⚠️ Open Water Swim Safety Equipment & Measures

                       

I started swimming (both indoor and open water) four years ago. I joined a triathlon team, took two swim lessons in a pool, and with the tri-team pool training, which ultimately transitioned into open water lake swims with the changing seasons, my swimming adventures began. And oh has it been a journey! Swimming has become one of my favorite mental and physical activities; whether an active workout or recovery day. But I highly suggest preparing prior to jumping into any water. 

Pool swimming certainly has advantages and disadvantages, as does open water swimming (OWS). But, with the OWS season upon us, I thought I’d focus on OWS and share a few of my lessons-learned about its differences and provide some safety tips that could serve as valuable reminders or new information for those hitting the open-waters soon.

While each require somewhat similar standard equipment (swimwear, goggles, swim cap) OWS definitely requires additional safety equipment and measures.

So, let’s talk about IT:

OWS Safety Equipment & Measures

• 🏊🏼‍♀️ Preparation- Mental and Physical. I’ll start out by saying (in my opinion) open water swimming is very different than pool swimming; while each requires a high-degree of cardiovascular endurance and constant awareness of breath; OWS will undoubtedly test and level-up your existing cardiovascular endurance and check your ability to control your breath while maintaining deeper awareness of your physical being and surroundings (sighting: understanding your location in water to your destination, watercraft, other swimmers, waves (direction, size, speed, current), and sunlight light).
• 🏊🏼‍♀️Wetsuit - the reason they were invented was to insulate swimmers (particularly in waters below 70 degrees), and help retain body heat; additional huge benefit of wearing a wetsuit is that the natural buoyancy of neoprene helps a swimmer sit atop the water and float easier. (pictured above)
• 🏊🏼‍♀️ New Wave Swim Buoy: provides visibility (brightly colored) in open water; an optional safe place to float/rest while swimming. (pictured above)
• 🏊🏼‍♀️ Leverage a Safety boat (ask a friend to troll behind you for protection from other boats and any issues you may encounter while swimming) (pictured above; bow captain Benz our dog was very focused on me during this OWS swim!)
• 🏊🏼‍♀️Goggles (sun/glare protectant: if needed you can purchase sun-lens (tinted)
• 👀 OWS Sighting: as noted above, while swimming in open waters, a swimmer has to be constantly aware of their location in the water to their destination. They must have the ability to maintain the rhythm of their stroke while poking their head straight forward to ‘sight’ to their location. This forward-peek will impact breath and rhythm so it’s important to practice sighting.

Swimming is an excellent mental and physical activity but it can be very dangerous particularly open water swimming. I hope these safety tips and measures help you more intentionally prepare for any pool or OWS this season. Good luck! 

Melissa, The Buzz

#newwaveswimbuoy

#orcawetsuit