Open water swim practice question

It depends where I am.  Most of the places I swim I can just leave my keys in my car and not lock it but i rarely have anything valuable in the car.  If I had my bike with me, it would be inside the car and I would lock it.  I would find some way to take the key with me in that case.

Depends on where the practice is. If it's in the US (with a group) and I've driven there solo, I put the car key in the zip pocket of my tri suit (and make sure to zip it up LOL). It's not an electronic key, so it's not going to get damaged. If it was, might think about a ziplock bag, or asking the non-swimming spouse of a club-mate to baby-sit it for me. Then I'd lock gear, bike, etc. in the car. 

Sometimes I do OWS when I travel if I can find a good venue. In Singapore, there are lockers at many of the beach parks where you can leave stuff. I don't carry my passport or lots of $ (lock that in the hotel safe) if I know I'll be going for a swim, just enough to take public transport back, stop for noodles, etc. If there's a locker, I leave clothes, etc. there. If I'm feeling paranoid, I put enough $ to get back to the hotel, or a subway card with $ on it, into a ziplock bag and then into my zip pocket. Haven't lost anything yet. I've also left clothes, shoes, and towel on the beach in S'pore, and my bike locked to itself against a tree (for a post-race swim), but I'm not sure I'd do it elsewhere--crime rate is pretty low there and everyone has better gear than me, anyway.

That being said, I always do such OWS in a tri suit or top/shorts. I have visions of the humiliation or fines that would ensue if my clothes were stolen from the locker or beach and I had to ride the MRT, or otherwise return to my hotel, in a swimsuit!

Keyless entry to your vehicle via a number keypad that one can purchased via third party vendors.

By me on the popular beach for OWS there are diligent thieves who will watch for nice triathletes leaving their keys and going in to swim. Then they grab your key and steal the stuff in your car (which sometimes is a nice bike) and return your key to it's hidden spot. It's a bummer to be sure.

So, I try to always carry mine with in a swim pouch which I think is actually the diving pouch mentioned before. I have been known to tie my key inside my tri-shorts when I forget the pouch.

Jesus.  I can't believe there are losers out there waiting for athletes to leave their keys by the shore while they swim and then steal from them.  Doesn't particularly surprise me, but quite disappointing.  Thanks for giving me the heads up.  

I'm going to look into these diving pouches.  Sounds like the best idea.  

I have a non electronic version of my car key (10 bucks at the dealership), which just opens the doors, and I take a diaper safety pin and pin the key to the inside of my swimsuit or trisuit and there it stays. I lock the key that runs the car inside the car out of view.  The only stuff I take with me to the beach are replaceable (towel, goggle case, bottle of water.)  One time I came out of the water and did not find my bag, and did not panic as nothing of value was in it, then I found someone had moved it (picked it up my mistake, set it down?...) 

Only thing is, I rinse and wipe down the key before sticking it inside the lock.  No sense getting salt water in there to rust it.

I faced this problem years ago and tried several methods until I settled on a truck door key on a braided nylon string around my waist, inside my jammers.  I did a fancy fishermans finger trap slip knot on the string and it works great for me.

Hope this helps

my keys are not electronic so I just tie it to the drawstring of my shorts I wear under my wetsuit. 

I've yet to just leave my bike in the car though. Hesitant to do that because smashed window and bike is gone within ten seconds so scared of that. Guess I could figure out how to lock the bike to something inside my car and make it known that it is locked to something secure.

I have a non-electronic version of my car key. I tie it with my jammers drawstring and ready for an OWS.

Where I train, it is common for people to leave their cars on the beach, but three of them got stolen during the last two weekends, so people are getting cautions about doing this... I will never go swimming without my car key.

I use the HitchSafe. 

It's the best $100 somebody else spent for my birthday! 

Before that, I used many of the other methods above, depending on where I'm swimming. 

On some vehicles you could use a push button lock box, such as keys would be left in for realtors on a house.

Something I plan to pick up when I get regular access to OWS is a dry bag you put your stuff in and then inflate and tether to yourself.  Take your items with you, increase your visibility AND have floatation if you need it. Win win.  I think it's called SwimSafe....no that's the inflate belt...here we go....

http://saferswimmer.com/

This is great.  I'll have to get one and its $65 online.  Very good idea.

Hitchsafe is great.  I've never seen that one before. 

For my car, I use a house key padlock similar to this one: http://www.amazon.com/Master-Lock-5400D-Set-Your-Own-Combination/dp/B0002YP1VC.  I attach it to the spot under the trunk where tow truck hooks are placed. 

When I'm running or cycling, I put my valet key on my Road ID dog tag chain.  It's not ideal but it does the job.

I usually put them in my bag with towel, extra goggles, etc, and leave it on the shore at the water's edge where I can see it while I swim.