April 24, 2008 -- The morning of the race I woke up to a windy day with waves that would have made any surfer happy to see. Needless to say, that didn’t make anyone feel too good at the start line. The day’s races (yes, races, not race) began with the Junior Pan American Championship, so it was the 16-19-year-old's turn first. This was when the race directors, myself and pretty much anyone at the site realized that the swim was going to be rough. One-fourth of the girls entire was pulled from the water by lifeguards, for what were deemed “life-threatening situations”. These "situations" included near-drowning incidents, or kids who had been knocked out by a wave. All of this chaos occurred at around 7 a.m.

The Professional men were not scheduled to start until around 11:50 in the morning. That time got delayed back until 12:30 p.m., due to the late start of the junior race. So, while we waited, myself and the rest of the pro men's field got to watch the pro women attempt the swim. There was a period of six minutes where the women covered a total of no more than 200 meters. For reference, these are some of the best female triathletes in all of North and South America -- women who can easily swim 200 meters in 2:30 during an open water race. They were literally standing still in the water.