Anybody wear a wetsuit in non-wetsuit races?

If the official temp is between 78 and 82, you can wear a suit but you're inelligible for awards. Above 82...you wouldn't be allowed to start (assuming you got caught).

Swimming in a wetsuit in warm water is like running in a business suit when it's 90 degrees. Uncomfortable at best, unsafe at worst.

In short, HTFU.

I would just ask why you want to do tris when you are not prepared to swim in open water yet?  Why not stick to dus until you get more comfortable in the water (which you will, if you practice).  I think that if you can't swim in water over your head (yet) you should not be doing a triathlon.

This is just my opinion, not meant to be harsh, but really addressed more to your safety than anything else.

I did a race a few weeks ago where the water temp was 79.1. A quite a few people chose to wear wetsuits and I didn't think anything of it. It's a personal choice obviously. As long as you can wear it within the rules (78F - 82F) and you are OK with not being eligible for awards, go ahead an wear it. It does offer an added bit of security.

Agree 100% with Chris. ^^^

Beyond the rules, there is the safety issue.
Search around for videos of Open Water Swims and look closely at all of the contact among the participants.  Browse this Forum and read about the inadvertant kicks, punches, etc... that people have been hit with.
If you do not feel comfortable in water over your head, it would be better to overcome that fear first.

Perhaps a pool swim?  There is somewhat less contact, and the pool dimensions are normally more coducive to a new swimmer.  In other words, probably more than half the pool distance would be in water 3-4 ft high - thus affording you the opportunity to plant your feet if you had to.

You won't like what I think, probably.

You shouldn't be even entertaining the thought of a triathlons with an open water swim. I have no doubt that physically you could complete it. But the bolded, underlined statement above just rings all kinds of alarm bells. You simply aren't prepared for what you will experience, and if you tend to panic by yourself, it is a 99.99999% GUARANTEE that you will panic in a group start swim situation.

This presents a danger for you, in that you stand a very real chance of being injured or worse. It presents a danger for your fellow competitors, in that when you panic you very well may injure or drag another competitor down with you. It presents a danger for the support crew in that a panicked swimmer is very difficult to deal with in the best of situations. (Lifeguards are taught, or at least used to be that sometimes the best solution is a right cross).

I would hesitate but say that a pool swim triathlon might be doable, but if you were someone I was coaching, there is absolutely no way I would let you do an OWS triathlon, and if you did, I would not be your coach anymore.

Work with a coach or a group to get over your fears, get some solo open water time under your belt, then start thinking about triathlons.

John

x2. The triathlon on Sunday had about 75m at most to the first buoy. I was in the first 15 people in my wave to get there, and it was a total scrum. I ended up swimming over someone and accidentally clubbing them in the head (They were very low in the water, never even realized he was there), and about 1/2way around the buoy I got a beautiful kick to the gut.

OWS is just a completely different beast than pool swims.

John

Looks like it's time to hit the beach on the weekends!!  I'm gonna do this one way or another, I just don't want to die trying.

Neither do we.  Good luck

Amen, brother. Can I get a witness from the congregation?!?

Brody- Swim parallel to the shore, You should be able to get deep enough to swim but still stand if you need to. Take a swim buddy. Relax. Swim little bits lots, then progress to longer stuff. Progress slowly and gradually. When you can swim 3-400 continuous parallel to the shore, take a 50-75m swim out from shore and then back. Take a swim buddy.

You CAN do this, we just want you to be safe doing it.

John