Aggressive Swimmers (Page 3)

Good story.

One time back in 1996 or so I was doing a race with an ocean swim that by todays standards, would be canceled.  It was more body surfing then swimming.....I came down the back side of a wave and landed right on top of some guy.  I actually stopped to say sorry and it turned out to be a pretty good friend/business associate.  We still laugh about it today.

MOP swimmer here and it just happens. I think that the more experiences with this type of swimming you have the less it bothers you. Go with the flow. The last sprint I was competing in some poor guy ended up with his head under my arm. I did not see him. On the stroke I just about pushed his face into the sand. Intentional? not at all Was he happy? not very 

It just happens. However if I feel somebody is trying to intimidate me in the water. My elbows are pretty sharp

Even though I'm a relatively new swimmer, the contact is the least concerning to me as I prepare for my first tri on Saturday. I grew up on Lake Michigan and lakes at any campground we'd find ourselves at ... with three brothers. Games of chicken and regular dunkings were par for the course. 

I'll admit to being an occasional ankle or foot grabber.  I don't grab and tug out of malice or anything - it's defense meant to try to protect my own face.  There are times, usually at the beginning of a race, when there's just nowhere to go, and if someone's heel is right there threatening to knock my goggles off or break my nose, I'll sort of grab it and try to push it aside.  And since most people subscribe to the "swim like ghandi" philosophy presented in this thread, they'll in turn help me out by trying to get away from that contact.

I don't know...as I read that I realize I kind of sound like an a-hole that is actually the one causing problems, but really I'm just trying to protect myself when I do this.

When passing people I've always put the onus 100% on myself to find a way around them, not on them to get out of my way.

I'm gonna reply to this thread because I did see some aggressive swimming happen at my HIM this weekend.  The waves were pretty close together and the fasties from the wave behind me caught up at some point.

What ticked me off was that they were being so "aggressive" and not wanting to stop their stroke for anything.

As a fastie, if I come up on a slow person from the wave ahead of me, I find a way around.  If I swim up on them so fast I fail to see them, at first contact I immediately sight up and find a way around.

ANYTIME you make contact with another swimmer you should take a second to assess the situation...make sure you're going the right direction (contact could have happened if you were drifting off the right navigation), and if it's a slower swimmer in front of you pick another path.  

I get irked when people just put their heads down as if they are the only person in the water.  I can see them thinking...if I just keep plowing through that other person will move once I hit them a few times."  WRONG ANSWER!  I see it like skiing.  The uphill skier (faster swimmer) is responsible for deconflicting with the downhill skier (slower swimmer) because the downhill skier doesn't see the uphill skier coming.

I don't think there is a way to avoid aggressive swimmers as the slow swimmer.  Rather, we need to work on getting the message out to the aggressive swimmers to take the second to find their way around the slower swimmer.  I know I was mad this weekend at people who thought they were too good to pause their swimming for a second to deconflict.  Like f'ing bulls in a china shop...they don't care what's in their way, they are gonna plow right through it....

Both of the triathlons I've done were set up this way. One was a sprint with a pool swim, two swimmers started every 10 (I think) seconds, grouped by broad categories (collegiate, age group/Ath/Clyde, novice) and within category by estimated swim time. The second was an OWS Oly with a time trial start, 2 swimmers every five seconds, more or less by race number which was based on estimated swim time.

I've found that the female waves swimming past me are generally more aggressive than the guys (coming from a below average, slow swimmer who gets passed by at least 2 waves at Olys or longer).

This is one of those incredibly useful posts that you find on BT and should be bookmarked for all new triathletes (ok, ALL triathletes). Sportsmanship counts for a lot. Thanks.

I only break out the defensive swimming when I'm grabbed.

Hitting, punching, kicking, karate chopping, getting run over... that's all part of the (almost always) unintentional scrum of the mass-swim start.

In my first 70.3, I got hit HARD in the face by an older gentleman that I was trying to pass who started a wave or two ahead of me. I took it in stride, and checked to make sure I wasn't bleeding. I re-set my line to avoid him, and continued on without anger or panic.

If you encounter someone who is grabbing you and trying to use your body to their advantage in a swim, you need to have your own plan - even if it is to stop, let them move away, and continue swimming.

If I get GRABBED, that's when I'll push someone off of me, or push off of them. Not in a violent smack-down way, but in a plant-my-hand-on-them-and-extend-my-arm way. I do it to instantly create some distance between us that hopefully stays that way. As an FOP swimmer, I'm not willing to let someone grab my ankles, arms or shoulders to get an advantage over me. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.