How To Swim Fast Around Buoys | Open Water Swimming Tips For Triathletes

A triathlon swim can be very hectic, especially when swimming around sighting buoys. Here is GTN's advice on how to master cornering swim buoys in the open water!

Swimming around buoys can feel quite alien and can be very hectic on race day. Mark and Heather show you how to swim around a buoy and with practise you can master this skill with confidence.

Begin with, break this skill down into 5 stages:
- Sight on approach - make sure you are sighting and swim on the most direct route to the buoy, aiming for the side of it.
- Take the fastest line - approach the buoy as close as possible without catching your arms and without cutting up other swimmers as a collision can slow you down significantly.
- Enter the turn - maintain or increase your arm rate to get past the buoy quickly and get back into your rhythm. Keep your head down during the turn to maintain your speed.
- Maintain leg kick - keep kicking to avoid your feet being swum over and pushed down as it is difficult to get back up to speed.
- Sight on exit - as soon as you exit the turn, begin sighting for the next buoy swim to maintain on course.

Try out these tips and let us know how you get on in the comments below 👇

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[gtn]

Do you ever practise open water skills in the pool? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[DelTorres]

With this tips, I will make it on the GCN xtreme cornering section!

[nicholaspond]

Kudos on maintaining high quality audio on open water.

[sharkdom]

What about the fancy turn you can do by rolling on your back for one stroke, then back onto your front, ending up facing 90 degrees to where you started - I love doing that!

[diogoalmeida]

Sorry GTN, if you're an Elite Swimmer with 40 triathletes on the start AND a less than 90º turn, this will work.
But form most races (+100 / +500 / +1000...), with the chaos on the buoys (depending on the distance from the start, as the first one, if too close to the start, usually has all the swimmers cramming it) this way of doing the turn is a good way to get cornered and have all other swimmers swim over you, eventually panicking and not really enjoying yourself that much.
On Most of the races, the main of the pack reaches thee buoy with 20+ swimmers... you get to do a wide corner corner almost 15m away form the buoy, so you really don't "corner" if you're on the middle or the outside.
If you're on the inside of the bouy, the only way to get out is actually to do the "one backstroke" turn and head for the 90º.
On this (backtroke) turn, it's a good idea to sight the next buoy BEFORE the corner (and this kids, is one of the reasons why you need to practice breathing for both sides), then, when you've turned you already know you're swimming in the right direction and don't waste 4 or 5 strokes looking for the next heading (more if it's choppy)... all other swimmers on the outside will do 60 or 70º (yup, being mammals our spines don't turn sideways as if we were fish, so it's kind of hard to do a perfect 90º to the side), and slow down to sight the next buoy whilst you're already going for it.
This also (really) helps if you're kind of alone or with a couple of other swimmers.

[martyjuggles]

At Ironman Wales last year, there were a number of people who got 'stuck' against the buoys (which are massive) I gave a wider berth, swimming a bit further but at least not getting pushed against/ under the buoy

[PartTimeTriathlete]

First 70.3 this weekend! Perfect time for some tips, thanks guys and girls

[kajet]

"If you have other swimmers around you, avoid cutting them off or swimming into them."
LOL, yeah, like, everybody avoids cutting others off or swimming into others ;)

[david]

I always sight the buoy after the one I'm approaching, before my turn.
I take a slightly wider line into the turn but it's much quicker on the exit. Because you already have a gauge on how much to turn.

[miwmiw]

Hi, Any tips on how to start on a very crowded swim leg? I had very my first open water triathlon last sept.02 and I got a very nasty cut on my gums and lip after getting kicked a couple of times in the water which made the bike/run stages a bit hard for me due to the bleeding. Good thing I still managed to finish the race :)

[sharkdom]

Also I've started being followed by the local seals any time I go open water training - any tips for surviving seal attacks?

[robo]

Please do a video on your advice on how to deal with jellyfish stings and all other itchy creatures on open water swimming.

[claytonthomasrocks]

Please do a video on how to stop cramping during a race

[jameshallfishing]

How to carry water with you in your wetsuit while training in the ocean.. I could sure use a drink after 2 miles but don't wanna quit swimming. I need to be one up on my coach.. any tips?

[vincedu]

When I approach the buoy, i'm already surrounded by 500 swimmers. This is my major problem.

[matthewbriggs]

How do you train for an ironman when working full time?

[jarnedeprins]

Why do you guys always say to keep your head underwater so your legs don't drop? When I was still a competition swimmer, we always learned to have a high kick rate, so we would come up from the water a bit with our head and chest, to create less drag(so like a speedboat actiully)