La Jolla Rough Water - 9/11

Hi Everyone, I am new to the forums and fairly new to Open Water swimming. I have a question about the start line for the La Jolla Rough Water Swim. I know its a chipped event, but i've always been a little confused about where the official Start Line is....does anyone know? It must be buried? Also, what does everyone think about strategy for the start? Get up front and be with the fast folks, and risk being pummeled and out paced? Or, hang back to have a more mellow start, but risk being stuck behind folks that pace slower than you? Thanks guys :)

... now, if only the city of La Jolla, so rich with likely property tax and sales tax revenue could renovate their bathrooms, this already awesome event could be one notch better! Definitely lots of taxes coming in, but keep in mind La Jolla is NOT an independent city--it's part of San Diego.

What a great day...everything was perfect except the kelp, I was able to drag myself over it on the way to the pier but returning from it..wow!..it drained all my energy. Also it was a bit choppy returning from the pier.

I love how it's never the same race twice! Forrest Gump would say it's like a box of chocolates.

I had a great time. Kelp Forest was a challenge - I heard a few "ughs" while going through it and it definitely sapped my energy and took a lot of effort crawling over and looking forward more for any openings. Kelp was definitely the topic du jour everywhere. The winning time for Masters Women was 23:13, which is pretty slow espcially considering how flat the water was, no doubt due to the kelp. And pwb, you failed to mention that you won the mile race! So in my 3 years of LJRWS: Year 1 (2009): The Year of Huge Surf Year 2 (2010): The Year of Freezing Water Year 3 (2011): The Year of Kelp Forest I love how it's never the same race twice! Open water is FUN! :agree:

I find it curious that particiation has dropped significantly for the last few years, esp from 2009 to 2011. Some are daily double entrants so hard to say what the total number of individuals might be, but here's how it breaks down: Year: 1-mile Men/1-mile Women/Gatormen 2007: 614/437/493 2008: 551/375/487 2009: 566/416/491 2010: 458/311/225 2011: 404/263/285 I find it even more strange since open water swimming and triathlons have become much more popular in recent years. What's going on?! :dunno:The last 2 years have been dramatically colder than the previous years. That's my bet.

Gatorman start -- Gatorman start - YouTube Gatorman finish Top 3 - Gatorman Finish Top 3 - YouTube They ended up awarding Kostich, who comes in 3rd in the video, the win, but I couldn't quite understand the rationale that the announcer stated. He said it had something to do with registration, but I didn't catch his rationale. I'd have DQ'd the two guys at the lead for wearing leggings.

Strange finish for sure. Not only with the two guys wearing leggings, but also the swimmer the lifeguards are assisting who damn near gets right in the way of the lead swimmers.

Year 1 (2009): The Year of Huge Surf Year 2 (2010): The Year of Freezing Water Year 3 (2011): The Year of Kelp Forest Maybe the year I finally get to do it will include all three :) Although I would gladly do without the freezing water. Kelp forests are spooky to swim through. The last time I was in La Jolla there was monster kelp. I hallucinated all kinds of shadowy creatures lurking down below.. and that was during a short 1-mile leisure swim, with wetsuit. All of my non-wetsuit swims in the cove have been fairly kelp-free, so I can only imagine what it would feel like to have to claw your way through without the sensory barrier of a rubber suit.

So how was it?Awesome, awesome day. The land weather was picture perfect -- sun, blue skies, 70ish degree air temp. The water wasn't quite as clear as in years past, but much clearer than Saturday during pre-race warmup swims. Temperature was still on the nippy 65 degree side, though it felt warmer away from the cove. The waves were neither a positive (e.g., no surf into the shore) nor a negative factor this year ... ... but the "rough" part was made up in spades by some major kelp/seaweed forests. I assume the Gator-people swam through it, as well, but about 150 yds on either side of the 2nd buoy of the 1 mile course there were huge patches of it. There was really no way to go around it, you just had to claw your way through it. This was my 6th year and by far the kelpiest-seaweediest of the years. It was more like an obstacle course going through that portion, but fun nonetheless. As always, the crew running the event, the safety folks, the cheerleaders with energy bars and electrolyte drinks afterwards, the party atmosphere was awesome. To top off a great event, they had an awesome vendor there with fish tacos instead of the typical burgers and hot dogs for post-race nutrition. ... now, if only the city of La Jolla, so rich with likely property tax and sales tax revenue could renovate their bathrooms, this already awesome event could be one notch better!