Folks,
At the risk of asking a stupid question, how do you measure out and mark an "out and back" or "triangle" open water course?
Do I need a GPS?
How big a buoy should I get? Any rope in particular? Anchor weights?
I'm thinking of just a barebones 1-1.5 mile race in a Lake. I would of course do all of the butt-work including the course set up.
GPS is handy if you have one. Lacking that you can get a surveyor to shoot the course or if you don’t need to be 100% accurate you can get a Map Quest image of the water and eyeball the course based on landmarks.
For course markings, I usually use 5-6 foot buoys to mark the turns and 3 foot buoys every 100M in the straight-aways. It’s also nice to place a small buoy 25M after turns to help swimmers get their bearings. The buoys can be anchored with cinderblocks connected with poly rope. I get the poly rope by the spool (from Home Depot or Lowes) so it can be cut to length on the spot.
For your first event, you may want to borrow or rent buoys for someone who already has run open water races. I’d suggest you contact the Reston Masters www.restonmasters.org/ they may be able to provide equipment and expertise.
I’d also suggest you look at the Long Distance Committees event director’s handbook, which can be found at www.usms.org/longdist/owman.pdf
GPS is handy if you have one. Lacking that you can get a surveyor to shoot the course or if you don’t need to be 100% accurate you can get a Map Quest image of the water and eyeball the course based on landmarks.
For course markings, I usually use 5-6 foot buoys to mark the turns and 3 foot buoys every 100M in the straight-aways. It’s also nice to place a small buoy 25M after turns to help swimmers get their bearings. The buoys can be anchored with cinderblocks connected with poly rope. I get the poly rope by the spool (from Home Depot or Lowes) so it can be cut to length on the spot.
For your first event, you may want to borrow or rent buoys for someone who already has run open water races. I’d suggest you contact the Reston Masters www.restonmasters.org/ they may be able to provide equipment and expertise.
I’d also suggest you look at the Long Distance Committees event director’s handbook, which can be found at www.usms.org/longdist/owman.pdf
