Some more thoughts:
Logistics are always a problem at races. This one was no exception. Getting there in the morning was not well thought out. The start was about 6 miles away, on rolling hills, from the hotel. Not good. No way I was going to ride there in the morning. Parking was limited there, so you needed to get there early in the morning or else no parking spot for you! And then, after the race, how does one get back there to get the car? T2 was back at the hotel, but remember your car is still sitting back at the beach where we started. Not even a shuttle set up – you’d have to beg a ride, ride your bike, or get a taxi to travel back there to get your car. Or come with many friends and figure out logistics.
Drafting was key on the swim. I just kept finding peoples’ feet to follow, and the crystal clear waters made it easy to see the bubbles of other swimmers. One downside; as I mentioned in my previous post, we all were swinging wide of the buoys which added to our time, and the sun made it hard to see you were on track. I remember passing one buoy on the right finally, and realizing I was at least 30m away from it! This contributed to my additional swim time….