I’m trying to visualise this!
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Usually the biggest issue in any OW swim, is swimming into the sun early in the morning; it’s hard to see anything!
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That’s why I think reversed Wales could be an issue. The sun will on the swimmers left. (on the right in other years) but there is no obvious sighting point from the lifeboat station to the turn and getting that flash in your eyes won’t help.
Of course, that assumes there is actually any sun in Wales 
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In a wet suit?!?
The unfortunate reality for IM & an IM novice is that the minimum swim training to get you through the swim will give you the best overall result (assuming more cycling & running instead). In fact you can do very well in an IM with a poor swim but a strong bike & run.
No answers here though.
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That will get you through the distance but not adverse/variable conditions. It’s the variables that people struggle with. Outlaw is about as easy as an IM swim gets, that kind of race can definitely be done on the bare minimum but others, not so much.
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Compounded by the fact events like Cork & Tenby have sea swims, so more likely to be a bit spicy. I never did an IM with a sea swim; always lake. I’ve done some horrendous sea swims in shorter races though.
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I learnt to swim in the sea rather than a pool so completely comfortable with sea swims. I’ve done a couple of IM sea swims but by far the roughest swim I’ve ever had was ADITL during a storm. The swell and waves hitting the top of the lake were incredible. Never had a lake swim that rough before or since.
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I only had one arm in 2017, well bursitis in my shoulder so a lot of pain in certain positions, hadnt swam for 3 or 4 months, and i actually considered swimming until i took a look saturday morning when i went for a practice swim, whilst i went knowing i was 50/50 i wasnt about to swim in those conditions. Sunday looked calm though in the end 
but apparently the 2nd leg parallel to shore was choppy and had a reasonable swell. I will be back next year wheezing my way around.
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terrible lose of lives & devistating for families / friends & anyone connected
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I’d be interested to hear what FP thought of it but I didn’t think the swim in 2017 was that bad. It was certainly easier swimming that day than trying to cycle. People were walking their bikes down the hill to Freshwater because of the crosswinds.
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I found 2017 as a whole day pretty horrendous but the swim for me was ok but a swim of two halves. It was mildly choppy with a bit of swell on the first lap and that would have been similar for the faster swimmers for the whole swim.
The second lap was definitely more challenging for us slower ones but I would describe it as lumpy more than anything. I could read it pretty well and timed it so I could work with the swell but loads were trying to fight it and ‘power through’ using too much energy and going way off line.
I was able to make allowances for the swell and not try to swim a straight line (as many were trying). I felt pretty relaxed but ‘aware’ and definitely adopted more of a ‘barrel stroke’ on the 2nd lap.
I bi-lateral breathe, so I’m able to face away from the chop, whichever direction it’s coming from. There were people stressing majorly at the turn buoys because they had not gone wide and the lumps were causing a bit of chaos.
In the context of the rest of the day, the swim was ok. I think I swam 1.22 or 1.24.
Different bloody story on the TT bike with carbon rims though! 
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Yes, 2017 the first lap was fine and it got a bit lively the second time round. Last year was a different beast entirely!
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Let’s be honest, this isn’t soley linked to IM swimming is it. People being unprepared I mean.
My mate gets lots of people at his events genuinely asking questions like ‘is Dartmoor hilly?’ ‘I hadn’t realised the coast path was so up and down’ etc etc.
There are people that prepare. And there are people that most definitely don’t!
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Six Ps
(whichever version you use)
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No map reading ability or essential kit because mountain rescue will bail them out, or another athlete.
Hopefully before they’ve died of exposure or hypothermia 
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Guilty as charged. In my defence, I did know it was going to be hilly but hadn’t realised it was so ‘rugged’.
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I actually consider it more ‘rugged’ than ‘hilly’. Compared to Scotland/Wales, the hills are not too bad; let alone the Alps. Our house in Garmisch, you could step out of the door and climb 1000m vertical in about 7km on the trail to the top of the W*nk.
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Yeah I though it would be a bit more chocolate box, rolling hills covered in heather, that type of thing.
Instead it was almost hands and knees scrambling at some points and the world’s largest mud sponge in others! Signed up again this year, love it
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Kona swim course is the best marked swim ever, the buoys are at 100m intervals, and easy to sight, even in big swell. The shore break in Kona is at least as bad as the pictures from Cork, however, the sea on the course is big rolling waves, nothing breaking, never felt remotely danger, luckily the swim entry/exit from the pier is well protected as well.
Ironman has come in for a lot of criticism for cancelling shortening swims. last year (I think) 4 or 5 IM’s in row had swim changed due to conditions. Events like Tenby became an exception rather than the norm. In 2019, 2 swimmers dies in IM70.3 Winsconsin (lakes swim), 2 also died in Port Elizabeth (Sea) and one died in 70.3 wc in Nice (Sea) and one died in 70.3 IM Marbella
I have carried my windsurfing kit into the water in waves far bigger than the ones in the videos I have seen from Cork, once past the shorebreak, all looks fine. However, it is clear that most swimmers have zero idea how to deal with shore break: jumping up into the lip of a breaking wave will knock you backwards, you dive into the face of the wave and 1s later come out of the back.
I have no idea what caused the deaths, possibly heart attacks and nothing to do with conditions, but conditions may have also played a part. However, it is irresponsible for atheletes entering an IM with a sea swim not to have practiced in the sea in challenging conditions
Current forecast for Wales not looking brilliant, with high winds on Saturday, it would be incredibly sad if the organisers are overly cautious
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