Etiquette in the open water; request to USAT (Page 2)

As I wrote above, I never said anything about the strategy or whether it's against the rules, only that swimmers (and cyclists on the road) see it as bad form.  If you don't, then you don't.  Hopefully some people will consider more than just rules in their racing, including unspoken etiquette (which is the point of this thread).  But it can't be enforced, since folks will race how they want to.

For example, it's good race strategy to pass by the guy that just crashed his bike.  rstocks will tell you it's good etiquette to stop and see if he's OK.

How about we fix the entire problem and do all the races in reverse order.  Runners surely don’t mind starting in a pack, they do it for every running race.  That way everyone will be spread out for the swim, which is last and we wont have to worry about contact.  (the not so comfortable swimmers may be too tired to survive the swim but all the participants will benefit by not getting run over or bumped into as much).  Or have everyone take a swim test to verify they can swim in a straight line before they are allowed to participate.  Do a time trial start with verification requirements on your swim seed time.  Make the entire course full contact allowed to even things up.

Seriously though, put 100+people in the same place and tell them to go the same direction and you will have contact.  Most swims are too murky to see 10 inches through the water and judging incidental vs intentional contact would be impossible. 

Agree a little OWS etiquette would be nice and most swim only OWS races are very organized and contact is not really an issue.

Just remember you are doing this because it is FUN.  The entire thing is FUN (training, pre-race jitters, the contact on the swim, the wind or rain on the bike, the heat on the run, confusion in transition, the beer afterward). 

Some of the early tri's had a different order.  To be honest, the last thing you want is a couple hundred tired people in the water.  The setting sun made it difficult to see people in the water and somebody realized this was a recipe for disaster (and an early demise to triathlons). 

And if the requirement were to swim straight in open, murky, water, I'd not be allowed to start the race even though I did IMCdA last month. 

To the OP I think that a brief discussion about OWS ettiquette  in a pre race meeting would be beneficial. Altering your direction when you come up on a slower swimmer is good ettiquette, to "stop kicking" if you feel someone at your feet is a bit of a stretch. Helping fellow athletes in distress, IMO, is a given.

OWS drafting ettiquette is a different thing all together. Drafting in the swim is perfectly legal and you are crazy not to draft given the opportunity. My swim this weekend was a perfect example. I started the swim behind 3 or 4 swimmers and I felt like I was coasting behind them. I tried to pass but as soon as I got out of the draft it was like hitting a wall, so I stayed there for the first loop and a half. They put the hammer down going around the last buoy and a found another set of feet to follow home. Could I have passed her? Absolutely. Why would I want to? I ran out of the water behind her and thanked her very much for the ride. Passing someone that you just used your whole race is just BAD FORM in triathlon because in the end it doesn't mean anything to your final placing or final time. In OWS it's a different story because it's who gets to the line first and there is more strategy that goes into the swim. (That's a whole thread in itself)

Being a strong swimmer is such a relief to me during IM races. TwinRacer came in around 1:04:00 and said he was battling the entire swim. THAT is a stressful swim and I don't envy those of you who have to deal with that kind of swim.

IMO OWS races are about having the best strategy to win. If I am out front I know how many people are drafting and hopefully who they are. I will hold back on my effort knowing that I have a lot left in the tank to accept a challenge or just physically drop back and take the draft for a while. I look at it more like track racing on a bike without ever coming to the track stands for position of course.

In tri's, sometimes you get a draft and sometimes you don't. I've pulled my share of triathletes around a course with no hard feelings in the end even if they do run in front of me to get the "win" out of the water.

Now, tapping the feet of a swimmer ON EVERY STROKE will tend to get a little kick to the face or I'll just stop and let him/her go by.