So I heard the rumor, well sounds like it’s more than a rumor, that the age group nationals swim was moved back to the original venue at Queen’s Beach in Waikiki and will again be a 2-loop swim. The swim course had been changed to an open water course about 400m down the coast which was a MUCH better swim course at Kaimana (aka San Succi) beach. The Kaimana swim was a lot better plan as it offered a nice WIDE start area which worked for beach or shallow water start. The swim goes out through a channel then does a big triangle before coming back in though the same channel (it’s nice and wide and easy to marker with bouys) back to the beach. Because of the channel there are rarely any waves on on the course and if there are they are just rollers nothing breaking. There is a windsock marking the edge of the channel about 300M out from shore and we swim out to it and back every week. So do lots of recreational snorklers on vacation, casual swimmers, non-swimmers doggy paddling it out, and people on floaters. Hell I aquajog out to the windsock sometimes. This course was a one loop swim with lots of room for people to spread out and pass.
This was a GOOD course. But someone from NY wrote a letter (again non of this is substantiated) to the ITU claiming the swim was unsafe based on past events. These past events were the Waikiki Roughwater Swim that starts at the same beach and in 2003 had to have 600 people rescued because of bad currents and last month it was actually cancelled because of currents. The ITU heard this and axed the swim venue and kicked it back to the old location. Sounds like good reasoning right? WRONG.
The proposed course may start at the same location but the strong current doesn’t start for a good 300m or so farther out than the worlds swim course would have reached. There are damn swimmers out there swimming this course in rashguards at a 5:00min per hundred pace every day! There was no current danger.
The Queens beach course is a potential disaster. It’s a too loop swim for one which means that waves will be very spread out based on how they did the Honolulu Tri where they actually had to wait for each wave to finish before starting the next to avoid mass collision chaos. It’s fricken narrow! The far corner of the swim has a coral shelf right around the corner so you better not swing wide! SHALLOW, I’m only 5’10" and I still hit the bottom even at high tide. I don’t hit in many places but I do hit and it’s freaky. You’re swimming parallel to shore the whole way and although this area is slightly protected by a reef when it gets choppy it gets really nasty as you’re gettting rolled constantly instead of breaking though the surf perpindicular as the kaimana location would have been like. They pulled this course off at the Honoulu Tri and luckily I was in the first wave but it was still pretty chaotic especially catching lap traffic… The Honolulu Tri only had 1,000 people imagine this course with 2,500 people. I know worlds has a reputation for being an all day even but if surf kicks up for later waves it’s really going to be miserable and that coral shelf at the far turn is sketchy in a chop. I swam the course the afternoon before the ITU race at the Honolulu tri and it was choppy and damn near impossible to swim and I was near being sick halfway through one loop.
Anyways, I’m just bummed, really bummed that the swim has been changed back to the Queen’s beach venue. I know we’ll all make the best of it and have a great time but if the weather and surf picks up at all the swim is going to be nasty. From what I’ve heard this was not the race directors call, they still wanted the Kaimana location but were told by the ITU to change. If anyone knows different, or even better can tell me that I’m wrong and the course hasn’t changed, please feel free to chime in. See everyone next week.
Tai
