Pool vs. OWS: Am I crazy with this?

Brownie28 - 2009-08-08 10:14 PM Sorry if there's been a thread (or many) on this subject, I did a search and only found one semi-related discussion on it. 

In a pool I'm a 1:50-1:55 /100m swimmer over 1600m...open turns, nice constant pace, pretty consistent splits, all that jazz--but it's a pretty full effort the whole way and I'm spent when I finish.  However, I've had one open water pond swim for a sprint triathlon (it was shortened to about 300m because of a lost bouy due to high winds) and finished it in 33rd out of 347 and I honestly didn't feel like I even tried (I was so worried about saving energy for the other two legs that I took it REAL easy on the short swim). 

Then today I did a swim in a pond, it has a great 800m out and back with the distance being pretty well confirmed.  I swam across, nice easy pace, stopped about 25 or 50m from the other end then swam back.  I timed the second 750 (forgot it on the first split) and finished in 12:50 (1:42 split).  I swam REAL easy, it was a comfortable, fun, almost therapeutic swim, and it was the second half so I'd have to figure the first half was at least a little quicker. 

My question: anyone else see such a drastic split from pool to OWSing? I wear a 2XU C:1 wetsuit, nothing special but it's a good suit and has great bouyancy, and I feel like I'm just skimming the surface with the thing on.  It's a fantastic feeling in the open water, just wondering if I'm insane, if my pool technique needs to change or if others have a similar split between the two?

Heading back to the pond tomorrow, I think this is going to become a regular training session!