I frequently find myself having to make a quick decision in open water races - draft off the person in front of me who is drifting slightly off course or give up and go on my own without the draft benefit on the straighter line.
Often I figure that the slight extra distance is worth the draft and just silently hope the lead person in the pack straightens out.
It's very hard to decide which is best in the heat of the swim. It depends on how off course the lead person is, but it's not easy to know that at water level in the middle of the race.
Which would you pick?
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I found it hard to draft when there were roughly 300 because it seemed like everyone went out in 200m race pace. I guess they wanted to look good in the eyes of the public. it was a river race, and I would guess that over 200 of them huged the line layed out ...
I, too, hate the "sprint" at the start of the event. I have also found that too many people over-estimate their ability and line up too far forward in an OW start (both in water and run-to-the-water starts). Because of that, the "scrum" towards the buoy line is far worse than towards the outer edges. I know I'm adding extra distance by doing this, but, assuming the buoy line is on the left, I like to line up on the far right side. This allows me to start the race at a pace I like (versus being forced to sprint) and avoid a lot of the elbows & hands in the face you get in the midst of the scrum. Even on a short, mile race, I think I'm adding at most 25 to 50 yards of extra swimming. For me, getting in the right groove with the right mindset is worth this tradeoff.
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I found it hard to draft when there were roughly 300 because it seemed like everyone went out in 200m race pace. I guess they wanted to look good in the eyes of the public. it was a river race, and I would guess that over 200 of them huged the line layed out ...
I, too, hate the "sprint" at the start of the event. I have also found that too many people over-estimate their ability and line up too far forward in an OW start (both in water and run-to-the-water starts). Because of that, the "scrum" towards the buoy line is far worse than towards the outer edges. I know I'm adding extra distance by doing this, but, assuming the buoy line is on the left, I like to line up on the far right side. This allows me to start the race at a pace I like (versus being forced to sprint) and avoid a lot of the elbows & hands in the face you get in the midst of the scrum. Even on a short, mile race, I think I'm adding at most 25 to 50 yards of extra swimming. For me, getting in the right groove with the right mindset is worth this tradeoff.
