Brighton & Hove Triathlon – Swimming

So, with just over two weeks to go until the Brighton & Hove Triathlon, we thought we’d give you a bit of an idea of what to look for when sea swimming in our lovely shores. We also  took the opportunity to catch up with the BANDHTRI team to ask them a few details about the swim on the day.

First things first, water safety.

I’ve lived around water my entire life. I’ve sailed on it, scuba’d under it, surfed it, kited on it, windsurfed across it…the list goes on. A number of years ago I was a lifeguard too and the most common accident we had (aside from lost children) was when people didn’t respect the sea. It’s not like playing frisbee in the park as even on the most flattest of beautiful sunny days, you can get caught out so quickly, so be a bit prepared and research where you’re swimming.

If you haven’t already done a couple of sea swims, you really should. You need practice. But to keep things really simple, here’s our top tips when swimming in the sea when out on your practice sessions:

• Always tell someone your plans – and let them know when you’re back. It costs the RNLI a lot of money to look for you when you’re actually sat back at home on your sofa
• Make a plan – try to stick to it. If you’re going to deviate massively, try to tell someone first.
• Don’t swim out too far – if you’re not confident, swim 5m out and swim parallel to the beach
• Take a pull float – anything that helps make it more obvious where you are to other water users, the safer you’ll be and feel!
• Don’t just dive in, acclimatise gradually – your body will thank you for it
• Rips – especially with the horribly sad recent news from our coastline, pay attention to rips. They’re not that bad on brighton, but you can still get caught out. If you have no idea what they are, have a look at this short video:

Safety briefing over, now for info on swimming in Brighton.

You can write a bioepic on understanding tides (I pretty much had to some years ago!), but the very basics are this. Between each high and low tide, there is roughly 6 hours. The first two and the last two hours are typically when the water is moving at its slowest and the mid two hours (hour 3 & 4) are when it’s moving at its quickest. There are always local variations to this like headlands or structures like the piers where for even short spaces the sea could be ebbing or flowing a lot quicker. So always check tide times before you set off. It could make for a tough swim if you don’t – or, you’ll end up down the coast in no time and have the walk of shame home! A good way to test the current, is that if there is a swim buoy not too far out, swim to it and tread water near it for a minute. See which way you float. If you’ve moved away quickly, you shouldn’t swim straight back to the beach as you’ll end up further down from where you set off. Instead, take a diagonal course, that will drift you towards where you wanted to go. Really useful to know this come TRI DAY!

Visit Brighton have a pretty easy to follow tide table here

The incoming tide in Brighton flows from west to east (right to left as you look out to sea), but with the open seascape we have here, the wind could play a serious factor and speed up or slow down the current in either direction.

And be wary of what’s underwater. No, we don’t have any monsters or scary critters (apart from weaver fish!), but swimming close to a groin or through the piers can be pretty dangerous, so you always need to keep an eye on your surroundings. You’ve been warned 😉

The Brighton & Hove Triathlon

We caught up with the team to ask a few questions about the swim part of the day.

TP: A big concern for people, experienced or not, is about on the water safety. What have you got / how is it set up?

BandHTri: Our water safety will be headed up by Dave Samuels who runs Paddle round the Pier and the Surf Life Saving Club. We have an experienced team of lifeguards and a fleet of safety boats on the water.

Is it continuous sea swim or is there laps where people need to run around a flag on the beach and then back out to sea?

The sea swims are continuous and participants will swim around coloured buoys in the water which link to their race distance.

What does the course look like?

How will the waves set off? Is it age group or ability?

Race information was sent out recently to all entrants, detailing their start times, so check your packs for details.

What distances will the different groups have to undertake?

Olympic – 1500m | Spring – 750m | Draft legal sprint – 750m | Super Sprint – 400m

What about the conditions. Obviously weather & conditions hitting our shores can change pretty quickly. At what point do you make a change on the swim? How rough does it have to be to change it?

We will make a judgement on the water safety on the night before or morning of the race. Winds above Beaufort Scale Force 4 – Force 5 become un-operational for safety boats to be effective thus water events will be curtailed or cancelled.

For those of you not sure, here’s a link to the beaufort scale.

Of course it’s going to be hot, sunny & flat water, but if it’s too rough and the swim is called off, what are you plans? Run/bike/run or perhaps a shorter swim course?

If it does get that bad, the event will become a duathlon.

Wetsuit? Speedos? Trisuit? What’s the temperature looking like and what would you recommend?

We have ordered good weather and currently it’s holding at about 18 degrees and only a bit of wind. We recommend every participant to wear a wetsuit in the swim. Remember nitidity is illegal in the rules! 😉

Well, there goes our fancy dress outfit… but will keep praying to the weather gods for fine weather!

So keep praying to the weather gods and see you on the beach in a few weeks time!