Sorry to hear that. It’s a great event. I did it in ‘95 and ‘96.

I too find shortened swims VERY frustrating.
Now, if the waves are 8ft high and everyone's going to die, then its right to.
But if can't be that bad, if its still safe to swim 2 miles, can it ??

So what this means is that those who have failed to adequately prepare for what conditions could be anticipated (who'd have thought it gets wavy in water some times ??) are pandered to.
But those who HAVE prepared properly are penalised.

If a person has not prepared properly for the conditions presented on the day, then DO NOT START. We're not forced to get in the water at gun point. People need to take personal responsibility.

Otherwise, shouldnt the organisers be shortening bike legs when its windy to accomodate those who haven't trained properly for a less than ideal ride.
Or shorten the run if its a bit warm, to accomodate those like me carrying too much timber - as Im going to struggle in the heat more than someone who has 5% body fat.

(Actually, don't. I don't want a shorter course just because I'm not prepared. And equally I don't want a short course because others are not prepared properly).

Seems like anyone signing up for 4.4mi swim will be pretty capable in the water. I know they have had some very tough conditions in the past. My guess is that harm due to OWS is not often related to water or weather circumstances... but Emergency Personnel deserve to operate in safe conditions. The 2mi course almost certainly follows favorable currents.

PS: The ITU LD Worlds swim at OKC was the roughest conditions that I have ever encountered. The International officials not only maintained full distance, but enforced less lenient ITU wetsuit rules. The former D1 swimmers had their day!

I did have 'is it safe for the crew' in my mind when I typed my rant.

I was thinking tho along the lines of how can it be safe for 2 miles but not 4. As any support boat still needs to be able to manouvre and help anyone is trouble, so what's so different as to be safe for 2 and not 4 - genuine question - is there something about the character of the bay/route in this specific case ??

I did (or more correctly did Not do !) an event last summer due to high winds- the organisers cancelled on the morning. I 100% agreed they were right to do so at that one - as it was not safe for the safety kayaks. But that was a cancel, not a shortening - it wasnt safe for the kayaks trying to do safety cover for even 100m.


There's a major swim event this weekend in the Lake District in the NW of England - up to 10,000 swimmers over the 3 days. And... lots of shortened swims, of varying distances due to the weather. (Even say 1 mile shrunk to 750m today).

Of course they're not cancelling ... so it must be safe enough (wonder it the fact that cancelling the lot would cost them £500k has any bearing ???)... but I digress.

Winds mean waves and waves mean you can't see as far. Ie you need to increase the density of the safety boats.

Also some of those safety craft may not be as stable in larger waves, and be more restricted in terms of what direction they can sit / travel it (ie a kayak is fine pointing into the wave, but not side on).

It's a shame, but it's part of openwater events. I had equivalent when they cancelled IMNZ in 2012. What was great was that they put on a half the next day, but even now I know that there's no certainty that next years race will run after a few years of good weather.....

From the little I know the Bay swim is complicated. The tides can change. The slower a swimmer you are the more you are impacted. Usually it is swum from the western side of the bay to the eastern shore next to the annapolis bay bridge. The majority of peeps I know who do it are legit hardcore open water freaks. I do know of some people that have done it and not trained. For a slower swimmer its 2.5 hours. At the end if you are a BOP person the current can be like a treadmill Ive heard. They are redoing the event this year and making it a bouy swim. It will start on the eastern shore along with the 1 mile swim which I would intuitively think would be a clusterfuck. Last minute venue change, plus 1 mile people, plus beach traffic, plus eagleman traffic. ugh.

If they do the 2 mile course they are planning, they don't have to go out into the shipping channel where the conditions will be the worst. They'll essentially be in a relatively protected harbor, versus in the middle of the bay.

Disappointing for athletes for sure, but the right call. Having poor conditions 1.5+ miles from shore and emergency boats that can't function isn't acceptable.

This is an OWS in a large body of salt water. The tidal conditions are predictable, and their interaction with the weather is best left to professional forecasters and individuals who are VERY familiar with the area.

Seems like they are just doing 1 mile out and backs in a protected area now? Not sure why not give the long swimmers 4 loops? Maybe congestion, how many swimmers are out there for the long race anyway??

On the one hand I applaud that they just don't cancel the race, but that is probably more of a self serving choice. They get to keep entry fees, and all the folks that planed on doing something, get to do something else.. I would think a little discount on future races would be in order too, everyone should feel a little pain when these decisions are made...

Traffic shouldn't be too bad. Last year they used a huge parking like (high school I think?) and shuttled people to the start for the 1 mile. Probably do the same this year. Space will be at a premium right at the start since it's a tiny beach, but that's where they have the post race stuff for the 4.4 every year, so it shouldn't be something new for them. I can't imagine Eagleman traffic will be a hassle since it's not really that close by.

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Strava

It's not yet clear to me what the plan will be. Because the 4.4 is usually a one-way street from Annapolis to the Eastern Shore, I don't even know if they have the buoys to create separation between outbound and inbound swimmers for an out-and-back instead of multiple loops around the 1-mi course. And the launch area on the Eastern Shore (usually the finish area) is extremely tight, unlike the wide sandy beach which is the usual starting point. Having done several of these before in highly variable conditions, I don't blame them at all for making this call.. but very interested to see how it's handled. I imagine a number of local folks will decide to bail.. I'm still planning to head down and will roll with whatever they come up with.

Chesapeake Bay from Pooles Island to Sandy Point-
1036 PM EDT Sat Jun 8 2019

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE SUNDAY NIGHT


REST OF TONIGHT
E winds 15 kt with gusts to 20 kt. Waves 2 ft.
Scattered showers.

SUN
E winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts to 25 kt. Waves 3 ft. Showers
likely. Vsby 1 NM or less.

I feel like this is some sort of strange twilight zone episode. I wasn't that far away from Annapolis yesterday and it was calm and beautiful. Small craft advisory? Crazy.. a buddy of mine was signed up for this so I'll have to ask him about some of those details.

From a competitive stand point, I understand you're reasoning to a point. However, when I've trained for a longer distance, that training helped me compete at shorter distances too. So I would rather train long and have a shorter race than the other way around lol

We have a world where they advertise a longer race and a fall back position of a shorter course if the people who are going to get sued decide it's the wise thing to do. Or a cancel and refund/transfer world.

Along with training for a race, we need to be mentally prepared for the organizers to make a change whether it's swimming, biking or running. That's why we hope and pray for good race day conditions knowing that there are no guarantees.

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.