I had looked into hiring a wetsuit for my triathlon, however for the number of sessions I was thinking of getting it for, it was almost as much as buying an entry-level one outright. So I’m now the proud owner of a Orca evo triathlon wetsuit 
I also recently bought a new pair of googles since the old ones were talking on water faster than the Titanic. With my new equipment in tow, we set off to the Whangamata to do a test triathlon (minus the cycle, since my bike is still on operating table).
The day I choose probably wasn’t the best for my first attempt at ocean swimming, the sea was rough and surf fairly big outside the surf club where my race swim will be (the transition area & race start/finish are at the nearby park). So we went around the corner to Island View Reserve, the surf here was smaller so I decided to give it a go. After getting into my wetsuit, I started to swim out past the waves. I’ve never owned a wetsuit before, but had read they were meant to feel tight on land but ok when in the water, however after few a minutes the suit still felt tight—too tight like it was squeezing the air out of me, at about the same time I realised there was very strong rip current (undertow).
At that point I started to panic a bit as I couldn’t swim fast enough to counter the undertow and get back to shore. I was travelling diagonally out to sea and left down the beach, most of the time not being able to touch the bottom. It was looking like I was going to get a free trip half way to Australia. Yet I didn’t give up, and with every wave I paddling a little further and then tried to get a footing to stop being pulled back out. Waves were breaking over my head and my new goggles which weren’t tight enough filled my eyes with salt water. I could feel exhaustion starting to set in. Some 400m down the beach I slowly got to the point where I could get a good grip on the bottom and struggled into shore. My sister who was watching couldn’t tell anything was up, because I was too out and she thought I was swimming that way.
Afterwards I sat on the beach catching my breath, wondering what the hell I doing with this Triathlon stuff and that I should quit. Though after while came to my senses, “I’ve come this far, how can I give up now”. Often at these times I think of some lyrics from a song by PUTS (my favourite artist):
“When catching the goal gets rough and says life sucks, remember the lining’s silver and that’s always good enough, so when catching your goal gets rough and you lose steam, remember to count your blessings my peoples, don’t be so mean.”
It turns out this side of the beach now has strong rip currents that I don’t remember being there when I swam there as a child. In future I’m only going to go out from outside the surf club, and only if it’s reasonably charm. Since if on race day it was like Saturday I’m pretty sure the swim portion would be cancelled (the race chances to a run-bike-run in that case). At this point though I was left wondering if my wetsuit was too small. I had to have it ordered in, as they didn’t have any in my size, but the sizes aren’t linear. The size I tried on in the shop was too small, but the next sizes up were either Medium Tall or a Large (size 8, shorter and broader), so I had to take a guess and went with the MT.
After talking to the people at the Orca shop in Auckland it turns out that new wetsuits need to be worn a couple of times before they stretch to your body shape, and I probably did have the right size. Since then I’ve spent a bit of time in it in the pool at my mum’s place, and can in fact both swim and breath properly while wearing it. It does feel very different swimming in it, so in retrospect in addition to the rough sea, adding all the new variables in to the mix on Saturday was a bad idea. I’m planning on wearing the suit in the pool several times this week and to reattempt the ocean swim this Saturday once again.
My bike has also been repaired, and I’m going to collect it from the shop right now! Ciao, Ciao!!