By Rafa Cabanillas, swimming coach
Swimming in a pool and in open water have many similarities, but also many differences. The biggest of them is that in the sea we swim in the immensity of nature, so it is vitally important to know how to orient yourself correctly and effectively.
The sense that we will use to orient ourselves is sight, so it will be essential to have good glasses, and take maximum care of them to prevent them from scratching and deteriorating (applying anti-fog spray, not touching them with Vaseline, keeping them in a case…).
When swimming in open water we will need to be very focused, since any mistake can make us deviate a lot from our line. This can add a few unwanted extra meters to our journey, especially if we are swimming a long distance or with a strong current against it.
How to orient ourselves
We can guide ourselves in various ways. For example, when we have our head in the water we will use the seabed as a reference if we are coasting, or we will trust a swimming partner if we are close to them. We can also control the distance we are from the coast when we breathe laterally. But above all we must orient ourselves through frontal visualizations.
When we talk about frontal visualization, we mean raising your head in front, trying to keep it as minimal as possible and in coordination with your swim. It is important do not breathe when we perform this technical gesture (breathing should always be lateral), and seek to set reference points that help guide us in the water every time we look up frontally.
Three types of front view
We will distinguish three forms of frontal visualization, which we will carry out every four or ten strokes depending on the state of the sea and the possibility of fixing visual points.
In the first, we will raise our heads as little as possible and only let our eyes come out of the water. We will coordinate it with our swim at the moment of maximum sliding of the stroke.
In the second, we will stick our heads out a little more and for a longer time (face out of the water). Either because there are waves or because we have obstacles ahead.
We will take advantage of the support with one arm to raise the body upwards and the slip of the opponent to keep the head out.
And if with neither of the two previous options we manage to visualize a point of reference… We will activate the emergency mode, taking the head out of the water frontally until we can locate a reference. In this case we will have to increase the frequency of the stroke, since our center of gravity will lower and we will get more tired, so it is advisable to do it as little as possible.