Race Directors & Coaches

Are you an open water race director?

If you are charged with the responsibility of keeping a large number of people safe in an open water swim event, or if you have found yourself hoping that nothing bad happens on your watch and wondering what you can do proactively to lower risks, we think the Swim Buddy can help.

In the last 15 years, we have supervised thousands of swimmers in both open water coaching programs and in dozens of races, including Canada’s largest and longest running open water swim event (the Across the Lake Swim in Kelowna, BC), so we had this experience. And it is why we have become committed to promoting the Swim Buddy as a go-to safety device for open water swimmers.

Consider what is happening during a typical open water swim race. It is obviously difficult to monitor all of your swimmers, given that they may well be spread out over a broad expanse, and partly hidden behind swells or chop as an event progresses.  And since swimmers in wetsuits show only their black arms while otherwise being 80% submerged at the best of times, it becomes easy to acknowledge that event monitoring leaves much to be desired.  And even if you saw someone in distress from a distance, how would you get to them quickly to help them?

Enter the Swim Buddy.  If everyone of your swimmers has a brightly visible swim buddy in tow during an event, your ability to monitor every one of your participants is already dramatically improved.  And you can be assured that, if one of your racers has an anxiety spell, has swallowed or choked on some water, needs to rest an injury for a moment, or just needs to get their bearings before getting restarted, you may not need to get to them or help them, since their Swim Buddy can serve as a resting platform.  And if they are unable to continue for whatever reason, they can be easily hang on to their Swim Buddy and wave for some help while you get a rescue underway.  In some of our events, we have numbered the Swim Buddy Racers that participants are using, so that we can also quickly identify our swimmers at a glance as well, should that be needed.  And in some other events, different colors of Swim Buddies can effectively demarcate either different waves or different distances that swimmers are committed to.

Offering the use of Swim Buddies has other spinoffs as well. Advertising that your swim will use Swim Buddies may enhance your registration of some otherwise anxious open water swimmers who need the reassurance of using a Swim Buddy. By introducing the Swim Buddy to your participants, you may well encourage Swim Buddy sales as well, which can also add to the profits of a race should you have an event store that sells these products. Your local open water swim community can grow faster knowing that this safety product can be used to allay anxiety that some swimmers have getting into open water.  And that can only lead to more growth in your event.

If you see the value of making Swim Buddy use as an essential or mandatory part of your swim, we have several options for you.  Most simply, we can provide you event pricing if you wish to buy 25 or more Swim Buddies.  Or we rent whatever number of Swim Buddies you wish for your event at $5 per head.  Or we can develop a more comprehensive partnership with you and your event, which may include an even better rate for purchase in exchange for title sponsorship.  Or we can supply you marker buoys for your event, in almost any color. Whatever works for you, we would be delighted to work with you to grow your event.  Contact us with lots of time to spare, and we would be happy to negotiate a win-win proposition.

Are you an open water swim coach?

Although you may not ever have as many swimmers to keep an eye on as a Race Director has, you may well have the safety of your swimmers on your mind as well, since many of them may not be forthcoming about how anxious they are when in deep, open water.  If you see the value of having your participants having a Swim Buddy attached to them while you are giving a lesson in open water, that they can use to rest on while you are providing some group instruction, we can provide you several options for purchase or rental, and we would be happy to partner with you if you wish to sell these as part of your company model.  Contact us well ahead of your coaching season, and we will be happy to negotiate an arrangement that works for you and your company.