Any open water practice without wetsuit?

Any of the races out at Blue Lake (Blue Lake Tri, Midsummer Tri) you could definitely do without a wet suit - i've seen people in every race without - the blue lake season opener would be pretty chilly though unless it's a warm spring. Same probably goes for Hagg Lake races. Do you have an aversion to wet suits - or just don't own one? You can rent locally.

Thanks for the replies, Bob and Kirih.

Hagg is certainly very accessible.

Kirih, I suppose it's a bit of both. I don't own a suit, and I'm a bit intimidated by the prospect... I'm not yet a very strong swimmer anyway, and I can't imagine that a wetsuit would do anything but further impair my ability to perform. If I don't practice in a suit and only rent one on race day, will I encounter a substantially different swimming experience?

Edited by SethsLastFirstTri 2010-09-27 4:42 PM

I would definitely give the wetsuit some serious consideration as it will improve your flotation - and actually make it ever so easier to swim. I see a 5-10 sec / 100 yd benefit with suit than without. I believe Athletes Lounge (in NW) rents by the week, so you can give your suit a couple practice swims before racing, or just rent one for an OWS practice swim. Whatever you do, do not swim your first wetsuit swim on race day! Check out some of the other forum postings on wetsuits if you need more encouragement. You'll find the advice to pretty much always be = if the race is wetsuit legal wear one!

Ditto what the other two said, but speaking from experience (I live near Hagg Lake), it is definitely much colder than Blue Lake.  I would say that you'd need a wetsuit at Hagg until maybe early July and then it warms up quickly.  Blue Lake was quite warm (for me)even in early June, so I would bet you could swim most of the season without a suit there (though if Hagg is close to you, Blue Lake is probably not!).

Awesome info - thank you, Kirih.

Now, you've got me started looking for used suits to buy

I'll let you know how my first OWS goes.

Ah, very good to know, GLC, thank you. I'd like to get up to Blue Lake eventually anyway, so it might be worth the distance before winter settles in.

I totally agree - puke warm.  I almost went without a wetsuit but since mine is sleeveless and I was only doing the sprint, I wore it.   It was much more comfortable for the Blue Lake tri in June.

I don't know how these compare to Blue Lake and Hagg Lake, but a couple of small lakes/ponds with swimming areas are at Salmon Creek Park in north Vancouver (Klineline Pond)  and a little further north is Horseshoe Lake at Woodland, WA.  I swam at both of these this summer and certainly did not need a wetsuit.  I swam at Salmon Creek Park about a week ago and it was still totally comfortable.

I'd love to be able to try my first OWS with a buddy, but at this point, I'm still trying to build my swimming capacity in general. My endurance is awful, and I'd be afraid of being more a burden than anything, even at your "very casual pace," I'm sure. I very much appreciate the offer, and hope it will still be open once I feel stronger.