafting in Open Water Swims

George, That's absoultely incredible. Almost mind boggling! I agree, you are in an elite class. There should be a hall of fame for swimmers like you. Any thoughts on coming over and doing my 26.2km on Aug 12th??? Should be a walk in the park for you. I am sure exercise physiologists would love to get their hands on you and record all sorts of data. In the races that I do, drafting is illegal. There are course marshalls, and they will issue a warning if you are in a slipstream. The second warning and you are DQ'd. However in triathalon, drafting in the swim is legal, but not on the bike. Kiwi

To be in a hall of fame does not interest me, I have been asked to submit info to three of them. You have to understand I am writing mostly from the past, I am 72 years old today. I will definately be at that race but not to compete. New knee coming in July. We are moving to Duncan, Vancouver Island on June the 15th. See you at the pool. Say hi to Bonnie Pronk and Marylou Whitwell for me I think they are also in Duncan area. George

You are in a different league than us regular people

Just want to add my name to the George Park fan club here! I love reading George's posts - always down-to-earth and to-the-point. Need some of that with all the techy and chemy stuff in sports... About drafting, personally it's been allowed in every open-water swim I've ever partecipated in. I thought it was a part of the sport, along with navigation, nutrition breaks, etc etc... :confused: Ciao!

I just wish I was as good as my brother Tom who got credit for the first marathon swim that I won. The headlines in the news papers front page in Quebec TOM PARK comes out of retirment and wins The Chicoutimi to Port Alfred Race. It was good to know the currents in that river he told me. My brother paved the way for me, when I swam in Egypt the room attendent treated me like Royalty because I was Tom Park's brother. He told me he only picked the bed bugs out of my bed because he knew my brother Tom. Thanks for the good words.

Damn!! Add me to that fan list. I did a short open water swim recently where I drafted like crazy off this awesome woman. I felt bad because near the finish I just wheeled right by her.

Did the same in a 3 - mile event several years ago. The women was a strong swimmer and lead for 2 1/2 miles. I dutifully followed her right on her feet. A couple of occasions I pulled along side essentially trying to indicate we could trade off leads but the hint wasn't taken. At the 2 1/2 mile turn bouy I noticed she was taking a wide line so I sprinted into the bouy and about another twenty five yards or so after the turn and looked back. I noticed she was about 10 yards back and she never closed the gap into the finish. I thought all was good however she started crying on beach after the finish and some her friends came over to accuse me of playing dirty pool. My not agains't rules and where would Lance Armstrong be without drafting agruement didn't play with them. Oh well.

Wow-Crying after losing to you...Bummer. I read a story about a cross country racer that was tailed the entire race by someone only to pull ahead at the last 1/2 mile to 1/4 mile. Oh well, such is life.

Originally posted by Lakespray My not agains't rules and where would Lance Armstrong be without drafting agruement didn't play with them. Oh well. If Lance Armstrong made a habit of sitting in and then outsprinting people for whom he had done no work, then he would have found himsef often the victim of crashes long long ago. There is definitely an etiquette to the drafting that goes on in bike racing. What you did might have been bad form, the issue is clouded by the fact that she took the wrong line. If she had been straight on, then it is defintely bad form to just sit in and then outsprint her at the end and a nice way to earn a kick in the face at the next race.

Hey 2go+h20 Do you swim with the Duncan Masters? I just moved to Duncan and have not been in the water for 6 weeks. Are you swimming in Lake Cowichan yet? I am thinking of joining the masters group in Duncan??? I know the pool is closed from July 29 til Sept 5th.