Of all the open water swims around the world, is there a race where there is a maximum allowable water temperature? If so (or if not), what is the scientific information or medical guidelines for a maximum allowable water temperature for open water swims (non-wetsuit)?
Parents
Former Member
Its always a tragedy to have an athlete die and it happens in most sports I can think of but if we are 100% protected from risk is it still sport? I am worried that there is too much pressure to make things safe which would eliminate most of the open water venues now in use. I have more questions than answers and pose them here to see what the rest of you think.
If open water is restricted to only conditions safe for everyone we will have very few races, temps in the 60's are too cold for some, for others 75 is too warm. Should we eliminate rough seas, winds etc. There’s already too much pollution and toxins such as blue-green algae and industrial runoff that reduce possible venues.
I feel that the challenge of open water is to understand and prepare for the likely conditions in the events you plan to participate in and to choose events that will work together for your training. It would not be reasonable to prepare for a cold swim like the 12.6 ocean challenge to be followed by a warm swim such as the world's or Pennock Island Alaska then the Maui Channel Hawaii. Time is needed to acclimate to each condition and the harder you will swim the more carefully you must acclimate.
Its being claimed by some that this information was not available, perhaps there's not enough science behind it but I do recall Dr. Miller (USA team) speaking about hyper and hypo thermia and he told us you should have (an ideal of at least) two weeks for adaptation in either direction. There has been more fear of cold than warm water expressed by swimmers I am in contact with but I suppose this will now change.
Are risks understated or are athletes over confident? What kind of safeguards should be in place and what would eliminate open water from sport altogether? Should there be qualifiers for each condition? Should there be “observers” for each person in a race? What would that mean for your local 1k or 5k? Is it a question of what’s too hot or cold to hold a race or how well athletes are informed before they sign up for that race? Should nationals, worlds etc have less extremes than local events?
Its always a tragedy to have an athlete die and it happens in most sports I can think of but if we are 100% protected from risk is it still sport? I am worried that there is too much pressure to make things safe which would eliminate most of the open water venues now in use. I have more questions than answers and pose them here to see what the rest of you think.
If open water is restricted to only conditions safe for everyone we will have very few races, temps in the 60's are too cold for some, for others 75 is too warm. Should we eliminate rough seas, winds etc. There’s already too much pollution and toxins such as blue-green algae and industrial runoff that reduce possible venues.
I feel that the challenge of open water is to understand and prepare for the likely conditions in the events you plan to participate in and to choose events that will work together for your training. It would not be reasonable to prepare for a cold swim like the 12.6 ocean challenge to be followed by a warm swim such as the world's or Pennock Island Alaska then the Maui Channel Hawaii. Time is needed to acclimate to each condition and the harder you will swim the more carefully you must acclimate.
Its being claimed by some that this information was not available, perhaps there's not enough science behind it but I do recall Dr. Miller (USA team) speaking about hyper and hypo thermia and he told us you should have (an ideal of at least) two weeks for adaptation in either direction. There has been more fear of cold than warm water expressed by swimmers I am in contact with but I suppose this will now change.
Are risks understated or are athletes over confident? What kind of safeguards should be in place and what would eliminate open water from sport altogether? Should there be qualifiers for each condition? Should there be “observers” for each person in a race? What would that mean for your local 1k or 5k? Is it a question of what’s too hot or cold to hold a race or how well athletes are informed before they sign up for that race? Should nationals, worlds etc have less extremes than local events?
