Pulling to one side on OW swims

Yes.  It seems pretty normal to pull to one side or the other.  I usually sight a lot more often than 15 - 20 strokes.  More like quick sighting every 6 - 10 strokes.  I lift my eyes up and can get a quick position, then back to swimming.  That way you can continually readjust your position.  It helps if you pick out one thing to use for sighting.

I agree that you need to sight much more often. I pull to the right and I am a right sided breather. My pull is partly due to poor mechanics. I have a tendancy to cross the center of my body with my left arm when I reach out. That twists my body just enough to get me moving to the right.

I've done one OW race and had the same problem.  I kept going right much to the annoyance of the person next to me.

yep, if you read my recent race report, i breath right and go left. I need to sight more often to straighten my self out, it is all part of the learning curve i guess.

I have found that if I only breath on one side I do the same. I'll pull to what ever side I'm breathing on. I try to breath both sides but if someone is right next to me I'll breath on the other side to keep from getting hit in the face.
So to fix this problem I'll kick less with one foot and more with the other. Meaning, if I'm only breathing on the right side (making me pull right) I'll kick a little more with the right foot and less with the left. It works very well at keeping me going straight.

Teach yourself to do bilateral breathing: breathe every third stroke. It should help keep you swimming straight and even out the stress on your shoulders.

You can also work on this by closing your eyes while you're swimming in the pool, assuming there's nobody else in your lane of course. You'll probably break a couple fingers on the lane lines, but you'll learn .

I have been training for about 2 months now to do my first tri and I have noticed that I was pulling left and breathing right during my OWS's.  I figured out that my problem was not following through all the way with my left arm stroke and also was not kicking as strong on my left stroke.  When I corrected this problem, and started pulling all the way through with my left arm, and giving a good kick as my left hand came out of the water, I found out that I could go almost straight.  I am right handed and my right arm is naturally stronger and I was pulling harder with my right arm and following through better, so that was causing me to go to the left in a large semi-circle. I also have been practicing breathing on both sides but I prefer to breath only on my right side.  The next time that you do an OWS, try to notice if you are pulling harder with your right arm and following through better.  You might can correct this like I did, by pulling the same with both arms and following through with your stroke with both arms and giving a little extra kick when your left arm is finishing it's stroke.  Dan