First open water swim, and I'm terrified!

You can probably do it; whether it will be fun or meaningful is a different matter. Slowness per se is not a major concern (if water is warm enough so that you do not become hypothermic). Ability to keep on going in water over your head is more important. If you do get in trouble, you will be told ways to flag the escort boat - wave your cap, or holler - and you'll get a ride back to shore. If you can comfortably pool swim a mile without putting your feet down and resting, you should do fine. If you rest a lot and don't have "go long, easy breathing" pretty well mastered, the season is yet young and you might be able to pick up another OW swim later in the summer. In OW, you can vary strokes, do breaststroke, etc. You can tread water or just float. If possible, work with a coach to go long, breathe easily, and allay some of the anxiety. There are LOTS of tips on first OW swim on this forum.

Open water events have kayakers as life guards. When swimmers are too tired, they should stop, tread water, and raise their hands to notify the kayaker to come give assistance.

Your first goal for any open water swim, no matter how experienced you are, should be to finish. That said, there's no shame in not finishing. Just get out there, relax, and have fun. Do what you are capable of doing, and don't worry about everyone else. Good luck!

have fun. position yourself at the start in an area where you won't get bounced around by those wanting to race. settle into your own pace. if there is a cut-off time, you either will make it under or you won't.... but you shouldn't worry about it either way; there's only one way to find out.

My advise is to relax and swim at your own pace. For me open water swimming is about getting wet.

Just curious, when a newbie becomes exhausted and can't continue in OW, what can he do? There are no helpers in the water I suppose :rolleyes: Is that dangerous?

Hey teasqueeze, I have my first one on May 30! No worries my friend. Even though I swam competitively for nearly 20 years this is my first venture into the OW! Mine is a 5K (3.1 miles) and I'm a bit nervous as well. I'm not worried about finishing, I just want to do a decent pace and not sink like a stone in the middle of it. If you do get tired, just slow the pace a bit and gather yourself a bit physically and mentally. I think its more mental than anything! You can also flip over and do a little backstroke (or double arm) just to catch your breathe if need be. Go get em, best of luck!:applaud:

How do you OW psychos evaluate your times? I don't. Time for the "same" race from one year to the next can vary a lot for reasons having nothing to do with me (temp, wind, course layout). I evaluate my performance based on how I swim relative to others. My best performance in one local swim that I have done many times was also my slowest by several minutes, because the course was comparatively long and the lake comparatively choppy. We have a lot of races in my area every summer and after years of seeing the same people over and over I have a pretty good sense of who will always beat me, who will never beat me, and who I will be racing against.

How do you OW psychos evaluate your times? I'm not an OW psycho, but I swim enough OW and don't worry too much about the times (only than to see by how much Kurt Dickson beat me:)). Even in the same race year after year, the times can be all over the board. For example, my last 3 years at the LaJolla Rough Water 1 mile swim: 2006: 20:57 2007: 22:36 2008: 21:00 I was, by far, in my best shape for the 2007 race, but it was my slowest. In 2008, I didn't swim AT ALL for June and July and maybe averaged only 10K a week for the 5 weeks in August/Sep in advance of the mid-Sep race, yet I was 90 seconds faster. For any ocean swim, currents and placement of buoys have a huge impact on time. Sighting/staying on course is obviously another factor, in addition to having the ability to draft.

I've been swimming just about every day, but it takes me nearly an hour to swim a mile at the pool. If you can comfortably pool swim a mile without putting your feet down and resting, you should do fine. If you rest a lot and don't have "go long, easy breathing" pretty well mastered, the season is yet young and you might be able to pick up another OW swim later in the summer. I agree with VB. An hour is frequently the cut-off time for one-mile OW swims. If a pool mile takes you an hour because you have to rest on the wall every 50, you may want to rethink the OW swim for now. If a pool mile takes you an hour but you are not stopping and you do not feel totally thrashed afterwards, your biggest concern for the OW swim will be the possibility of getting cold.