Saw a video clip of the conditions on twitter. Not sure if video is legit, but it looked awful out there.

How do you know these were drownings? The most common cause of death in a triathlon swim are heart problems (which may or may not be related to existing conditions).

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Even worse than the vid I saw. Wow.

Videos always look less intense than it is on the ground, that said while it would be a tough swim nothing in that video would make me think they should cancel, but there are things like currents etc we can’t see. Not to be that guy but looks generally like California conditions we see a lot.

But I defer to boots on the ground safety personnel generally for these decisions.

Damn! What distances did they do in the 70.3/full respectively?

Took 15 min for pros/age groups in both events so i would assume like 950m swim

1.9k for both apparently

Done in 15 minutes seems unlikely in those conditions even though i guess they would try to go down current.

That’s called the ocean.

If swimming in those conditions makes you nervous, you shouldn’t be trying to swim 2.4 miles anywhere except a pool.

That is the ocean, but disagree on this. There's a huge range of conditions - like many lakes, bays - that are way less intense than the state of the Celtic Sea there. I'd rather re-state that if that makes you nervous, you haven't done enough practicing of open ocean swimming. And surf entries. Just a bunch of little skills like handling currents, wind, and switching your breathing to the leeward side if there's high-frequency wind chop.

About 1300m. From my friends strava upload.

high tide start with waves crashing into rocks.... and looks like the swim starts from the rocks

Two people died, maybe save the superior smug ocean swimmer attitude for another day

I'd like to swim that. But I'm not sure I'd enjoy racing or trying to go hard in it. Just start and slow and steady.

My take on that swim is for a large age group race they should have probably canceled the swim and made it bike run. Sucks but the hard core guys who can do anything....well, go do the swim on your own afterwards and check the box if it makes you happy.

I still agree with the post. People sign up for ocean swims then complain about... The ocean. Nobody should die doing an event like this so I'm not getting cold.

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I really hate to see when folks die during the swim in these races, and most likely some heart or stroke problem. But often caused by the panic and other conditions that swim starts provide to many out there. Condolences to the families, has to be the shittiest feeling ever to be celebrating your loved ones passion, and have it end up in the worst way possible..

As to the conditions, really just a couple ft shore break, made worse because everyone is standing on rocks. From what I could see, not much of a break beyond that, certainly not a big one. There was some good wind chop outside, so a standard OW swim for any afternoon in most beach areas. Problem is that "most" triathletes never swim in those "normal" conditions we find at most beaches, so they get freaked out too easily.

I remember watching Maui one year where folks were calling it 15 to 20 ft surf. But reality was a 3 to 4ft shore break that pummeled many non beach goers onto the sand, and descriptions became hyperbolic. The biggest issue is that most newbies sit in the first 10 yards or so way too long, and get hit by multiple waves, when reality is you should dive under the first one and be out in the clear right away..No way the swim should have been cancelled for this, would basically put every triathlon in the future in a lake, pond, river, or bay, and on a no wind day too...

what would your criteria and justification for cancelling an ocean swim be prior to the race commencing?

While it’s an absolute tragedy when anyone loses their life in a race it can’t used retroactively as a rationale for cancelling. Also athletes (not speaking to the athletes that lost their lives as we know nothing about their circumstances) but if the swim should have been cancelled for 1/2 the field shouldn’t that part of the field have personal responsibility to say this is beyond my measure and not put theirs and others lives at risk by engaging in activity they aren’t adequately prepared?

Very sad to lose fellow triathletes doing what we all consider our passion. Lot of statements here alluding to the ability, conditioning, etc., of the two men involved in this tragedy. What we have information on in previous deaths during the swim is that the vast majority were not undertrained athletes. Being in my 60s, the thought that the swim has some ‘causality’ in sudden cardiac death (not saying this is what happened here) is with me at the start of every race. My condolences to the families of these men.

JFC. How many horses do you have, Ken?

I agree that any death in this context is a tragedy.

My point was that it did not appear to me that the conditions were unsafe (they didn’t start on the rocks) and the waves weren’t big. So I did not think that the conditions caused the events.

Condolences to friends and families for both! I don't understand how or why someone judges the swim conditions from one picture. After all, how many times have we've been told that you can't judge if someone is drafting based upon one pic.

monty, open water swim on maui? always awful to hear of deaths at any event :(

that is really sad to read. fwiw I think many organisers are doing 'safer' events than they used to. friends who are very accomplished OW swimmers talk about the sketchy ow races (even for them) that would get put on 15-20 years ago which are just not acceptable anymore - with dangerous finishes along rocky / wavy / channels on big swell days. now they drastically change the course or call it off.

Not so much big waves, but forceful. more interested to know if the athletes had a chance to check out the footing underwater pre race.