I'm getting more and more spooked by algae, seaweed, etc...

I swim in the Pacific Ocean @ La Jolla,...kelp paddies abound. I have found that they are a good place to rest,..their air filled pods provide a great lounge. I have crossed some that are 30 feet in diameter and others that are no more than a few stalks,...yes,.they do break up rythmn, and sometimes are a pain,..but what I do not like is swimming into jellyfish...haven`t been stung yet , but I have contacted them.

Remember that it is not a foe. Sometimes in triathlons, I grab a hand full to pull myself forward!! I would think that more time with stuff will get you used to it.

I have swam in the Pacific ocean, as Ron has, and the kelp beds were spooky at first, but harmless. During my English Channel attempt I ran into trash and that was bad. But what spooked me the most happened last week. I came upon a sunk tree and I tried to jump out of the lake, when I saw it. I thought it was a dragon. To overcome the spookiness factor you just have to keep telling yourself it is harmless, it is harmless..it is harmless or at least mostly harmless. There will be times when you do get spooked. This is part of swimming in the open water. When I get spooked I do panic some, and it takes a moment or two to calm down, but then it is back to swimming. Living in Colorado I have very little to fear in the water.:)

I get spooked too. I always worry that I'm going to see a corpse underwater. I think I've watched too much CSI Miami.

If you swim in one lake consistently, familiarity might help you deal with objets du lac. Branches, trees, strainers, and underwater, invisible constructions, such as the old walls and pilings in near-shore Lake Michigan, can be lethal. The occasional bit of pondweed wrapping itself around my head is startling, as is the occasional dead fish floating by. Swimming with a buddy will help take your mind offa. Otherwise, a mantra - "I will survive" - might help, as might, indeed, focusing on the technical parts of swimming. Can the kayaker serve as a second set of eyes? hello all, i've been swimming in a lake in upstate NY the last few weeks and I'm finding I get more and more spooked when I see algae, leaves, branches, etc. Any suggestions on how to work on this? I found when I concentrated and counted strokes, I could keep my form and do well. But it didn't last. I'd start to spook myself out again and my form would deteriorate because i keep trying to sight what's ahead of me. How do you deal with the harmless debris you might bump into on your lake or ocean swims? The lake i'm in is relatively clean, though murky. 3-4 feet visibility. I also have a kayaker accompany me. Chris

too funny. i suppose it is simply buckling down and getting used to everything.

My first OWS was a 3K in a lake. A fish hit my toe. I went really fast for the next 50 yards.

HAHA I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets spooked over the most harmless of things. I was doing the Bermuda swim one year, nobody else anywhere near me, relaxed and lost in my thoughts when I punched my hand into a big jelly fish. I got such a fright I stopped swimming and yelled the f word, then realised there were a couple of people sitting on the rocks right next to me who saw and heard the whole thing.:blush:

During one of my o.w. swims, I felt something rough brush against my leg. I thought it best not to look to see what it was, as long as all it did was brush against me and not regard me as breakfast. As for jellyfish, my experience is that most don't sting, they just feel like... jello. I encountered occasional stinging ones, and their stings felt like mild kitchen burns, but the pain disappeared in a few minutes. Fortunately--and no, powers that be, this is not a request! ;) --I haven't ever encountered the man of war jellyfish and I hope I don't. I heard their stings can be brutal. But my saltwater swimming has mainly been on the east coast from Jersey to Maine--too cold for the man of war, I understand. Seaweed--pretty used to that since I learned to swim in salt water and some days the bay was full of seaweed. Didn't like it, but didn't find it threatening. Once did an aquathlon in a lake... very murky and rusty pilings I almost tripped on while in standing depth... when I actually started the race, I moved to the deeper part of the course, even though that meant taking extra time to get back to shore. Didn't want to hit those pilings while swimming... and I figured I could make up for some lost speed on the run. Give me salt water any day for o.w. swimming!

Swimming into driftwood is a big fear of mine ever since I did that once. The idea of running into a 2 X 4 with rusty nails sticking out of it is pretty horrible to me. I took a stick right in the mouth at a race recently. All natural; no nails. A woman right ahead of me stopped swimming and just as I thought "why is she pulling up?" BAM. It hit me crossways, like I was going to take it back to shore and trade it for a Milk-Bone and a pat on the head.