I'm all in favor of everyone being a capable swimmer before they start the race. But that doesn't mean nobody will freestyle kick me in the face. It doesn't mean nobody will swim over me. It doesn't mean nobody will breast stroke kick me in the face. It doesn't even mean nobody will be doing breast stroke, I sometimes do a couple of breast strokes if I need to sight. I've seen people that can breast stroke faster than my freestyle, does that mean they're not competent to go the distance?
I'm all for wave starts. During the swim, people speed up and slow down. They change direction. They bunch up and spread out. It's tough to see this happening very far in advance (unless you keep your head out of the water by doing breast stroke or dogpaddle). The fewer people swimming in the same place at the same time, the easier it is to react to these changes and avoid problems.
Sure, people will still pass each other, even from one wave to the next. But faster swimmers from later waves won't catch up to an earlier wave until people are somewhat spread out. This makes it easier on both the "slow" and "fast" swimmers, there's more room to pass without contact, swimming over someone, etc. In nearly every wave start race I've done, I have caught up to at least a couple of people from earlier waves, but with a smaller crowd of people, it is easier to recognize that they're going slower and go around them before I get too close. I would rather my swim split reflect my swimming ability rather than my ability to take (or dish out) punishment in the water.
I've been (freestyle) kicked in the face hard enough to see stars and hurt the kicker's foot. Fortunately it was a smaller woman who didn't have too much muscle in her kick, and we were training with only a few other people. If I had been hit much harder, I doubt I would be able to continue swimming. If there were 1000 other people around me, the results probably wouldn't have been good. I'm a big guy and a decent swimmer, but I'm sometimes pretty uncomfortable with the amount and severity of contact that goes on. I can't imagine how a small woman (no matter how good of a swimmer) would feel.
Let's face it, someone drowning during a swim (or crashing on the bike, or collapsing on the run) gets far more press than a triathlon that goes off without a hitch. We need to do what we can (within reason) to make our races safe. It's hard enough to put on a race, we don't need more issues with insurance, permits, Police/Fire/Rescue manning, etc. that would come after an unfortunate race incident. I think wave swim starts are a reasonable solution to improving swim safety.
I'm all for wave starts. During the swim, people speed up and slow down. They change direction. They bunch up and spread out. It's tough to see this happening very far in advance (unless you keep your head out of the water by doing breast stroke or dogpaddle). The fewer people swimming in the same place at the same time, the easier it is to react to these changes and avoid problems.
Sure, people will still pass each other, even from one wave to the next. But faster swimmers from later waves won't catch up to an earlier wave until people are somewhat spread out. This makes it easier on both the "slow" and "fast" swimmers, there's more room to pass without contact, swimming over someone, etc. In nearly every wave start race I've done, I have caught up to at least a couple of people from earlier waves, but with a smaller crowd of people, it is easier to recognize that they're going slower and go around them before I get too close. I would rather my swim split reflect my swimming ability rather than my ability to take (or dish out) punishment in the water.
I've been (freestyle) kicked in the face hard enough to see stars and hurt the kicker's foot. Fortunately it was a smaller woman who didn't have too much muscle in her kick, and we were training with only a few other people. If I had been hit much harder, I doubt I would be able to continue swimming. If there were 1000 other people around me, the results probably wouldn't have been good. I'm a big guy and a decent swimmer, but I'm sometimes pretty uncomfortable with the amount and severity of contact that goes on. I can't imagine how a small woman (no matter how good of a swimmer) would feel.
Let's face it, someone drowning during a swim (or crashing on the bike, or collapsing on the run) gets far more press than a triathlon that goes off without a hitch. We need to do what we can (within reason) to make our races safe. It's hard enough to put on a race, we don't need more issues with insurance, permits, Police/Fire/Rescue manning, etc. that would come after an unfortunate race incident. I think wave swim starts are a reasonable solution to improving swim safety.