Bump

I've never done IM Maryland but I have done Eaglemen 3-4 times now.

I believe they use the exact same course for both races (obviously, 2 loops for the full though). I know that if you swim wide at the South-Western most leg you'll actually be able to see the bottom and walk if needed. It comes up very shallow. With the eagleman course they set up the direction of the swim to go along with the tide that day. That means your longest leg (northern most leg) will always go with the current. They can obviously look all this information up ahead of time so its not like some random announcement they make before the races starts. Besides that its just a normal IM deal.

Here is the Facebook talk for Eagleman. Again I would assume its almost the exact same as IM Maryland expect for distance:
He starts talking about the swim course at the 7:30 mark
https://www.facebook.com/Ironman70.3eagleman/videos/1570735516326041/

Thanks for the info, and the video was very helpful too. I think you are right that the same concepts will apply for the 2.4 distance.

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

When I did IMMD, we swam the opposite direction of the maps you attached. My guess is they set the direction based on current. No inside knowledge though.

Looking at the results (2017), it appears that the swim was very slow (no one in M40-44 under 62 minutes). Is it just a rough slow swim in general, or was something unique happening last year?

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

I was there last year, the current was in your face swimming the final leg, having the map correct- so Wsw to ene. I remember looking after and think in it didn’t make a whole lot of sense with that part being partially land protected but there you go. The same current pushed everyone in on the first leg - almost nobody was able to hold tight to the buoys going out from the start.

I was slow by about 5 minutes from a stupid mistake on my part that possibly others made- I lined up with a slower corral but then when the race started the corral number didn’t move up with the group. I stayed out thinking it was on purpose, took me a bit to figure out the line was definitely moving...by the time I got in I was easily 2 or 3 corrals back of the pack I should have been swimming in, and spent the first two legs getting kicked and climbing over folks who were...Er...overwhelmed. It’s harder than I would have thought to swim over someone when they aren’t pointed the same direction you are or when they suddenly pull up and you’ve been following them!

Thanks for the info. How was the current? Does it turn a 2:00/100yd swimmer into a 3:00/100yd when against the current? Is it not that drastic, or does the speed change week to week so too hard to tell?

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

I have done IM MD x1 and Eagleman x5

The current is not that strong but expect a slower than normal swim. I am a 1:45/100yd swimmer and swim about 1:50/100yd there.

It is not only the current but wind conditions for how choppy the water is that plays a role. Also tide timing.

Yeah to follow up on this a bit this is a tidal river so you have multiple factors at play and it leads to different conditions every year. You've got the river current itself which is affected by rain. You've got either a lot of wind or a moderate amount of wind (it's always windy) that makes the water choppy or really choppy. Then you've got the tide.

It looks like what you'll have this year are contradictory factors. At the start you go up river -- so against the current -- but with the tide. The race usually starts about 6.45 and high tide is at 7.56. On the way back though you'll be with the current but fast swimmers may face the end of flood (rising) tide but most swimmers likely face either slack tide or ride with the ebb (falling) tide. So unless I'm thinking about this wrong that sounds pretty favorable as far as these things go.

Wind is always the issue and small craft advisories can wreck the swim. One thing they have done in rough conditions is move the swim over to the harbor area which is more protected. In 2015 they delayed the start, moved it to the harbor, and shortened it to 2 miles. I recall it being a pretty easy swim.

If it's low tide you can walk half the way out and then hopefully ride the current back in. Depends.

That's true though I wonder whether walking makes sense. Is it really faster and is the impact on your legs worth it given what comes next? I suppose it depends on lot on how deep is the water.

I remember one year at IM Florida the tide was going out and we had to walk the first couple hundred meters of the second swim loop. It was kind of hilarious.

Is IM Maryland kind of snakebit in terms of the swim? I mean, is the swim being canceled or moved a fairly likely occurrence given the time of year and location?

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

Watch data suggested the current portions added 10-15 seconds per 100, so about 2 minutes total. But that was only that day. Practice swim the day before the current was coming a different direction albeit from the practice area, which is different. It’s going to affect everyone the same, it isn’t going to change your plan...just swim and stay on line, don’t ruin your day in the water!

Yep. It's just an extremely volatile time of year for weather on the mid-Atlantic coast. In 2015 the race got postponed for 2 weeks due to a hurricane (hat tip to Ironman and the people of Cambridge for pulling that off) and then the swim was shortened and almost got cancelled. 2016 was a mess with a cancelled swim, a shortened bike, and partially-flooded run. Three years in a row an October OWS race at the Cape May ferry got cancelled and they finally just gave up and moved it to June. IMMD is now a tad earlier (end of September) so maybe that'll help. But it's still a crapshoot.