Did the Pacific Open Water Challenge in Long Beach yesterday. Haven't been training long long yet, so opted for the 1 mile swim. They were still setting up the buoys as the RD was describing the course. "Are those big round ones the buoys?" "No, the triangular yellow ones....... waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the beach." I've done a bunch of Half ironmans, Alcatraz, 2 mile pier to piers, that wasn't no mile we were looking at.
Ah well, no big deal, since everyone has to swim the same distance. I know OWS are often off, but almost double? Someone in an official looking shirt said she heard it was 1.7, and i also heard someone apparently had a garmin measuring 1,7, but since there was no buoy between the start buoy and about .75 of a mile, sighting was all over the place, so who knows. Looking at my usual 100 yard pace, it was somewhere between 1.5 and 1.7 miles.
I didn't time the swim, and didn't look at the clock when I got out, so other than "gee, this seems a little long," it didn't bother me much (and doesn't now). Looks like the guards lined the buoys up with guard towers, just the wrong ones. Lucky for the 5K swimmers they moved them way in, lined up with the next closer set of towers. Otherwise they were looking at a good 4-5 mile swim.
Winning time was THIRTY minutes for the "mile." Friend was 12 minutes off last year's time. I was happy, won 40-44 AG with a ridiculous 37!
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Thanks Steve. You say the course was set the night before? I guess buoys weren't out until Sunday? Only reason I ask is that as the RD was describing the course (if you were there, it was just moments before the Male 1 mile start) that the Lifeguard boat was still out moving the 3d turn buoy into place. With no wind and current, hard to see how the buoys could move that far down the beach, and they didn't seem to move during the swim
Not a flame or a challenge, I guess I find it hard to believe that the RD didn't show up Sun morning or look at the course and say "what the heck??" Maybe we should have
At any rate, I think it's a good location for an OWS (despite the slightly oily tasting water) and, other than a few delays, is a pretty good event, I am glad So Cal has another swim. It needs another year or two to season fully and get going on all cylinders though.
Thanks Steve. You say the course was set the night before? I guess buoys weren't out until Sunday? Only reason I ask is that as the RD was describing the course (if you were there, it was just moments before the Male 1 mile start) that the Lifeguard boat was still out moving the 3d turn buoy into place. With no wind and current, hard to see how the buoys could move that far down the beach, and they didn't seem to move during the swim
Not a flame or a challenge, I guess I find it hard to believe that the RD didn't show up Sun morning or look at the course and say "what the heck??" Maybe we should have
At any rate, I think it's a good location for an OWS (despite the slightly oily tasting water) and, other than a few delays, is a pretty good event, I am glad So Cal has another swim. It needs another year or two to season fully and get going on all cylinders though.
