Open water swim route has lots of sandbars

RE: Open water swim route has lots of sandbars

FindingMyInnerFish — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 07:02:52 GMT

Hmm... I've seen seaweed in the bay but never thought to hitch a ride.... Usu. find it's a barrier, but hey the triathlete guy took a creative approach... gotta give him credit for that. ;) I think there won't be too much of a problem w/ shallow water, despite my referring to "lots of" sandbars. The Great South Bay veers toward the shallow side, though, so I do have to keep that in mind. When I was a kid, I used to go to Fire Island w/ my family, and some of the activities while there included sailing, which meant at various times learning to get the boat off sandbars. Also we derived a great deal of entertainment watching coast guard boats run aground.

RE: Open water swim route has lots of sandbars

Former Member — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 14:11:29 GMT

A funny story: A triathlete friend of mine competed in a half ironman a few years back. The swim leg was in the Hudson river and about 1/3 of the swim was in water 2' deep or less. Most of the field stood up and plodded their way through, but my buddy said he was just reaching down and pulling himself along on all the sea (river)weed. Turns out he had one of his fastest 1.2 mile "swims" to date.

RE: Open water swim route has lots of sandbars

Rob Copeland — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:18:25 GMT

You should have little problem swimming in water in 2 – 3 feet of water. In 2 feet of water you may need to slightly adjust your stroke, keeping your hand a little closer to your body, or do a few dolphins, otherwise you should be fine.