There are 3 defined courses in the competitive pool swimming world:

• short course meters (i.e., 25 meters)
• long course meters (i.e., 50 meters)
• short course yards (25 yards commonly seen in America, although there were previously many 33⅓ yard pools

But courses are not so conveniently defined in the open water swimming world where the variety of courses mirror the variety of marine environments.

Open Water Swimming Courses

There are all kinds of courses; we use the following general definitions for 20 different open water swimming courses:

1. A geometric course is a triangular, rectangular or any other multi-sided swim. It generally has the start and finish at the same point, but not always. The start and finish can be in the water or on land. It can also be called a loop course.
2. A circumnavigation course is a round-trip swim around an island. It can also be referred to as a circumnatation, an island circumnatation, an island circumnavigation, an island encirclement, a round-island swim, or an around-the-island swim.
3. A loop course is a swim where swimmers swim around buoys in any geometric shape (e.g., circular, triangular or rectangular), generally starting and finishing at the same point (or around a peninsula or pier or jetty or coastal outcropping). It can also be called a geometric course.
4. A ship-to-shore course is a swim that begins on a ship or boat or other type of marine vessel and ends on a nearby shoreline. It can also be referred to as a point-to-point course.
5. A point-to-point course is a swim where swimmers start and finish at two separate points that can be on land or in the water at a fixed position. It can also be called a linear course, a pier-to-pier course, a P2P course, a long linear course, a ship-to-shore course, or a bank-to-bank course.
6. An out-and-back course is a swim where athletes start onshore, head out to a point or buoy or boat anchored away from the shore in a bay, ocean, sea, lake, river, or estuary, and then return back to the finish at the same point where the swim started. It can also be called a loop course, a geometric course, an oab, an onb, or simply out and back.
7. A bank-to-bank is a swim that starts on one bank (of a river or shore) and finishes on the opposite or other bank. It can also be called a shore-to-shore course or a point-to-point course.
8. An island-to-island course is a point-to-point swim from one island to another.
9. An offshore course is a swim is located far offshore, away from a continent or mainland or island.
10. A coastal course is swim where all or most of the course is located along, parallel, or near a coast or shoreline.
11. A transoceanic course is an assisted stage swim or relay across one of the world’s oceans. It is either a transpacific swim or a transatlantic swim.
12. A stage course is one leg of a stage swim that consists of a number of swims held on consecutive days where the start of one leg begins at the end of the swim on the previous day.
13. A channel crossing is a single-way or multiple-leg solo or relay swim across a channel. It is also called a channel swim.
14. A side-to-swim course is a winter swimming or ice swimming event held in a rectangular space or accurately measured pool that is cut out of a frozen body of water (e.g., lake or river). These courses are accurately measured and subsequently sanctioned by the International Winter Swimming Association or the International Ice Swimming Association for competitive events.
15. A peninsula course is a swim around a peninsula or a piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water. It can also be called a partial swim around an island in a lake, bay, sea or ocean.
16. A perimeter course is a swim near, parallel to, or around the inner perimeter or shore of an open body of water such as a lake, bay, or reservoir.
17. A random course is a swim that can fall outside the standard courses listed above. It can be a combination of these courses, or following a zig-zag or any random pattern where there is no well-defined course, generally unplanned and spontaneously followed by wild swimmers and adventure swimmers of relaxed open water swimming excursions.A random course can be a combination of different courses or follow a zig-zag pattern or any random pattern in open bodies of water where there is no well-defined or pre-planned course, generally used by wild swimmers and adventure swimmers during relaxed open water swimming excursions. It can also be called a zig-zag course, a wild swimming course, or a spontaneous course.
18. A current neutral course is a swi, condition, or situation where there is no impact or nearly neutral impact on the speed and progress of a swimmer due to currents, tides, winds, waves, or swells. This can include an out-and-back course where the positive impact of the currents, tides winds, waves, or swells in one direction along the course is offset when the swimmer is swimming back in the opposite direction.
19. A current negative course is a swim, condition, or situation where the currents, tides, winds, waves, or swells are running in the opposite or lateral direction as the swimmer, making the swimmer’s forward progress relatively more difficult and longer compared to a current-neutral or current-positive course.
20. A current-positive course is a swim, condition, or situation where the currents, tides winds, waves, or swells are running in the same or similar direction as the swimmer, making the swimmer’s forward progress relatively easier and faster compared to a current-neutral or current-negative course. It can also be called a current-assisted course. 

Whatever your course is, California open water swimmer Zach Margolis creates beautifully simple and artistic black, white, and red course designs of his swims around the world, from the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco to the English Channel between England and France, and the Catalina Channel between Santa Catalina Island and the Southern California mainland, and his home training base around Aquatic Park in San Francisco Bay. 

© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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