Brooklyn Bridge Swim - race start

Thanks, it makes sense. I will give #4 a try and let you know how it goes.

I concur with Bob.

If you've never started in a crowd there is no way to know how you will respond. So your choices are: 1) start in the front and you will surely get run over. As you said this is not a good idea. 2) Start in the back and swim around the slower swimmers in front of you. You might find this very frustrating. if you chose this just swim for fun. It's your first race and it is suppose to be fun. 3) start in the middle and you are facing a combination of 1) & 2) 4) start on the side. You might swim a bit further, but really it is insignificant in a race of a mile. I recommend 4). There is no order in where people are suppose to start.. If it is a big crowd sometimes I look around at the people next to me and simply say: "Whose the fast one here?" It really gives me an insight into the swimmers around me. (Once the person next to me said "it must be you" - I am very relaxed at the start) Because I am so relaxed it is obvious who the nervous ones are. I stay in front of them. If they don't look at me and say nothing, typically they are very focused and they are either very fast or will likely to go out to0 fast. I stay away from them. The people who engage me in a conversation I know will not be swimming over me if they are faster and will move out of my way if I am faster. Most of the time this is very helpful for me. Not sure it would work for everyone.

#4 is the way to go. Any extra distance is insignificant, especially in a race (like this one) with a current. I was eying this race earlier in the week - I wish I signed up! Good luck. Please let us know how the race went. And good for you for pool-qualifying.

I thought all the talk about being nervous in an OW swim was hogwash and just silly people who really didn't have much experience swimming. Then I did my first (real) OW swim. It was also a mile. It even had "heats." Small heat of about 20-25 people. Still, the start freaked me out and even more so, I went out too fast (despite reading everywhere not to do that and telling myself I wouldn't) and when I got a huge wave of water in my mouth and nose when I turned to breath...freak out! I got over it fast, thankfully. I realized that I had gone out too fast, wasn't enjoying the swim, and calmed down, 'steady-ed' my stroke, and then ended up doing well and having a great time. My second OW swim, a 2K, I hung out at the side and a bit to the back. Again a heat of about 30 people, and I didn't start fast. Also got water sloshed in my mouth and didn't freak out. Went under some low bridges that completely darkened my world and didn't freak out. Bottom line, for your first OW swim, just hang back and enjoy it. There will be plenty of time to be fast and competitive in the future, but for this one, why not take it easy? My $0.02.

So in hopes of helping someone else in my spot before their 1st OW, I tried to stay wide on the start (option #4). However I wasnt wide enough and even though I was only 3 or 4 people from the starting line it still posed a large problem. The course start was like a funnel because on the shoreline and course setup so even though I was only a few back as soon as the race started I was in the middle of chaos. It was like swimming in a washing machine. :) After about 200-300 meters things calmed down and I was able to get into a rhythm. The start is at about 1:45 in at the link below. YouTube - HD Brooklyn Bridge Swim 2010

Awesome venue for a swim. I did the Governors Island Swim in August. Living in Boise, Idaho, the Brooklyn Bridge swim wasn't really feasible! Well done!