Several photos of 2008 races show men wearing a top.
As I understand it wet suits are not allowed. What are these tops
and are there advantages/ dis wearing them.
This is my first no wet suit swim. Any other advice?
dog
In a non wetsuit swim there are still plenty of options. I don’t know the specific rules (but I bet Fleck does) regarding “swim skins” & you can also wear a normal tri top or one piece tri suit in a non wetsuit swim.
Good luck,
Travis
dumb blog
yeah, they are probably swimskins…most big wetsuit companies offer them now.
Youre gonna have a great swim. Mass start at Hapuna, amazing.
Keau
Any other advice?
Just to enjoy the view. It’s a gorgeous swim! Last year was a little choppy, but the bay is usually very calm and the visibility is incredible.
Did this event in 2007 and it was awesome. Like others have said, Hapuna Beach is a spectacular swim venue. Very clear water in a semi protected area of the coast. When you research “hapuna” you will see many references to the “best beach” in Hawaii, etc. This was my first “non-wetsuit” swim as well, but the water tempature was very comfortable. My only advice relates to your effort at the start. This a mass start, and the first turn buoy is only about 400 yards out, followed by a 135 degree turn. Accordingly, there is a lot of chaos and adrenalin expended at the start to avoid the mess at the turn. Not really a problem, but watch your effort/heart rate at this early part of the race. I’m usually pretty relaxed at starts, but I used a little bit too much energy at this one because there was a lot of shifting right before the start (people ran down the beach and my position went from “outside towards the beach” to “right in the middle”) and everyone gunned it to try and reach the buoy before the crowd. My addrenaline spiked and I found I was a bit more tired towards the end of my swim. I attribute this more to my reaction to to the messy start than to the lack of wetsuit. For reference, I’m usually in the top 15% of most swims and typically try to slot in after the super swimmers get out in front. Have fun, I can’t wait to do it again.