I was in the B wave, which I probably shouldn't have been in. A wave were elites. Gun goes off and I just walk into the water and dive in when there's some room. The wind sock and first buoy were easy to sight, but I was told that if you could find a pipe running on the bottom you could follow it straight out to the first buoy without sighting. Just by dumb luck, I found it in the first 150 meters and better yet there was a guy in front of me swimming a perfect pace. Everyone else went out wide to the left. So off to a great start. Perfect line, minimal contact, and a draft.

Got to the first buoy and it wasn't congested, but enough so that I lost my feet. Latched onto a lady's feet and she was swimming a good pace and a good line. Saw three dolphins swim about 10 feet below us. That was cool, but other than that there really wasn't much to see. Water was clear, but it was pretty much just sand and rocks about 40 feet deep and a few small fish here and there.

It wasn't "rough", but there was no mistaking we were in the open ocean. There would be times where 2 strokes would not get you anywhere, then you get a swell and you move 6-7 yards on your next 2 strokes. The swells got bigger as the swim went on.

I peeked at my watch to see 38 minutes and 1.11 miles. Hmmm...not as quick as I was hoping, but certainly not a "epic" day that I have been told about where 1:15 swimmers suddenly swim 2:15 because of the current. I was hoping to be in the 1:20 range and that wasn't looking too good at the time. But I was comfortable.

Shortly thereafter, after I tapped the lady's feet in front of me for maybe the 15th time in 15 minutes, she finally had enough, stopped swimming and turned around. Ok...whatever. I just kept swimming. "Sorry" I guess. Found another lady's feet, and after 10 minutes she had the same reaction. Kind of caught me off guard, but I just kept swimming. So I was pretty much on my own now and I kind of enjoyed it.

The last turn buoy seemed to take forever to come up. As the swells got bigger it became harder and harder to sight as you had to time it when you were at the top of the swell. Currents weren't that bad though as far as pushing you off line.

Found another guys feet. He wasn't kicking much at all so it was much easier to see his feet so I wouldn't touch them. He was a pretty big guy and gawd forbid he freak out like the previous two ladies. Followed him to the turn buoy and pretty much just swam on my own on the way in.

Nothing. Maybe not piss off a couple ladies. Finishing times were slow. Winners were in the mid 48 range where the course record is in the low 42's. 47 swimmers broke 1 hour where in fast years as many as 162 swimmers broke an hour. Comparing myself to other swimmers I know, I finished right around where I expected.

My 910xt recorded 2.6 miles, and judging by the path I swam on Garmin Connect, I was going fairly straight.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369703098

So considering a 2.6 mile swim, I was just under 2:00 per 100y. Not great, but not bad either considering it's point to point swim with current, swell, and waves.

Current I suppose? I have nothing to compare against and for this year the conditions can vary greatly.