With the season drawing to a close........

That is an interesting find regarding the wetsuit no-wetsuit sequence. Previously, how were you entering the water to start a skin swim? For example, my ritual is to walk directly in to the top of my swimsuit, with arms straight at my side such that my hands, wrists and forearms are submerged. I stand there for a bit, essentially still, then walk in deeper to the point that my elbows are in the water. I again stand around, essentially still, look at my wrist watch periodically then put that arm back in the water and making sure to exhale completely on each breath. When the watch is about to read a full minute, I start my forerunner 305 under my cap and push off. For the first ten strokes or so, I make sure my mouth is out of the water when I exhale in case I have a gasping reflex. When i feel all systems are a go, i start breathing normally. Later in the swim, I exhale slowly so that the the bubbles wash around my lips, which is one technique to keep them as warm as possible in order to preserve as much feeling in them as possible, because if they are numb, then I am more likely to be oblivious to the fact that a wave about to wash into my mouth as I am about to breath. I'm old school. I start up the beach as far as i can get. I start running to the water screaming at the top of my lungs while simultaneously flailing my arms wildly over my head. As soon as my feet touch the water I start jerking them up with my knees high as if I am walking on hot coals. I continue in this motion until I lose my balance and fall over face first - usually in 1 foot of water. I stand up, wiped the wet sand on my face, then turn around and run up the beach, once again screaming at the top of my lungs. I repeat this "routine" until I have completely adjusted to the water temperature, or too exhausted to swim.

That is an interesting find regarding the wetsuit no-wetsuit sequence. Previously, how were you entering the water to start a skin swim? For example, my ritual is to walk directly in to the top of my swimsuit, with arms straight at my side such that my hands, wrists and forearms are submerged. I stand there for a bit, essentially still, then walk in deeper to the point that my elbows are in the water. I again stand around, essentially still, look at my wrist watch periodically then put that arm back in the water and making sure to exhale completely on each breath. When the watch is about to read a full minute, I start my forerunner 305 under my cap and push off. For the first ten strokes or so, I make sure my mouth is out of the water when I exhale in case I have a gasping reflex. When i feel all systems are a go, i start breathing normally. Later in the swim, I exhale slowly so that the the bubbles wash around my lips, which is one technique to keep them as warm as possible in order to preserve as much feeling in them as possible, because if they are numb, then I am more likely to be oblivious to the fact that a wave about to wash into my mouth as I am about to breath. I'm old school. I start up the beach as far as i can get. I start running to the water screaming at the top of my lungs while simultaneously flailing my arms wildly over my head. As soon as my feet touch the water I start jerking them up with my knees high as if I am walking on hot coals. I continue in this motion until I lose my balance and fall over face first - usually in 1 foot of water. I stand up, wiped the wet sand on my face, then turn around and run up the beach, once again screaming at the top of my lungs. I repeat this "routine" until I have completely adjusted to the water temperature, or too exhausted to swim.