it would appear that this years swim was a bit longer but at the same time i can not see a big change . there is a lot of lines where you swan just a straight or even better last year and only before the 3rd buoy did you do better than last year but without those 150 m or so one would almost say you sighted better last year. so i cant really see the change you claim. i think its too close to say that the watch made really any difference yet .
if we look as this from an evidence based approach, the clear answer is further research is necessary.
still thanks for posting as it is interesting.

can i ask you do you think you gave up some time because you focused more on compass than on stroke
or do you think you actually it was the other way round.