I received the goggles from Jake at Aquaspere a little later than most and then promptly took a week off from training post Honu. Then I was embarrassed to wear them to the pool because they looked ginormous. But as I told Jake, I would try them in a couple of ocean swims pronto. And I did. And they really weren’t as huge as they looked at first. I thought I was trying out the small fit, but later realized they were the normal size ones. So further proof that they really aren’t that large.
I’m not a swimmer. I didn’t grow up swimming. I started swimming in my early 30s. So I don’t have a lot of hard preferences for swimming things. But the more I swim the more I find myself gravitating to the things that real swimmers do/use. I usually swim in either swedes or TYR or what ever kind of goggles happen to end up in my swim bag. I’ve never been picky. The only goggles that don’t fit my face very well are kids goggles and some women’s styles. But for the past few years I’ve been training in swedes and racing in one kind of TYR goggles or another. Most recently the TYR Tracer Ti. I’ve had some bad luck with mass starts and swedes. Tinted goggles are a must for me. The first thing I noticed about the Kayennes is they are very easy to adjust. I’m pretty sure all Aquaspere goggles are this way. Much easier than TYR or Speedo goggles. You can put them on and tighten them without taking them off. I like this because I tend to get nervous right before swim starts and like to tighten the goggles just a bit. I lost my goggles at the first buoy during Honu about 3 years ago. The rest of the swim was not enjoyable.
My first swim in the Kayenne goggles was in the ocean in pretty clear and calm water. It wasn’t a workout, just a 3K swim out to a couple islands and back. The goggles were comfortable and clear. They didn’t fog up or leak. The clarity was good enough for me to find a few turtles and lots of fish and a couple eels. I did a couple more ocean swims in them. When I was sighting it was clear and I had no problem finding either the buoys, flags or red roof house I was looking for. Finding buoys is something I usually have a very hard time with. I think the field of view for these goggles helped with that.
They really don’t look that big compared to other goggles so I decided to take them to the pool today. I did a dive start to see if they’d stay put and they did better than any other goggle I’ve worn. (Not that I’ve done many dive starts or even know how to do one correctly.) I swam 4K and there were no leaks, no fogging, no problems. The tint was good enough for me to do a fair amount of backstroke and not have to squint. So no problems in the pool. I was curious to see if there would be a problem with flip turns like someone mentioned. I didn’t have a problem. But my flip turns are pretty pathetic and anything but powerful.
After the swim I rode my bike home 10 miles and showered. I still had goggle marks (I did not ride my bike home wearing the goggles). And despite the amount of sunscreen I put on I had a definite tan line from the wide face of the goggles. With the exception of swedes, I’ve found most goggles leave goggle marks for about 30+ minutes. And swimming outside year round, the potential for a ski mask tan line is great, so I usually opt for the smaller size goggles, which is why I prefer to train in the swedes.
Do I like the Kayennes? Yes. Will I wear them? I will to race and from time to time to train. For a couple reasons. I can’t be bothered with doing anything but tossing my goggles in my swim bag and leaving them there until I swim again. That’s why I usually keep a different pair for races. The ones in my swim bag get scratched quite a bit and that leads to fogging. I don’t care how fogged up they get in the pool. I’ll clean them with shampoo from time to time and can swim forever in one pair of goggles. But for races I get annoyed when the goggles fog up. I’m a terrible open water swimmer, I can’t swim straight, nor am I any good at siting. So clear goggles with a wide field of view help me.
I have a tri this weekend, a few open water swim races in the next couple months, and then IMKY the end of August. I’ll keep the Kayenne goggles for those events.
I haven’t worn the small fit goggles yet, but will try them next week. If they work as well as I think they will I’ll wear one pair of the goggles for most of my ocean swim workouts, and the other for races. And I’ll probably stick to the swedes in the pool. Mostly because of the tan line issue.