So where do I start? I was fortunate to run into a work colleage who also does masters swimming. He was able to show me the ropes, like where to put my stuff, when to get in the wetsuit, where to go, etc. It was a pretty warm day (forecast for the day is 90s) but it was not that bad around 7am -- although once you suit up in the wetsuit, it gets really hot, really fast.
Anyhow, I picked up my packet. Neon green swimcap with #1139 in magic marker, timing chip/ankle strap, and bib number -- you don't wear the bib, just pull off the tear tab and tuck it into the swim cap. Note to self: bring lawn chair next time. Everyone was camped out with camp chairs and coolers waiting for the race to begin (packet pickup was 6:30 - 7:30, pre-race meeting ag 7:35, first wave 7:45).
I was in wave 2 (starting 3 minutes after wave 1). Unlike a marathon, where you are seeded (or self-seed) by expected finish time, your wave placement for the One Mile Bay Swim is simply the order in which you registered. There were 5 waves of 100 swimmers (although not everyone who registered ended up starting or finishing).
The course was triangular -- my guess about 1/3 mile for each leg. The legs were marked by red buoys (buoy, buoy, turn buoy, buoy buoy turn buoy, buoy buoy finish)
First leg:
Okay, nobody told me about the cuisinart start. We started in knee deep water and somehow I was pushed up near the front but a bit to the side. When our wave gun went off, it was a mass of thrashing arms and legs. You already can't see underwater, but add to that the churn from 200 legs and arms and it was sort of mass confusion, at least for me. People were swimming on top and over me, up off my side, my arms and legs were hitting other swimmers, other swimmers' arms and legs were hitting me. I never got panicked but it did throw me off quite a bit as I was not able to establish any sort of stroke cadence or breathing rhythm. I would swim 3 or 4 strokes without breathing, then be gasping for air; then I would be breathing every stroke, swallowing mouthfuls of water when the waves washed over me (they really weren't that big, but big enough). After about a couple of minutes, the swimmers spread out enough that I was able to fall into a stroke cadence and breathing rhythm. I think I actually did that part pretty well. I held my own and actually began passing a number of slower swimmers from the first wave.
I was sighting every other breath and breathing every stroke (I don't bilateral breathe, I only breathe to the right during the right arm recovery). I got the pattern down but really couldn't see all that well when I did have my head above water. I found myself reverting to breast stroke about every 10-15 strokes to actually see where I was. I eventually figured out where the buoys were and where I needed to be swimming and was able to freestyle for most of the rest of the race. Since I was having trouble locating the buoys, I basically sighted off nearby swimmers -- either trying to swim parallel to a swimmer that appeared to be at my pace or just looking for where the nearest group of swimmers ahead of me were.
Most of the chop was in the first leg as we headed away from shore.
Second leg:
I only recognized the turn buoy because when I sighted everyone was swimming to my right! Okay -- about a 1/3 done. This was probably the easiest of the three legs for me. I was in a good rhythm, my stroke was strong and I passed a number of swimmers and was only passed by a few -- well, only a few passed near enough to me so that I could see them. I would have thought there would have been a bit of visibility underwater, but there is just about none. Even the tips of my fingers were not clearly visible in the murky green water. And no black stripe to follow! Anyhow, the second leg passed relatively quickly and soon I saw swimmers again turning to the right.
Third leg:
I consider this one second in difficulty but only because of sighting problems. We were now headed back to shore, which was just about due East. Yep, the glare of the sun made sighting quite problematic. I could not see the shore, I could not locate any buoys. I even had difficulty sighting nearby swimmers. My stroke was good, so I kept swimming as strong as I could, but had to revert to breaststroke more than I would have liked just to make sure I was on course. Indeed, about mid-way from the final turn buoy to the finish, I had been sighting on a swimmer a few yards ahead, suddenly I see him make a hard turn right, I look up and realize he was heading way off course. Thus learning the lesson that sighting with other swimmers doesn't work if they are also off-course. This began a bit of zig-zagging as I tried to get myself basically heading in the right direction. I think I over-corrected from going to far to the left and almost swam into the right-side buoy -- so I zagged back to the left. I eventually was able to sight the finish line balloon which allowed me to finish strong.
I swam until the swimmer just in front of me stood up and began running. I probably stood up too soon as the water was waist deep rather than knee deep and it took a surprising amount of energy to sprint through that water (of course, while I had been practicing swimming in a wetsuit, I have not practiced running in a wetsuit). Up I trudged and crossed the finish line.
I was done. I was surprisingly out of breath. The course crew was quite efficient --- one person was removing my timing chip, another was undoing the wetsuit and pulling it down to my waist to allow me to cool off, a third removed my swim cap to get my bib tag. My colleage (who started in the wave behind me) greeted me at the shore with a well-swum congratulations (he ended up placing 2nd in his age group with a time about 5 minutes faster than mine).
My time: 28:16. I placed 129 out of 383 finishers, 75 out of 189 for my sex, and 15 out of 29 in my age group (40-44).
Not too shabby. I'm glad I got that under my belt before doing an open water swim as part of a triathlon.
Next year, maybe the whole 4.4 mile Bay swim? We'll see...
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