Open Water Swimming Tactics: Sighting, Drafting, and Race Execution
The Disconnect Between Pool Speed and Race Results
Every season I see the same story play out on the pool deck and subsequently at the race site. An athlete spends the winter meticulously carving seconds off their 100-metre repetition time. They attend masters squads, they buy the fastest wetsuit, and they obsess over their catch mechanics in a controlled, lane-roped environment. They are objectively fit. Their aerobic capacity is high. In the pool, they are a machine.
Then comes the first open water race of the season. The gun goes off, and that same athlete exits the water three minutes behind their predicted time, breathless, frustrated, and exhausted. They check their watch and see they have swum 1,700 metres on a 1,500-metre course. They blame the conditions. They blame the sun glare. They blame the "washing machine" at the first buoy.
The reality is simpler and harsher. They failed to translate their physiological capacity into open water speed.
The central problem is the discrepancy between swimming economy in the pool and execution in the open water. Research consistently indicates that while physiological markers such as heart rate and oxygen consumption may remain constant between the two environments, the kinematic variables deteriorate significantly once the black line is removed. Specifically, stroke rate, stroke length, and the stroke index fall apart when an athlete is forced to navigate, sight, and deal with the chaos of a mass start.
For the time-crunched athlete, this is a critical realisation. You cannot solve an open water skills problem with more pool volume. Balancing professional and familial responsibilities with a training window of perhaps three sessions per week means we must prioritise economy and execution. We must stop the "leakage" of time.
This article outlines the framework I use at Sense Endurance Coaching to bridge this gap. It is not about adding more hours. It is about stripping away the "circus" of over-complicated drills and focussing on the minimal effective dose of skill work that preserves the integrity of your stroke under race-day stress.
For more about this, read Why You're Not Getting Faster: Technical Skills.
The Biomechanics of Sighting and Drag
Sighting is the single most disruptive element of the front crawl stroke in open water. In the pool, the black line provides constant, passive directional feedback. You do not have to do anything to know where you are going. In the open water, you must actively interact with the environment. You must lift your head to see where you are going.
The act of lifting the head creates a series of negative biomechanical consequences that increase the energetic cost of transport. In swimming, buoyancy and body position are the primary determinants of economy. Your body is a see-saw. The fulcrum is roughly around your lungs. When you lift the heavy weight of your head to sight, the centre of mass shifts. This typically causes the hips and legs to drop.
When the hips drop, two things happen. First, your frontal surface area increases. You are no longer presenting a streamlined profile to the water; you are presenting a diagonal wall. Second, the angle of attack changes, significantly raising pressure drag. Research into swimming economy suggests that the cost of swimming is strongly correlated with buoyancy (“hydrostatic lift”) and the ability to maintain a horizontal profile.
If you lift your head high enough to clear your chin, you are essentially hitting the brakes. The momentum you generated with your previous stroke is diverted from forward propulsion to vertical lift to keep your head above the water. This is the "ploughing" effect. To compensate for this loss of speed, many athletes instinctively kick harder, which spikes the heart rate and burns glycogen that you will desperately need on the run.
The Solution: "Crocodile Eyes"
To mitigate this, we use the "crocodile eyes" technique. The objective is simple: minimise the vertical displacement of the head to preserve the "bow wave" created by the head's movement through the water.
To execute "Crocodile Eyes," time your sighting action to occur immediately before you turn your head to breathe . As your lead arm extends, lift your head just high enough for your goggles to clear the water surface, ensuring your nose and mouth remain submerged . This minimal vertical lift preserves the bow wave created by your head, allowing you to seamlessly turn to the side and inhale into that air pocket without breaking your rhythm . Crucially, you must maintain your stroke rate and kick while sighting; do not pause your lead arm to look, as this will cause your hips to drop and destroy your horizontal profile.
By keeping the lift minimal, the hips stay high, and the drag penalty is significantly reduced. While it requires practice to spot landmarks quickly with such a low profile, it is the only way to facilitate the subsequent breath without requiring a massive compensatory kick or a collapse of the stroke rhythm.
Decision Rules for Sighting Frequency
The frequency with which you sight should be governed by the complexity of your path and the environmental conditions. In a flat lake with high visibility, sighting every eight to ten strokes might be sufficient to hold a straight line.
However, conditions change. In the presence of cross-currents, wind-driven chop, or low sun glare, the cost of not sighting is higher than the cost of drag. If you drift off course, you are swimming extra distance.
If the water is calm and you have a clear landmark, sight less to preserve your rhythm. If you are being buffeted by waves or are unsure of your line, sight every four to six strokes. The time lost to a slightly higher cost of movement during frequent sighting is always less than the time lost to swimming an extra 200 metres because you failed to notice a current pushing you wide.
For more information about creating a training week that works for you, read The Time-Crunched Triathlete
Navigation Excellence: Rectification Over Symmetry
Navigation errors are the most significant "hidden" time-drain in triathlon. It is not uncommon for an athlete to swim five to ten per cent more than the official course distance. This is often the result of inherent stroke asymmetry.
Research using nonlinear analysis has shown that human swimming forces possess high levels of complexity. We are not robots. We have a dominant side. You might pull slightly harder with your right arm, or have a lateral "fishtail" in your kick. When you remove the visual anchor of the black line, these minor variations manifest as a directional drift. You naturally swim in an arc.
The standard advice is to learn bilateral breathing to force symmetry. For many adult-onset swimmers, forcing bilateral breathing when they are fundamentally uncomfortable on their weak side is a mistake. It becomes a "circus" drill. It degrades their confidence and rhythm.
Instead of forcing symmetry that may never arrive, we accept the drift, and we correct it frequently.
This requires selecting the right visual anchors. A race buoy is a terrible landmark. It is small, it bobs in the waves, and it disappears when you are in the trough of a swell. You must identify a large, fixed landmark behind the buoy. A tree, a building, a mountain peak. These are stable. They are visible with "crocodile eyes."
Choosing the Line
The geometric line—the straight line between two buoys—is often the slowest path. It is the most crowded. It is where the "churn" happens.
The practical shortest line accounts for current, sun glare, and traffic. If a strong cross-current is present, aiming directly at the buoy will result in a "banana curve." You will be pushed wide and have to swim upstream to make the turn. The smart athlete aims upstream of the target, ferrying across the current to maintain a straight track over the ground.
Similarly, if the sun is blinding you, choosing a slightly wider line that allows you to sight off a shoreline or a distinct group of swimmers is faster than swimming blind on the "optimal" line.
Drafting: The Tactical Engine
Drafting is the most potent tactical tool available to the triathlete. It is free speed. By positioning yourself in the wake of another swimmer, you can significantly reduce your passive drag and metabolic expenditure.
Studies on drafting in front crawl swimming have demonstrated a reduction in passive drag of up to 21 per cent when swimming directly behind another athlete at a distance of zero to fifty centimetres. This reduction in resistive force translates directly to lower oxygen uptake, lower heart rate, and lower blood lactate concentrations.
Perhaps most importantly for the triathlete, drafting has been shown to improve subsequent cycling efficiency by nearly five per cent. You are not just saving time in the water; you are saving your legs for the bike.
The "Stroke Index," which is the product of velocity and stroke length, is consistently higher when drafting. This indicates that you can maintain a high speed with a lower stroke rate. You are effectively sparing your fast-twitch fibres for the later stages of the race.
Feet Versus Hips
There are two primary positions for drafting: directly behind the feet, or off the hip.
Swimming directly behind the feet offers the maximum hydrodynamic benefit: the mentioned 21 per cent reduction. However, it requires constant speed adjustments. If the leader slows down, you run into them. If they kick erratically, you get kicked in the face. It requires a high level of attentiveness.
Lateral drafting, or positioning your head at the leader's hip, offers a drag reduction of roughly six to seven per cent. While the benefit is lower, the position is often more stable. You are "riding the bow wave" generated by the leader. You have superior visibility for navigation. You are less likely to get kicked.
My decision rule for athletes is this: If you are in a steady pack on a long straight, stay on the feet. If the water is choppy or you are approaching a turn, move to the hip. This allows you to "claim your space" and ensures you are not boxed in when the group compresses at the buoy.
When to Abandon the Draft
Drafting is only a benefit if the leader is swimming a straight line and maintaining a sustainable pace. You cannot afford to follow a "zig-zagger."
You should stay with the draft if the effort feels "Moderate" but the pace is "Medium." This means you are moving faster than your solo pace, but the physiological toll is manageable.
You should abandon the draft if the leader is frequently stopping to sight, changing direction erratically, or if the pace is forcing you into a "Mad" effort that you cannot sustain for the full distance. Do not let your ego drag you into the red zone.
Buoy Turns and Kinetic Energy
Buoy turns are frequently where the "form under fatigue" of the age-grouper collapses. The sudden change in direction, coupled with the "pileup" of swimmers, often leads to a complete loss of momentum.
There are two ways to navigate a turn: the Tight Line and the Wide Arc.
The Tight Line minimises distance. You hug the buoy. However, this line involves the highest risk of contact. You will get squished. You may have to stop swimming and tread water while the pack navigates the bottleneck. Accelerating from a dead stop in water is incredibly energy-expensive. It causes a spike in heart rate that takes time to recover from.
The Wide Arc adds five to ten metres of distance. You stay on the outside of the pack. But you preserve your momentum. You maintain your rhythm. For the time-crunched athlete who may lack the explosive power to restart from a dead stop, the wide arc is almost always the faster total strategy. It avoids the freeway pileup.
For more about form under fatigue, read Form Under Fatigue: How To Keep Moving Well.
Execution of the Turn
As you approach the buoy, slightly increase your sighting frequency to identify the "hole" in the traffic. Sight past the buoy, not at it. Shape a smooth arc.
Never stop to look around. Never switch to breaststroke. Use a "corkscrew" turn or a high-cadence, shallow pull to maintain speed through the corner. Immediately upon exiting the turn, perform ten to fifteen "Mad" effort strokes to clear the crowd and re-establish your "Medium" or “Moderate” rhythm. This injection of speed is vital to ensure you do not get dragged back into the chaos. It is a worthwhile investment.
The Start: Managing Panic and Physiology
The start of a triathlon is a non-linear event. The combination of adrenaline, the cold shock response, and the physical intensity of the sprint to the first buoy can lead to hyperventilation and panic.
Immersion in cold water triggers an involuntary gasp reflex and a rapid increase in heart rate. If you attempt to sprint—a "Mad" effort—before your breathing has stabilised, you risk "blowing up" within the first 200 metres. In severe cases, this can trigger Swimming-Induced Pulmonary Oedema (SIPE), a condition where high pulmonary pressure causes fluid to leak into the lungs.
The solution is "Controlled Aggression." You must start with a strong effort to find feet, but your focus must be entirely on the exhale. By forcibly blowing air out underwater, you prevent the buildup of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide buildup, not a lack of oxygen, is the primary driver of the "air hunger" and panic sensation.
Start Positioning
If you are a strong, confident swimmer and the first buoy is less than 200 metres away, position yourself front and centre. Claim the draft early and avoid the pinch point.
If you are a nervous starter or a mid-pack swimmer, position yourself on the extreme outside or wait five seconds after the gun. The extra distance you swim by starting wide is irrelevant compared to the time you would lose having a panic attack in the crush.
For the newer triathlete whose breathing falls apart, I use the "Count to 30" mantra. Count thirty strokes. Focus only on the count. Then reset. This cognitive anchor breaks the overwhelming distance into manageable segments and moves your focus from the "threat" of the open water to the "task" of the stroke.
Pool Sets
At Sense Endurance Coaching, I reject the idea that open water skills require dedicated, separate sessions that take you away from your physiological training. We do not have time for that. There is opportunity to develop skills along with your regular sessions.
Sighting Integration
Purpose: To automate the sighting action within a threshold or endurance set.
How to do it: During a main set of 100-metre or 200-metre repeats, sight every six strokes for the last 50 metres of each repetition. Use a water bottle or a bright kickboard placed on the pool deck at the end of the lane as your "buoy."
Focus: Do not lift the whole head. Do not pause the lead arm. Keep the rhythm continuous. "Eyes up, head down."
Progression: Increase the pace of the repetitions from "Medium" to "Mad" while strictly maintaining the crocodile eyes technique. Sighting is easy when you are swimming slowly; the skill is maintaining it at threshold.
"Stress Start" Simulator
Purpose: To train the body to recover from a high-intensity surge while continuing to move at race pace.
How to do it: Perform four to six rounds of: 50 metres "Mad" effort followed immediately by 150 metres "Moderate" effort. Take 20 seconds of rest between rounds.
Focus: The transition from the 50-metre sprint to the 150-metre steady swim must be seamless. No stopping at the wall. You must learn to control your breathing and lower your heart rate while you are still swimming.
The Drafting Lane
Purpose: To get comfortable with close contact and swimming in "bubbles." This requires a group or a training partner.
How to do it: In a single lane with three or four swimmers, swim 400 metres continuously. The lead swimmer changes every 50 or 100 metres. Drafters must stay within 30 centimetres of the leader's toes.
Focus: Do not leave a gap. If you leave a metre gap, you lose the drag benefit. Do not swim on top of the leader.
Progression: The lead swimmer adds random ten-metre surges to test the drafters' ability to react and close the gap instantly.
Athlete Scenarios: Making It Real
To help you visualise how this applies to your specific situation, let us look at three common athlete profiles I see at Sense Endurance Coaching.
Scenario A: The Nervous Mid-Pack "Zigzagger"
This athlete is fit. They can hold a solid pace in the pool. But in a 1,500-metre race, they swim 1,750 metres. They exit the water frustrated, having "leaked" three to four minutes.
Priority (Weeks 1–4): Sighting mechanics and landmark identification. They must stop "looking" around and start navigating.
Training: Sighting Integration in every single swim session. They must learn to sight without dropping their hips.
Race Morning Cue: "Sight the tree behind the buoy. Check every six strokes."
Scenario B: The Strong Pool Swimmer Who Gets "Boxed In"
This athlete swims sub-25 minutes for 1,500 metres in the pool but panics when touched. They lose their rhythm in the pack and end up swimming alone, losing all drafting benefits.
Priority (Weeks 1–4): Close-contact drafting and wide-arc buoy turns.
Training: The Drafting Lane. They need to learn that "bubbles" are not a threat; they are a sign of a good draft.
Race Morning Cue: "Take the wide arc for rhythm. Own your space."
Scenario C: The Newer Triathlete with "Start Anxiety"
This athlete can physically swim the distance, but they are terrified of the mass start. They fear the "washing machine."
Priority (Weeks 1–4): Breathing control and the "Stress Start" simulator.
Training: They need to build confidence in their ability to "settle" their heart rate after a high-intensity moment.
Race Morning Cue: "Count to 30. Blow the bubbles out."
Internal Alignment and The "Why"
This framework is not just about swimming. It is about the overall approach to triathlon performance. I reject the "circus" of drills because they do not improve race execution. My athletes prioritise functional strength and simplified effort language—Easy, Moderate, Medium, Mad—because looking at a watch in the middle of a lake to check if you are in "Zone 3 or 4" is impractical and dangerous. You need to be able to feel it.
I focus on these skills because the energy you save in the water is energy you can spend on the bike and run. The feeling "fresh" legs off the bike is often determined by how efficiently you navigated the swim.
Final Coaching Decision Rules
ALWAYS sight before you breathe. The eyes lead the head, the head leads the body. If you breathe then sight, you disrupt your rotation and sink your hips.
ALWAYS prioritise the draft. That 20 per cent drag reduction is free speed. You cannot get that kind of return from buying a more expensive wetsuit or doing more pull-ups.
ALWAYS accelerate out of a buoy turn. The first ten strokes after the turn determine if you keep your position in the pack or if you get dropped.
NEVER lift your whole head to sight. Unless you are in survival mode in massive waves, keep your chin in the water.
NEVER follow a zig-zagger. If the feet ahead of you are moving laterally, move to their hip and take over the lead. Do not follow someone off course.
NEVER stop to "see" where you are. If you are disoriented, use a few strokes of breaststroke without stopping your forward momentum. Momentum is everything.
The goal of this framework is to move you from a place of "surviving the swim" to "executing the swim." By treating skills as an integral part of the workout rather than an afterthought, you can bridge the gap between your pool performance and your race-day potential. You will arrive at T1 ready to race, not just to recover.
Next Steps
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