So I competed (if you can call my crappy swim but decent bike and run competing) this morning at a local Sprint triathlon, and asked a question that was fairly routine and got a pretty funny answer. I realized the event was bigger attendance wise than I thought so I went up to a person at the registration table and asked
“is today’s race a wave start?”
I got a puzzled look and “yeah you are swimming in the ocean theres waves there!”
“No no, I mean is the start broken up by age group or anything?”
“Yes we have awards for different age groups…”
Now Im like christ do you know anything about Triathlon… “does everyone get into the water at the same time??”
“Ohh yeah yeah you do!”
FINALLY
The rains and wind last night brought rough seas, everyone had a problem. Right when we got in I had my second “oh shit I’m gonna die” moment of the year (first being running over a water bottle at 25 mph in NYC) when a 15 foot wave picked up the whole field in front of me, and the first turn buoy! I thought they were coming down on top of me but it ended up traveling just behind us.
Basically I hate ocean swimming… Just like I hated it last year.
Not to debunk your claim, but the surf report for Lincoln St. (I think that’s in Long Beach, LI) says:
SURF:
2-3 ft +
thigh to chest high and poor+ conditions.
15 feet? Really?
I think thats in Long Beach too, which is the same beach as this. And you’re right the waves were only 2-3 feet. However there was one BIG freekin wave that came through, it does happen. Water was rough as well.
I was thinking was Maverics breaking today???It is so funny how big triathletes think waves are while they are in the water…Even if there was some rogue wave, it would maybe have been 5ft???
My favorite though is when there are barley white caps on the ocean, and it is 10ft seas out there. Sorry folks, it is no ft seas, waves do not break out there, unless you are at Cortes banks!!!
I’ve seen 15 foot waves only a couple times, and there was no way I was gonna get in the water. There’s a lot of power in something that size.
I remember a couple years ago, I was kayaking with my friend along the coast, and we were cruising along pretty far outside the breakers. A rogue wave of ~10 feet rolled up behind us and our kayak did a full backflip. A very scary experience, yet oddly fun at the same time.
Of course they look bigger, but does not make them bigger…I suppose I have an advantage in that dept, been looking at waves from the shore and from the water for 45 years. When I was a 10 year old kid, I swear it was 10ft plus everyday…(-;
I was thinking was Maverics breaking today???It is so funny how big triathletes think waves are while they are in the water…Even if there was some rogue wave, it would maybe have been 5ft???
My favorite though is when there are barley white caps on the ocean, and it is 10ft seas out there. Sorry folks, it is no ft seas, waves do not break out there, unless you are at Cortes banks!!!
I thought maybe you guys had a triathlon out there on the west coast with a south facing beach and some awesome fall hurricane surf coming up from mexico. Then I read this was in Long Island New York…LOL!
Did you ever do lifeguard nationals? I did it a couple of years when it was in Mission Beach in San Diego. It was really funny how incompetent some of the “lifeguards” from the mid-west and East Coast were in real surf! Such as not making it through the surf on a 5-6 foot day.
15 feet on Long Island for a triathlon would be hilarious. Not even the guards would be capable of helping.
About 15 or 20 years worth I would guess… And you are right, when there actually is surf, the east coast guys suffer a little, but they are always game. Unfortunately every 2 out of 3 years it goes east or midwest. Chicago, NY, ect. for a lot of the champs, but you deal with whatever they throw at you. Next year is at Huntington, so at the very least it is 2 to 4ft, and usually some sweeping side current. I’m dusting off my board and ski right now for that one…
This is a tough crowd & those of us that Surf are even tougher when some one exagerates on the size of a wave, I for one am excited when there are big swells flushes out those that cant swim even more so. Glad you lived, go swim open water some more & get comfortable with it…
