BEACH TO BATTLESHIP (B2B) FULL IRONMAN

Swim in the center or left side of the channel.  It's faster.

Do a practice swim from the condo complex "Blockade Runner" to the marina where you will exit the water.  The first half of the swim is straight, and it is at this point you turn left and need to think about sighting.  It helped a ton to know where I was heading and swim the shortest path.

Some great points have been mentioned all ready.  If you do a practice swim don't forget to pay attention to the tide date for Masonboro Inlet, if you swim at the wrong time you'll be fighting the current and make it an arse kicker of a swim.  The tides listed below are what I found online for Nov 12 and 13. 

Day        High      Tide  Height   Sunrise    Moon  Time      % Moon
           /Low      Time    Feet    Sunset                    Visible

F   12      Low   5:39 AM     0.8   6:41 AM    Rise 12:11 PM      33
    12     High  12:12 PM     4.1   5:09 PM     Set 11:12 PM
   
Sa  13     High  12:48 AM     3.2   6:42 AM    Rise 12:42 PM      42
    13      Low   6:42 AM     0.9   5:09 PM
    13     High   1:08 PM     3.8

The only thing you need to remember about the swim is from the beach start keep the first buoy on your right, at the end of the long straight away near the Blockade Runner, there will be a boat with one of those inflatable squiggly guys, keep that on your left.  No other bouys come into play.  Some folks most have missed that in the race meeting because I saw quite a few folks wasting time swimming around a bouy that was way out of the way wasting valuable time and energy.

If you breath to the right the sun will be directly in your eyes all the way down the long straight away so have some shaded goggles. 

Take a large black Sharpie to mark your SN and T2 bags with your number in case the stickers fall off the bag.

Have fun, wish I could go back but have been banned from IM's til 2012.

Listen to Rottie, Skippy, and Brown dog- I was with them the morning before the race and did the practice swim, which started from across the street from the Blockade Runner which I happened to be staying at.  The practice swim provided a lot of confidence in what was to come on that cold race morning. 
That first swim buoy gets congested, so get out fast from the start, once you turn after the first buoy get into a rythm and stay there.  As far as the bike it is pretty flat and boring- even coming from a flatlander like myself. 
For the run, focus on some hills- the bridges really killed me!  Not so much the fact that they are hills, but simply up and down on asphalt and concrete- I wasn't prepared.
I did my first HIM in April of 09, another HIM in June of 00, then sprints and an oly through IM training from July- November.
It's a great race, and I would love to go back someday!