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!
Parents
Former Member
One more thought on the 1.7? mile swim. The water temperature was quite comfortable for the race, ~66 degrees. Although wet suits were allowed for the event, they were not necessary. Myself, I am not a competitive swimmer. I am just a lap swimmer at the pool who tries to maintain a baseline of physical fitness. This was my first one (1.7?) mile ocean event, done without a wet suit. My 17 year old son also swam this event without a wet suit.
For those who are competive, it's an advantage to wear a wet suit, no doubt. I think this event and shorter events that are swam at this location, at this time of year, don't require a wet suit. The Huntington Beach Pier swim and Seal Beach 1 mile swim are non wet suit events. Also for a race which is swimming event only and not combined swimming with some other event (running or biking), at the very least should have two categories of swimmer (wet suit and non wet suit).
One more thought on the 1.7? mile swim. The water temperature was quite comfortable for the race, ~66 degrees. Although wet suits were allowed for the event, they were not necessary. Myself, I am not a competitive swimmer. I am just a lap swimmer at the pool who tries to maintain a baseline of physical fitness. This was my first one (1.7?) mile ocean event, done without a wet suit. My 17 year old son also swam this event without a wet suit.
For those who are competive, it's an advantage to wear a wet suit, no doubt. I think this event and shorter events that are swam at this location, at this time of year, don't require a wet suit. The Huntington Beach Pier swim and Seal Beach 1 mile swim are non wet suit events. Also for a race which is swimming event only and not combined swimming with some other event (running or biking), at the very least should have two categories of swimmer (wet suit and non wet suit).
