I have an upcoming race in (technically) the ocean and it looks as though tides are going to play a part.
The swim is in an inlet fed from the ocean and is in the form of a ‘L’ shape. The top of the ‘L’ is the access point of the ocean and is pretty much where we enter the water. We then swim down around to the bottom of the ‘L’ turn around and come back and exit at the same point we entered.
Looking at the tides, high tide is at 3:55am and low tide is at 10:40am. AGers start entering the water just after 6:30am (more like 7am for me) so basically right in the middle of the tidal swing.
My question is, how do you pace such a course? My assumption would be you take it out harder while swimming into the current and can then use the current assist to come back faster with less effort?