Sighting the big red buoys from distance was tough, so I used a combination of landmarks on shore, mental calculation, and assumption from where the masses in front of me were headed (my Garmin data suggests this was a pretty good and accurate strategy). Midway through the first leg however I felt the first buoy was approaching very slowly – much more slowly than I thought it should have anyway – and once I did finally reach it I understood why! Around the turn, the swell was suddenly much more choppy and swimming became much harder! On the second leg, there were times when suddenly my arm was turning in mid-air where the water had disappeared beneath me and others where the water prevented me lifting my arm at all! I vowed not to panic and keep pushing forward, and, despite a couple of gulps of salty water, that is exactly what I did.