The funniest question I ever heard at a triathlon pre-race meeting was "how deep is the water?" Everyone chuckled because obviously the time to worry about not being able to stand in open water is NOT 2 minutes before the swim start! It was very funny to me, of course, because I spent most of my early twenties surfing the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. I surfed a couple of El Nino sized waves and fought some pretty tough conditions on many occassions just to make it out to the surf line-up beyound the break, so I’ve always been a bit cocky about open water swims. It wasn’t until I was on my first training swim in the Gulf of Mexico at Ironman Florida, however that I finally understood the feelings of the person who asked that "silly" question we all laughed about.
During my first training swim prior to the race, I swam out to the first buoy, about a half mile and as is my tradition on long triathlon swims, I punched the buoy as I swam around it. Just as I was about to put my face back in the water and charge back in to the beach, I caught a faint glimpse of the shore… a faint glimpse. Holy cow! It was so far away, I was kind of scared. I lost my breath and instinctively looked for the Gulf’s sandy bottom beneath the surface. I couldn’t see it! Just then another swimmer rounded the buoy and without thinking of the silliness of the question, I asked him this:
How Deep is this Water?
He just laughed and said only this: SHARK DEEP.
I quickly put my head down and swam for shore. Whenever I listen to pre-race instructions at triathlons now, I always ask myself, albeit it silently…
How Deep is this Water?
