I was reading something somewhere, where people mentioned a spray or lotion you can buy that neutralizes the sting of jellyfish. Apparently they were bad at IMFL a few years back and people were getting stung on the face and hands and this stuff helped. Anyone know what it is called and where you can buy it?
Its called “don’t swim into jellyfish”. Nothing you get us going to magically make their sting not hurt.
I don’t think there is something that will prevent the stings. You can spray with vinegar water or meat tenderizer, and that will lessen the stinging.
I’d love to find out what this is, if it exists- there are hordes of stinging jellies in the San Diego area right now, and I’ve been stung 4 times in the last two weeks. Meat tenderizer helps, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure…
Wear pantyhose.
Ignore it. It goes away. Not a big deal. Piss, vinegar, etc are really minimal in the relief they give.
You can train for this too. Find a beached jellyfish, rub it on your face and then swim a mile. This was part of an ocean beach patrol ‘ceremony’ I was involved in some time ago. Quite unpleasant, but I never again worried when I brushed a jelly when swimming.
Full wetsuit works
.
There is a gel that works, my buddy uses it in his cross channel swims in mexico. But it is not really practical for tris yet, unless they have a thinner lotion. You have to cake it on with vaseline or some other greasy substance, and you have to cover your entire body. It would be a night mare to get off after T1. Your best bet is to get a full body suit, some of the OW swimmers use those, but of course that negates many of their swim attempts. And it a race is not wetsuit legal, then you would most likely be DQ’d from your race, but at least you would get to do it, and if an official finish is not as important as your fear of jellies, then that would be my advice…
I went swimming at Brighton Beach near Coney Island like 6 weeks ago in a full wetsuit and I got stung on the back of the neck. It scabbed over and I actually still have a scar there…
I’ve had reasonably good results with SeaSafe protecting against stinging nettles, don’t know about other kinds of jellyfish.
the jelly fish at IMFL are nothing to worry about, you cant avoid them either. Just keep swimming…and full wetsuit
I put jellyfish in my special needs bag just so I can put them in my top instead of sponges.
Thanks.
You can train for this too. Find a beached jellyfish, rub it on your face and then swim a mile. This was part of an ocean beach patrol ‘ceremony’ I was involved in some time ago. Quite unpleasant, but I never again worried when I brushed a jelly when swimming.
holy sh*t hahaha, that sounds miserable.
Ritual #2
We give you a speedo two sizes two big, then tie the strings to the tail of a baby mako shark and make you swim half a mile.