3 Tips for Choosing the Right Googles for Open Water

 

We arrive in Sodwana for a girls’ swimming weekend. I feel a little exposed as stand on the beach in my costume, goggles in my hands, swimming cap glued to my head. I absorb the scene unfolding in front of my eyes - the sea is raging. Neptune is seriously having a bad day. I surreptitiously glance around. The normally packed and busy Sodwana beach is empty… apart from us. There are no other dive or fishing boats mad enough to be launching. I glance nervously over at the other “swim babes” (the name of our group is a story for another time). 5 intrepid, adventure-loving ladies are seriously re-evaluating their sanity.

Our swim guide and ocean-guru, John, from Ocean Child briefs us. We will be dropping in and then swimming with the current and swell for 2kms. No flat seas for us. Digger, our skipper, shakes his head (he thinks we are mad) but he gives us the go ahead to climb on board for launch into this crazy sea. I am so grateful to both experts who gave us a gift that day. They guided us safely into one of the best swims of my life.

 Open water swimming

Yes, the sea that Friday was not calm. The energy was tangible as we glided those swells, having the time of our lives. It will not be a swim I easily forget and it still regularly comes up in conversation.

 

When choosing goggles for open water, here would be my 3 top tips:

  1. In open water, being aware of and seeing your surroundings is so vital. I enjoy a curved wide-angle lens which will give you excellent peripheral vision. 
  2. Anti-fog is a must, although I sometimes still land up with foggles!
  3. Choose your lenses wisely - I love a Polarized lens; it offers comfort by filtering out a lot of the surface glare that causes eye fatigue. I do find tinted lenses in overcast weather can sometimes be a bit dark and gloomy. First prize for me is my Zone 3 photochromatic lenses of the Attack goggles. Photochromatic lenses react to changes in the brightness to minimise the effect of changeable light. They darken and lighten automatically.

 Happy swimming.