Mile swim confusion

The official national competition distance is 1500 meters.  That equates to 1650 yards (+/-).  since it's "close" to a mile, that's what everyone calls a swimmer's mile (here in the states).

Since America seems to be the only ones to refuse to used the metric system, we say"mile" since it's close to that.

Open water swimming is based on mile of 1760 yds AFAIK.

1650 swimmers mile is a pool creation

Well, I wouldn't put faith in the accuracy of any open water swim race measurements, I've seen both 1/4 mile and 1 mile swims be off by numbers aproaching 50%, but I guess if you want to convert to meters, it's whatever the conversion is.

You're talking about a difference of <10 yards. What does it matter. Just swim.

The IM and HIM swim distances of 2.4 and 1.2 miles aren't based on the "swimmers' mile." They're based on a "land" (?) mile, something around 4200/2100. Of course, like Chris says, you never know how accurate OWS swim distances are measured...

yeah, IM is supposed to be 4224 yds (although they report swim splits per 100 meters)

I "measure" my OWS swims in miles, 1, 2, whatever.  Long pool swims I just say 2K, 3K, etc, I don't think of it in miles.

But if I were to, I would measure it by 1760 yds.  Take that back, I did do one IM training swim in the pool, 4225, 2.4 miles

When I do my HIM, the swim will be 1.2 miles, or 2112 yards.  So if I am going to do a mile swim, I'm going to do 1760 yards, not 1500m, not 1650 yards.

Or 1775 yards.  It's not like I'm going to stop 2/5 of the way down the lane.   

I would say if you're in a 25- (or 50-) meter pool, swim 1500 meters. If you're in a 25- (or 50-) yard pool, do the 1650.

People around here can't count laps. Imagine trying to get someone to swim 1650 yards in a 25-meter pool.

Where do you find workouts that call for swims in mile increments, anyway?

Call it 1800 and you'll be on the same end as when you started.

True.  It seems to me that BT would be a really good venue for someone to ask about counting laps.  Maybe I'll post the question in TT.  Or would that be the blind leading the blind? 

You have the same problem essentially in track.  What is a mile?? You have the 1500 and then the actual mile, which I believe is run very infrequently. 

For swimming I use 1600m or 1750y when I swim but really I keep track in m or y so I really don't think about swimming in miles.

I simply train in yards and then come race day do whatever the course is laid out as.  Sometimes it seems longer, somtimes it seems shorter.

In the 3 years I've done Eagleman, the course has never been the same distance.  You'd figure after 25 years of doing the same race they'd have gotten it right ...... but they still advertise and score it as 1.2 miles.

I posted about it after the race, but two weeks ago I did an OWS advertised as one mile.   In reality the course laid out by the lifeguards turned out to be somewhere between 1.5 and 1.7 miles.  Overall winner was >30:00, which is unheard of.  Moral of the story is just keep swimming

No problem, you asked about how they determine them in races so I thought I would put my 2 cents in.  The pool I swim in now is new and the distance in yards, but when they get the bulkhead that separates the diving and the swimming area in it will turn into a meter pool.