Sighting for open water swimming...learned something new!

In my tri yesterday, we had about 1-2 foot swells. Not big enough to cause problems, but big enough that at the bottom of the trough, you couldn't see much of the shore but the treeline. Since the water was relatively warm (69 degrees), I was wearing a wetsuit, it was not crowded adn I was relatively relaxed, I had ample opportunity to play with my sighting skills.

What I learned sounds simple, but I know that in previous tri's, I've blown it. If you look up to sight and dont see what you need, don't panic, you may be at teh bottom of the swell. Just take another stroke, even if it's one more stroke in the wrong direction. Sight again on the very next stroke or two, and you'll probably be on top of the swell and can see everything clearly on the shore.

In the past, I would panic if I couldn't see and do breaststroke until I got my bearings. But my "new" method is much smoother and doesn't break my swimming rhythm up nearly as much. Hope that helps somebody. Any thoughts?