Hi,
Can anyone give me a rough swim time differential between Kona IM swim and a normal wetsuit Ironman swim.
Thanks
I swam 1:14 fullsuit in New Zealand and then swam 1:23 in Kona. (Though I did start in the back in Kona and just cruise through the swim).
clm
I think you’re given up at least 4-5 minutes at Kona…
In approx. the same shape…Kona 1:00:28, Lake Placid 57:12, Canada 57:03. Depends on the waves and if you get behind the right feet. Like CLM, I was cruising Kona just trying to make someone else pull and looking at fish.
Last year the Kona swim was stupid-slow due to currents and whatnot (apparently a result/after effect of the earthquake the week prior). And it was effectively worse for worse swimmers, so the Pros only gave up maybe a minute or 3, but the BOP’ers like me could be timed with a sundial.
(FWIW - Team Hoyt didn’t make it out of the water before the cutoff. Bummer.)
My positive split compared to LP was quite revolting. 
Anyway, it’s unlikely to be anything like that this year - what’re the chances?
I wouldn’t worry about it. If yer a fish, it’s nominal; if not, what’re ya gonna do about it?
I would say 4-6 minutes slower, but the currents are always different.
The guys from the 50-54 age group who qualified out of IMC in 2005 were on average about 6 minutes slower at Kona. These were guys who swam IMC in about 1:05 to 1:10
Also, 2005 was not the year with the funny current at Kona that slowed everyone down. that was 2006.