Open Water Swimming Technique: Sighting Techniques and Tips

If you are starting your journey into open water swimming, there are several challenges to overcome that you do not experience when swimming in a heated indoor pool. Once you learn how to deal with this outdoor environment, most people prefer it to lap swimming in a chlorinated pool.

Understanding the Challenges of Open Water Swimming

Some of these challenges include acclimatising to colder water, swimming in a wetsuit, and navigating choppy water when it is windy. You may also find yourself swimming directly into the sun, which can be disorienting. Unlike in a pool, you cannot stand up and rest; instead, you must tread water or swim further. Visibility is another issue; you cannot see under the water, making it more difficult to swim in a straight line without lane ropes or the black line at the bottom of swimming pools.

There are tricks and tips to overcoming these challenges. A key open water swimming skill to learn, especially if you swim front crawl, is efficient "sighting."

Certainly in the UK, you generally cannot see much under the water, like in a pool. This disrupts your navigation and makes most people swim anything but in a straight line. You end up zig-zagging and swimming further than you intend to. This is particularly important if you are planning on swimming in an open water event or triathlon, where you want to swim directly towards the buoys on the course and only swim the 1500m course, not further!

What Does Sighting in Open Water Involve?

Sighting involves adding a new movement to your stroke by lifting your eyes above the water briefly. This allows you to see where you are going and helps keep your body swimming in the right direction, preferably in a straight line!

Before an open water swim in the sea or a lake, you can often pre-determine objects on your swim course to sight on. While buoys or anchored boats can be useful sighting targets, they can move. In choppy or sunny conditions, they become more difficult to see. Therefore, it is best to seek out static objects in the distance. These may typically include trees on the other side of the lake or buildings along the coast. These will be there for your entire swim to help you navigate. Each time you lift your eyes, look at that tree or building in the distance. If you are swimming a circular course, your sighting objects will change as you change direction.

This is a skill that needs practice. The great thing is you can practice it in a swimming pool first and then build this into your routine pool-based swim sessions throughout the year, as well as practicing it in open water.

Common Mistakes in Sighting

New open water swimmers, and even some seasoned ones, often lift their heads too high to sight and for too long. Some even try to grab a breath at the same time. However, this creates an imbalance in the body, causing a significant posterior tilt in the rib cage. This leads to the legs sinking or creates a lot of pressure in the lower back, especially if wearing a high buoyancy wetsuit.

You only need to lift your eyes above the water, keeping your nose and mouth submerged. This minimises disruption to your connected, horizontal swimming position. The term "Crocodile Eyes" is often used to help swimmers remember the correct head movement. We want to keep breathing separate from this head lift and only breathe to the side, rather than when looking ahead.

Sighting Timing: Finding the Right Moment

Getting the timing of your sighting right is a key part of the skill, along with "Crocodile Eyes" and fitting in breathing. I tend to teach it by having the swimmer lift their eyes to sight as they rotate in streamline and slide their lead arm forwards under the water. Some people prefer to synchronise the head lift with the catch. Try both synchronisation combinations and see which feels easier for you.

Different Sighting Techniques

There are various approaches to teaching sighting, and slightly different types of sighting depending on the conditions and the swimmer.

Sighting with Poor Visibility

If a quick glance with "Crocodile Eyes" doesn't work well due to poor visibility from fog, sun in your eyes, or choppy waves, you can lift your eyes and take a few strokes while keeping your head lifted. This gives you more time to see. This technique is often referred to as the "Water Polo stroke." While this may disrupt your stroke efficiency and speed, it may be necessary in poor conditions.

Sighting in Breaststroke

Another option, if sighting with "Crocodile Eyes" is tricky, is to switch to heads-up breaststroke for a few strokes to get your bearings, then return to front crawl.

Integrating Breathing with Sighting

Most elite swimmers combine the head lift to sight with an immediate head turn to breathe as they lower their head back into the water. This takes more skill to keep the head low and the timing right for this integrated manoeuvre. However, it is quicker when racing in open water. I tend to advise learning to sight and breathe separately first. Once that becomes automatic, you can learn to combine these moves as part of race skills training.

Each swimmer will find their own comfortable balance of when to sight and when to breathe. This balance is likely to change with different open water conditions. Therefore, lots of practice is the key to having a more enjoyable open water swimming experience and more efficient race skills.

Conclusion

Mastering the art of sighting in open water swimming is crucial for navigating effectively and efficiently. By understanding the challenges, practicing the techniques, and avoiding common mistakes, you can enhance your open water swimming experience. Remember, practice makes perfect, and the more you swim, the more confident you will become in this beautiful, natural environment.

Whether you're preparing for a triathlon or simply enjoying the freedom of open water, honing your sighting skills will help you swim smarter and more effectively. Embrace the journey and enjoy every stroke!