What Happened at the IMCdA Swim

Triathlon Forum
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I heard at the start they were allowing people to skip the swim. Did anyone see that and how did they start people on the bike if they did?

That was probably the most chaotic swim I have ever been in. Definitely worse than last year’s Moo because it was head-into the waves for 1/2 the lap. They Kayakers were in full-on panic! Someone should tell them that most swimmers can’t hear them screaming with the waves and the spray…they just add to the chaos!

I saw a bunch of top level swimmers hanging on kayaks at the first turn buoy; never seen that before! I also heard of one rescue where a “good” swimmer was pulled to the surface by two other participants. He got a lung of water and just couldn’t get a breath.

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yeah, I never realized just how difficult it is to swim in waves/strong current until after Silverman last year. I figured, ok I will just breathe to the side without the waves…doesn’t really work when the waves crest over your head and you suck in a bunch of water. It can be brutal for a non swimmer.

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  1. The swim options were pretty much covered in the Official CDA thread on Sunday.

  2. With respect to IMoo last year, the return leg of each loop was pretty much directly into two foot waves. No white caps, but it did tend to move you around a bit. Also, it would bunch people up quite a bit as the front swimmers were pretty much in “ice breaker” mode. People would try to pull around because it was too easy too just swim behind the front people, only to find out they couldn’t go any faster themselves when confronted with the waves. As a result, you’d get 6, 7 people abreast, and if you were directly behind this group, it was too far to go to even try to swim around. Ask me how I know. :wink: