Once you’re swimming, the key is to stay relaxed and keep pointed in the right direction.

If you’re headed to a buoy, decide which side it should be on when you get there and swim around it.  If you want the buoy on your left, then keep it lined up with your left shoulder as you sight.  If you swim straight at the buoy, you can get into trouble and run into it rather than be in a good position to swim around it.  

And if you come at the buoy from inside the course, you’ll be forced to make a sharp turn and will waste time.

As you head to the buoy, sight as often as necessary to keep a straight line.  In calm water, you might be able to take 10 or 20 or more strokes without sighting.

Remember the sighting technique you practiced in the pool.  Sight forward and then breathe to the side immediately after you sight.

Lift your head just slightly to sight the buoy, then swing quickly to the side to breathe.

When you lift your head to sight, always have an idea of where you’re going to look for the buoy.  

If you need to correct your direction to the buoy, don’t over-correct.  Make a slight change in your angle and then sight again in a couple of strokes.  

If you think you’re really off course, there’s nothing wrong with treading water or doing a few strokes of breaststroke until you find the buoy.

On a windy day with choppy water and waves, you need to make some changes.
You may need to sight on every stroke in order to swim the shortest distance.

In choppy water or big waves, try to sight when you’re on top of a wave to get the best view.


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Practicing Sighting in Open Water