Daniel Fogg
I’m Daniel Fogg, British open water swimmer and I’m here today to tell you all about the British Gas Swim Britain open water event.
Steve Parry
I’m Steve Parry and I’m here with some Swim Britain tips for you.
OK gang if you’re brave enough and doing the open water swim I commend you, good job. Swimming outdoors is absolutely amazing.
For the open water event you’re going to get a swimming cap, a t shirt and a timing chip but you don’t need to worry about a thing because that’s all going to be at the venue on the day.
Also you are going to be hanging round on the side while your team mates are doing their swims so make sure you bring some warm clothes as well. One thing I highly recommend that you do not forget is the wet suit or you are going to be extremely cold!
Daniel Fogg
Swimming in a wetsuit can be a great advantage; it keeps you warm for one. You can’t feel the cold on the extremities of your body. It also keeps you very buoyant in the water and makes you swim much faster.
A tip would be to try it on in the pool first because it can be a lot different feeling-wise. It’s going to be a lot tighter on your body especially when you’re swimming. To get used to this, put it on and do a few lengths in the pool.
The way you wear your hat and goggles in an open water event can be different from the way you wear it if you were in a swimming pool. What I tend to do is put my goggles on first and then have the hat on above it so that if someone does by accident knock it off your head your goggles stay on but your hat doesn’t. Your goggles are more important than the hat.
If this is your first event in open water there’s nothing to be worried about. You just have to get in there and imagine you’re swimming in a pool. One thing to remember is safety is going to be the most important thing on the day.
Steve Parry
There are going to be people around you so don’t be freaked out by that, but the most important thing is navigating.
This pool behind me has got black lines on the bottom of the pool, easy to navigate where you’re going, not the same in the open water. It’s vital that you stay in line or your 250 metres at a time is going to turn into a lot, lot longer.
So were swimming along open water, were breathing to the side, occasionally I want you to look up and sight the buoy and turn the way you want to go. Just occasionally that’s all you need to do. Keep that in mind and you won’t swim much further than what you have to.
You’re going to need to know what one of these is. It’s a buoy, it’s huge and it’s orange. All you’ve got to do is spot it. The sign posting on the day is going to tell you which way to go round and it’s going to be very, very obvious. What you’ve got to do is make sure you get round it as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Daniel Fogg
Spot the buoy early so you know where you’re going and try to stay on course. Don’t go too narrow round the buoy because you don’t want to be taking it at too sharp an angle. This will make you lose time. If you take a wider angle then it will give you a lot more room to manoeuvre around the buoy.
Steve Parry
OK, so how does the open water relay work, dead easy.
The first swimmer’s going to set off, they’re going to have a timing chip that’s going to be activated when they cross the timing mat.
They’re going to swim their 250 metres; their time is going to be calculated when they cross back over the mat. Then they go through a little sterile area where there’s no one there, into a transition zone where the second swimmer will be waiting.
There’ll be a great high five, an enthusiastic high five to cheer that second person on, and then they’re going to go cross over the mat and do their 250 metres, just like the first person.
Important to remember here, we don’t want it to get overcrowded so there’s going to be a competitor’s area to the side where the third and fourth swimmers are waiting for their turn to go. It’s going to be dead easy and it’s going to a load of fun.