That looks like the Oceanside pier, certainly not Silver Strand Beach.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

So you're saying not the IB Pier? fake news?

huh, you may want to google image that bitch

Was a great race yesterday. First time through the surf went ok; second time took me a couple more attempts than I would’ve liked.

I gotta day, even though I’m a mediocre swimmer that was a pretty good time.

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MS: Exercise Science
Your speed matters a lot, sometimes you need to be very fast, where sometimes you need to breakdown your speed.

I don't remember swimming anywhere near the IB pier for Superfrog, last time I raced there was 2012. Looking at the new course map I see now they're right next to the IB pier.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Unless there is a wave 3 times as big behind that one, it is just your usual shore break that folks can walk out to, then dive under one, maybe two waves, and be free and clear..

Real surf would be touching the bottom of the pier towards the end of it, then we can talk about cancelling the swim. We didn't in the old days, but understand it might hurt the sensibilities of the minnow crowd these days...

Focus Monty. This thread is about the myth that WTC cancels ocean races if there’s a whiff of surf, not how big an old man’s balls are ;). I’ll concede you win that latter competition.

That's what I was thinking. If you can't get past the usual shore break then you have no business doing an ocean swim. Go do a lake triathlon.

That's pretty much what we had at Oceanside Tiki Swim. But, not only at the start, I was pretty far into the harbor entrance 2/3 through the race, well inside the jettys and as I breathed and looked back, beasts like that were breaking and chasing me down. I tried to move close to the jetty to catch a ride, but the lifeguards pushed me back. Would have been awesome!

Race Director, Brian's pre-race speech, "... look guys, when the gun goes off and you see big waves and you're not sure you can get through them... DON'T GO! Wait for the set to die, then go." No cancelling here.

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

That was awesome yesterday. Getting through the breakers not once but twice was quite fun. The second loop seemed to have a lot of carnage in the water. People bobbing around, getting thrown around, not really knowing how to get through it or what to do. Then on the way in the waves smashed me once. I got sucked over the falls and was battered around pretty good. It was the highlight of my day! So fun!

getting rag dolled can be fun!

nice waves.
why are all those triathletes standing there looking intimidated ?
swim up to the wave, dive under, wait a few seconds, come up and keep going. It's really not hard.. and can be practiced before the race..

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

So 1 out of 100 races they kept the swim. A race where if the didn't, the literally would have not been able to run it next year because they would have been crucified.


Yawn.

Oceanside: wtc: putting the ocean back in oceanside!

Triathletes snowflakes: oh no! 1 foot waves!

Oceanside: just kidding, cancel ocean swim because you are all entitled crybabies

Triathletes: yay!

Add in all the swims shortened due to fog, waves, etc.

In short, 1 anomaly is just that, an anomaly. Wtc caters to the weakest, most entitled triathlete completitors. It's a box checking business for them, and challenging swims prevent 1 and dones from ticking the "ironman" box.

Change my mind

  



Why would I want to do that?

Oh yeah... whaaaaaaaaa. LOL

Superfrog is the only race where I thought I might not make it. I also quickly realized there was little point in trying to find some feet to draft off of. I was told it was particular gnarly that year but I have nothing to compare it to and I could have been fed a line of bs by other participants. Don't get me wrong though, I loved every single second of that swim.

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People who have surfed are going "Cool"

Most of the rest AAAAAAAAAAH!

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I did it too, and boy was it quite an experience. I thought once inside the jetties it would calm down, but Jesus H. Christ it was just relentlessness. I ended up swimming like 1.4 miles, horrible navigation, and a horrible time split of 41 minutes, but enough to get me 2nd place in my AG.

If this is a taste of Oceanside next year, it's gonna be a long day.

This was actually the easiest it has been in the last two weeks. Unfortunately if you have been swimming in a pool for the past six months it is pretty scary. I am a poor swimmer on a good day and I was able to make it out twice but fortunately I also live a mile from the ocean so I was probably better prepared to get through the break than most.

I have never seen so many people waiting around and breaststroking.

Beautiful day and a great race. I saw only one person with a mechanical and only two people blatantly drafting. Very well planned and attentive aid stations and plenty of volunteers throughout the course. Will be back next year.

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

Ok it is 11:07 on Monday and I am still on a Superfrog Bender. Thanks Chris for giving me my first opportunity to REALLY Brag about yesterday :>)
Nope! they were not cancelling the swim
Yep there was Surf at SuperFrog.
Yep it was kinda big
Yep it was next to the Pier (Which helped with Sighting going through the break and getting out to the Buoy)
Yep on the way out on loop 1 Getting Through the break was EXHAUSTING.
Yep, knowing you had 1500 yards more of swimming and 2 exits after making it out of the break messes with your brain
Yep it was scary every for those of us who swim in the open Ocean Swim weekly during the summer
Yep for those of us who swim in the Ocean regularly it was manageable
Yep, I knew Monty would have something to say about the swim
Yep, I body surfing the white water will get you out and a nice exit
Yep Body Surfing on the wave will get you tossed... or worse
Thank Goodness it was a pretty smooth swim outside of the break.

Now, to the other parts
THE EXIT, that was the MutherF$^#r!!
HELL yes the Ocean did not want to let go of you
Yep, you had a 2nd loop to swim which included getting through the break again
But at least you were warmed up by then
Yep the exit was a lot harder than the entrance by ALOT!
Yep, I swam sideways and back into the Surf in order to get out of the Rip on my 2nd loop. It looks funny on my Strava.
Not sure is it was a tough as the 2009 or 2010 La Triathlon at Venice beach, but we had 2 loops for Superfrog and not 1. Plus I am a better Swimmer now.

YES, I thanked Gerry Rodrigues for Tower 26, because I used everything that was coached to me over the last 7 Summers of his Ocean Program
to get me through that swim.

Super Stoked to have finished that race yesterday and NOT Be COMPLETELY smashed by it.

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2017 Cervelo P2
2017 Cervelo S2
itraininla.com
#itraininla

I also did Superfrog and was very nervous about the swim. I'm generally a mid-pack swimmer. I hate large bodies of water. I hate the ocean. I hate marine life. So, I stay away from the ocean as much as possible.

I knew two things. One I learned during the athlete check-in. Swim towards the end of the pier because you will drift north. The second I learned the morning of the race when I finally decided that I needed to learn how to get through the surf. So, I watched a 3 minute YouTube video. I spent about 3 minutes practicing it underneath some whitewater before the race start and figured I'd be a pro.

Well, the YouTube technique worked wonderfully! It was probably common knowledge to all of you (dive down, hands on the sand and grab hold, tuck in knees and push forward/back up). It worked good until I couldn't dive down to touch the bottom (not necessarily because it was too deep, I could have just been too scared to continue touching the bottom). For me, the difficult part was doing that 110% effort until getting past the surf. It felt like you kept getting pulled back towards the sand and were making no progress. Then, another wave comes, dive under, try and keep forward progress, get washed back, try making it past again.

Ugh....

I made it through both times. Was worried about getting smashed on the way in, but managed that pretty well, too. I think I'll be back next year. Next time, with more respect for that sand.

I had a blast Sunday doing this event. I had one of my slowest times due to the run in the sand, but I didn't care. The surf was what made this race so fun.

One of my thoughts during the race was how refreshing it was to have a real open ocean swim with surf. These were not shore breakers, and the pic in the OP shows a typical wave that morning, not just a big set.

The other super cool thing, to me, was the involvement of the Navy Seals (not marines). A highlight during swim warm ups was a Seal team parachuting in and doing a beach landing near the race start. Amazing. Seeing pictures and a short biography of fallen Seals near transition also was inspiring and humbling. There was an atmosphere surrounding this event unlike other WTC races I've done.

As for the OP point about surf swims, it seems that most events in recent years have moved away from open ocean swims, not just WTC branded events, and that is a shame and a loss for the sport. I recall doing the LA Tri and Ventura tri (before the latter moved to "baby beach") when the surf was good. Malibu also can be good, and I heard this past Sunday had 6' breakers.

But it's rare now to find good surf events, which in my view makes races like Superfrog all the more special.

And Superfrog just made the bucket list.

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I swim fast because I'm afraid of sharks.

Oh yeah,
Yep, there was drafting, by some of the super fast movers. Pretty funny watching the Moto ref trying to decide who to penalize.....

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2017 Cervelo P2
2017 Cervelo S2
itraininla.com
#itraininla

4 Laps will do that..... I was look at this one and Santa Cruz next year. 4 Laps on the bike is a huge downside.

Bummer, I don't remember seeing any drafting up front last year. Was the bike still long? Sad to have missed it this year.