Open water sighting technique an difficulty

Sighting is overrated.

Follow the people in front of you.  Let them do the work.

And even if you don't, the amount of distance, and time, lost by swimming off course, is a lot less than you'd think.  For example, suppose you are swimming a 250m leg, and by the end of the leg, you are 50 meters off course.

You know how many meters you have actually swam (swum??) in this example?  254 meters.

Instead of wasting your time practicing sighting in the pool, work on your stroke.

X2 - Nice job on the description. Here's a video clip I made last year showing how to OW sight. I hope it helps. OWS Sighting (I am on a bungee cord, that is why I am not going anywhere. )

not that I am any good at this (just see my race report from Philly), but I can tell you what my swim coach SAYS to do -

just barely get your eyes out - like an alligator every like 6-10th stroke as you go to breathe.

you could put something up on the pool deck to practice...

now this same swim coach threw things at me to get me used to what a tri swim would be like.....

x3. Excellent description. You don't have to nail the sighting every time you look.

Also, get out during warmup and line up the swim lines you will be taking. Look for buildings, trees, piers, antennae, whatever, above the buoy you are aiming for,. Much easier to see things up high than at water level.In some large races, you can follow the crowd and not lose any appreciable time. I've definitely done that. But it doesn't always work and if you find yourself alone, there may be no crowd to follow.

However, I agree I wouldn't spend much time (i.e., 2 lengths at most) working on it in the pool. My .02

I'm a big fan of this train of thought..I'll do my best to get right behind someone and draft as much as possible or  if I breath on my right side I'll line up waaay to the left so as I'm breathing I can see people we are all going to the same place,

Yes.. it's a very noticable difference when you are drafting, and for the 2nd part of what you said [ how do you gauge your speed]  is something I keep trying to figure out as well.. If I'm not sure if I'm going the pace I want to since it seems so much slower, I'll get out of the draft to attempt to pass them, if I can go around them without a lot of effort then i'll pass,, BUT if I notice that my effort level has increased a lot and it seems I'm still going the pace I want I'll go back to drafting.

It's worked best for me when I go out at a faster pace than I want then find someone that is also going that pace to get behind.. that way i'm doing the apx effort I was hoping for while swimming faster..

First, I focus on following and let them sight.

Second, I pick out something BIG to set my line.   I MTN peak or set of trees or a house on the beach.  That way, just the smallest glance from the corner of my eye can see it and I can keep my direction.  Looking for a float or something will take forever...

I tried this once.  just followed the feet in front of me.  I swam right into one of the buoys.  it hurt. 

Practicing your sighting in the pool seems to me to be largely ineffective. It can't recreate the distances you need to see. My advice is to get on someones feet and stay with him. That way you're only look a few feet ahead.

Matt Cazalas
Technical Writer

Network Cables

The objective to practicing in the pool is not to recreate the distances to sight, but to practice the technique of looking forward while swimming.  So anything (I use the pool clock or sign on the wall) can be used to practice this.

You can't ever forget about sighting all together, but you can go minutes between looks instead of every 5th or 6th stroke.

I look just to see my progess, check on the path of the person I'm drafting, or look to see if there are better drafting opportunities close by (going a little faster)

  although I didn't necessarily mean drafting.  You can follow the people in front of you without drafting per se.

I like what Aikidoman said, that it is probably only necessary to sight every minute or couple of minutes, rather than every 5th or 6th stroke.  A less drastic version of what I said.

In my experience it's very valuable to know how to sight AND to know how to draft. Both skills should be practiced.

This summer at Musselman HIM the water was so rough I had people swimming perpindicular to me they were so off course. (I would say that they swam a bit more than "a few yards" off course.) The white caps were so high that even swimming breaststroke it was hard to see the buoys. I found a farm with a silo to sight off and I felt like I was cheating. Every time I looked up the farm was there and I never went off course. I was feeling for the bodies going in every which direction but strait.

On the flip side, IMWI in 2007 I spent the first 1.2 miles swimming side by side with a guy before I dropped back on his feet for the second 1.2 miles. During the 1.2 miles drafting my HR was almost 20 beats per minute lower at the same pace. I got out of the water feeling like I just did a 1000 yd warm-up.

It's important to learn and practice sighting and drafting.

Just my $.02

Sort of obvious to me:

If you need to do it in a race, practice it.  Period.