Drafting of the legal kind

By Alexander VanderLinden, Recharge With Milk Ambassador Team member.

With the end of the season races here we are all looking to get the most out of them. One way to save some time or energy is drafting. While drafting is viewed as a deadly sin during the bike, during the swim it is completely legal. The two main forms of drafting during the swim are drafting on the feet or on the hip of the swimmer in front of you. There are some conflicting views in the swimming world about which one is more effective so I would go with what you are most comfortable.

Catching the draft

The first and most important part of drafting is that you need to catch the draft. You have two options at the start of the swim, you can go out hard to catch faster feet or go out comfortable. I think a lot of this depends on what you are racing for. If you are racing for the overall win or age group win you probably want to try and get on the draft of some faster swimmers. If you aren’t aiming for the win, I would suggest not “burning a match” early on and start out at a comfortable pace. We all know the first 200m of a swim can be a bit of chaos so I don’t worry about trying to find a draft here. Just focused on trying to maintain a comfortable stroke and composure in all the splashing. Once things calm down a bit I will look for the person for me to draft. This is where having some good goggles that don’t leak or fog will pay off. When things start to calm down I will sight a couple strokes in a row this will allow me to make sure I’m on course then to find someone within a couple of meters to draft.  This is where not going out like a maniac can pay off, if someone is only a couple of meters ahead I will put in my surge here. This is also where you will decide to go for a hip or feet. If you are surging up to someone you will probably try to get on someone’s feet, and if the person you want to draft is more to your side you might look to get on their hip.

Drafting the hip

When drafting the hip you are going to position yourself between the lead swimmers belly button and knees. Some of the advantages to drafting on the hip are that the water you are catching is much cleaner because you are on the hip there isn’t as much turbulence coming off the head and arms compared to the feet. This allows you to feel like you are anchoring into the water more efficiently just like in a pool. It is easier to site when you are on someone’s hip because you can still see ahead. If you don’t trust the person you are drafting will go the right way this will allow you to stay on course *side note it is more efficient to draft someone going slightly off course then swimming alone perfectly straight, this will be another game time decision you have to make. The hip allows you to ride their bow wave and will pull you along slightly. Lastly, if you do start to fall off pace you can slide onto their feet and get a 2nd attempt at keeping in the draft. The downside to drafting on the hip is that if you only breathe to one side you will want to make sure that you are breathing towards them. If you are breathing away from them you are more likely to bump them or not realize they are pulling away. The other is that if you get to close you are likely to get hit by their arms so keep an eye on the flailing arms especially around the buoys.

Drafting the feet

Drafting the feet is when you stay about twelve inches off the feet of the person swimming in front of you. Drafting in this position is the most hydrodynamic position so it can be the most efficient, but it is a bit more sensitive to position. If you get to close to the feet, and the leader is a heavy kicker, the water here will be very turbulent, and it will tough to catch the water.  Also, if you get to far behind the benefit of the draft start to dwindle. One thing to watch in both positions is contact with the lead swimmer. If you are constantly hitting their feet or bumping their arms you are disrupting their rhythm, and it will slow you both down. I know if someone is continually bumping me I will ease off and let them take the lead even backstroking a couple strokes if I have to.

You can find out more about Alex at his blog.