I love to swim in places where I can see the bottom. So, I don't mind snorkeling in the Caribbean, but I can't seem to get excited about open swimming in other places.
I'm not trying to be controversial here, I was just wondering what is it about OW that you like, beyond the obvious reasons such as not confined to a pool/lane, it is outside, no flip turns, etc.
Parents
Former Member
Ocean swimming in Australia has grown dramatically over the last 10 years.So much so that the most popular races are limited to 2000 entries.We have a circuit in Sydney that goes for about 5 months.
The reason I like it so much is that it involves more strategy and variation in skill.In a pool you may as well run time trials these days as many races are just races against the clock.I still pool swim and will continue to however the open swim allows a pack (no lanes) of swimmers to compete with each other in an unpredicatable field that involves
surf,wind chop,swell,currents,rips,slip streaming,teaming up,short runs,wading,navigating,stingers,sand bars and more.Pool swimming needs to be more technical,skillfull in starts/turns and should be very well planned. Try planning for the above.You see in ocean swimming (rough water) the best technical swimmer does not always win.That combined with an atmosphere of a "day at the beach" makes it more fun for me.I still pool swim though because I like swimming the medley of strokes.
Ocean swimming in Australia has grown dramatically over the last 10 years.So much so that the most popular races are limited to 2000 entries.We have a circuit in Sydney that goes for about 5 months.
The reason I like it so much is that it involves more strategy and variation in skill.In a pool you may as well run time trials these days as many races are just races against the clock.I still pool swim and will continue to however the open swim allows a pack (no lanes) of swimmers to compete with each other in an unpredicatable field that involves
surf,wind chop,swell,currents,rips,slip streaming,teaming up,short runs,wading,navigating,stingers,sand bars and more.Pool swimming needs to be more technical,skillfull in starts/turns and should be very well planned. Try planning for the above.You see in ocean swimming (rough water) the best technical swimmer does not always win.That combined with an atmosphere of a "day at the beach" makes it more fun for me.I still pool swim though because I like swimming the medley of strokes.
