BOP swimmer strategy for IM, specifically IMAZ

Can't help you with specifics for IMAZ but I'm a bop swimmer too. For Lake Placid last year this is what I did...

I looked at swim times from the year before and estimated where I would be and how many other folks would be around me. Turns out maybe 30-40 folks were as slow as I was. I did the math and figured if I started in the back by 200-300-400 yds the crowd would thin out and I'd be where there wasn't much traffic which would allow me to swim above the cable which makes it easier as I didn't really need to site at all. It worked beautifully and I'm a right breather so I swam on left side right above the cable and had to go to the right side around the turn buoys. Second loop found someone tried to draft off but she was slower than I was so I passed her and she drafted off me the whole way back. My swim was 1:48..hoping to drop that 10+ minutes this year at Canada and will be in with more swimmers this year.

Estimating your time and where you might fit in the spread of IM swimmers will help you know if you can start where you think might be easiest.

Kathy G - can you elaborate on the turn buoy thing you referenced. I am a left side breather and am doing IMLP 2010. I am swimming at an approximate 1:33 IM time right now. ALthough that is based on 1/2 mile swims.

You can swim on either side of the buoys except the two at the end that are turn buoys. The course is long rectangle basically and the turn buoys are on the corners where you turn. I right breath so swam on left side or inside of the buoys but had to move to outside or right side of them to go around two corners buoys on the end.

As a left breather you will be with more traffic as lots more folks swim on the right, outside or normal side of the buoys. I think the difference between a 1:33 and 1:48 swim makes traffic a bit more...but MOP swim time is much faster so you won't be in the thick of it.

I'm an FOP swimmer, but I think I can help you with the IMAZ specifics.

So, to get to the swim start you have to jump off the side wall and swim there...it's about 100 yards or so.  My FIRST recommendation for you is to start out at the back.  Maybe hang back closer to where you jump in.  You're going to swim the 100 yards anyway, do you need to do it before the gun goes off?  Not necessarily.  If you stay towards the back you won't get stuck in the huge crowd.  But if you put yourself right in the middle you will constantly have feet to draft off of.

Second.  This is a one loop course.  You swim a LONG way straight before ever having to turn around a buoy.  In fact, I didn't see a buoy for a full 20 minutes.  I was in the middle of a pack of swimmers...people to my left, people to my right, no time to look for anything else.  So I just swam.  I was a water lemming.  I kept people on both sides and kept going forward.  Didn't even bother looking for anything for awhile.  At this point you don't gain much by being close or far from the buoys.

Third.  Once it thins out and you are no longer a "water lemming", SIGHT OFF THE BRIDGE!  Don't even bother trying to use the wall or the buoys.  USE THE BIG ARSE BRIDGE.  Pick a spot on the bridge and head for it.  You will swim much straighter than most of your friends.

Fourth.  As you approach the bridge start working your way left towards the buoys.  I can't count the number of people who stuck to the right that had to swim an extra 50 yards or so once we hit the turn buoy because they were SO far to the right.  Turns on this course are all LEFT.  So if you stay too far right you are just making the course longer for yourself.  But you have plenty of time to work your way left...it's a VERY long straightaway.  You don't need to be right next to the buoys, but stay within 20 feet or so.  Right next to them you might get caught in a bit of the melee.  Stay close after the first turn buoy because the second one isn't much farther.  Then after the second one you get another very very long straightaway.

Which brings me to...

Fifth.  On the way back, SIGHT OFF THE BRIDGE.  I already explained this once but it's worth repeating.

So, honestly...I don't see how swimming to the right is helpful at all...you don't need to use the wall to sight (you will be using the bridge) and it makes you swim farther due to the left hand turns.

My .02 on th IMAZ swim, mostly what Jen said.  I started on the right with everyone else    If you look at the map, the buoys sort of wind their way down the lake.  So, swimming straight for the bridge gets you there straighter.  but since you are just looking to survive, I'd wait to get in as Jen said, hang out at the back, wait for the cannon, and after it fires make your way up to the line. 

There are actually a couple of towers rising over the bridge, you might try to sight off those as the bridge isn't immediately in view.

The Nov race date (at least last year) put sunrise about 7:40 os ro, if I recall.  I hit the turnaround before the sun came up.  If you don't, the sun will be in your face on the latter part of the outbound leg, which will make sighting the bridge much tougher.  Keep that in mind

I did IM AZ last Nov. end started near the back left. This was PERFECT! Not that crowded, and I didn't get hit too much. I finished in 1:40:XX.