Quote Originally Posted by Tri Girl View Post
Holy carp, Bluetree!!!!! That might send me with my wetsuit tucked under my hind legs running back to my car. I've never ocean OWS, and the thought of the salt alone icks me out (because I always swallow water), not to mention tackling waves like that! Yikes!
Good thing the nearest ocean is 9 hours away. I'll stick to icky green lake swims, thank you very much
I asked four buddies how they dealt with those waves.
Two of them waited a few minutes and were able to get past the break between sets (as surfers, they were familiar with swell patterns.)
The other two were after Top 5 placings and dived right in. One of them, a USAT coach, explained that when the waves are that choppy, it pretty much churns all the way to the bottom, making simple dive-thrus harder. He dived straight through to the bottom, to the point where his chest touched the ground and he actually grabbed onto the sandy bottom and pulled his way the through.
All of them, no matter how seasoned, said that the waves were so choppy past the breakwater that they couldn't help but swallow seawater. Yuk.

Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack this thread... but getting back to the original post, EBD brings up a good point. I think I will have to start training in a wetsuit to get comfortable. I didn't even think of it as an issue until I started reading this.