Tri for Joe swim difficulty

This is a great swim to get the feel for an open water type event. It has all the aspects of a pool swim (lifeguards everywhere, clear, chlorine water) yet there are no walls to push off of. Plus, the swim is two laps and I'd say a quarter of the swim is in 3-6 feet of water. So, if you need to rest, you can just stand up. This is great practice swim if you want to eventually step up to a real open water swim. I highly recommend doing this race if you want open water practice in a pool setting. See you there!

this is a great swim. much less congested and stressful then the springboro ymca swim.
the swim is in a large wave pool, which means it is pool water.
freezing cold last year!!!!!!!!!!!! wet suit is a must.
lots of room to move and you can stand up half the time.
this was my first tri last year and I really enjoyed it.

are wetsuits available to rent?  Don't have one yet and don't know enough about them to make a quick purchase this week I don't think... Swimming is my poorest leg for sure, so I'm thinking if I buy a wetsuit I should do some research.  How far are the shallower areas spaced out?  Are we talking ever 50 meters, or are there stretches of 200 meters and then it is shallow for a long stretch?

Thanks.

Here's the course map:

http://www.triforjoe.com/SwimCourseLayout.pdf

From the pics of last year it looks like it starts in the shallow end. The deep end is on the right of the big square in the middle.

If you're in Cincinnati, Cycle Sport & Tri in Loveland has some never worn (at the moment, at least) ORCA demo wetsuits they'll rent.  http://cyclesport.net/  Don't know if they're reserved yet...

for what its worth, last year at race start water was 66-68 degrees, about 1/3 of racers didnt wear wetsuits,

my dad raced with me and didnt wear one, said it was cold not but an issue.

I keep hoping for something like that, but the forecast of a low of 44 degrees on Sunday has got me worried.

the weather getting cold overnight is not gonna change the water much.