HandHeartCrown wrote:
For what purpose? I pull left in OW. I've done your experiment in a pool and, guess what, I pull left.
To remove the visual cue and feedback loop of having a line on the bottom of the pool to guide and correct off of - similar to swimming in murky open water. Closing your eyes isn't a fix; its a test. It tests to see if you can stay in a straight line. Whether we realize it or not we are probably constantly seeing the line, seeing if we are drifting, course correcting, wash and repeat. The idea is to change your stroke (or parts) until you can swim straight without looking; or to be able to feel that you are sliding off line and need to make a correction.
For example: Eyes closed, swim 25 yards or until you hit one of the ropes. Try again with breathing only right, only left, or bilateral. Does any of those help? Can you feel yourself drifting to one side? Try again, pulling extra hard with one arm. Does that help? Make it worse? Keep tweaking until you can get to a place where you can swim mostly straight. Or until you can feel yourself getting off your line; that would be time to sight in OW.
Hope that helps.