Swim straight in open water swimming

Learning to swim straight is a crucial aspect of open water swimming. It could shave minutes from your swim splits and without even putting on a greater effort. It can be really frustrating to find out that you spend all your time developing your swimming fitness and technique but this effort didn't pay off because you couldn't swim straight. Just consider that if you swim only 350m more during your open water race (because you couldn't swim straight) you'll end up swimming for about seven more minutes, which can make a huge difference in your performance. 

Swimming straight is all about being aligned in the water so that your hands enter and extend straight forward, with your body remaining tall and long. Here are some tips to help you swim straight in open water swimming.

1. Try to learn to breathe in a bilateral (alternate) pattern. This would go a long way towards making you swim straight. If you are comfortable with this try to breathe every three strokes and you will be much more in line with where you want to go. If you can't get enough oxygen with this pattern try to breathe every 2-2-3 strokes. When you feel that you have improved try the 3-3-2 pattern. Practice your breathing pattern and find out what works for you but keep in mind that bilateral breathing will help you swim straight.

2. Practice sighting less often. Sighting will disrupt your stroke rhythm and balance. Start in a pool, and then in the open water before race day. To avoid constant sighting, you can use a higher head position (for those who have good body position in the water), it'll give you greater awareness and co-ordination of your arms in front of your head.

3. Keep your strokes long and extend that arm out in front of each stroke and drive it forward. 

4. Practice various drills that focus on this swimming skill, like the one arm drill (make sure that you're not crossing in with your hand) and kicking on your side (it'll help you become aware of the position of the leading hand).

5. Practice open water swimming before your race. Being used to the open water environment will get you more comfortable, and you intuitively pick up on swimming straight out there.

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