Open Water Swimming Gear: 10 Essential Pieces Of Equipment

Are you looking to get into open water swimming and wondering what equipment you’ll need? Or are you already an experienced open water swimmer just trying to make sure that you have all of the essentials ready for your next swim?

Either way, you’ve come to the right place, because in today’s article we’ll be taking a look at the most important pieces of open water swimming gear.

For starters, open water swimming is quite a bit different than grinding out some laps at your local lap pool.

Some of the differences include- swimming technique and environmental challenges such as cold water for example. This requires you to have a different set of swimming equipment to overcome these challenges and optimize your open water swimming performance.

With that said, let’s “dive” straight in so that you can build yourself the ultimate set of open water swimming kit.

Open Water Swimming Gear And Equipment.

Here are 10 essential pieces of open water swimming gear-

• Open Water Swimming Goggles
• Open Water Swimming Wetsuit
• Open Water Swimming Buoy
• Open Water Swimming Cap
• Neoprene Swimming Socks
• Open Water Swimming Watch
• Swimming Training Equipment
• Zinc Oxide And Sunscreen
• Lubricant or anti-chafe stick
• Open Water Swimming Bag

1. Open Water Swimming Goggles.

Open water swimming goggles are specifically designed for triathlons and open water swimming events. These goggles usually have special lenses with a polarized coating and a wide field of view. This will help to reduce the glare from the sun on the water and will also protect your eyes from its bright rays, while the wide lenses help you to be thoroughly aware of what’s going on around you.

The design is also usually made to be quite comfortable and lightweight so that you can wear them for long periods of time while swimming without them feeling too tight or heavy and distracting you from your open water swim.

Some of the open water goggles that I like include the Arena Cobra’s, The Blueseventy Contour Goggles, and the Aquasphere Kayenne goggles.

The Arena Cobra open water goggles are a really low-profile and lightweight pair of goggles with some good comfort and hydrodynamics. They are a bit expensive but definitely worth the money, you can check them out on SwimOutlet by clicking here or on Amazon by clicking here.

The next pair that I’d recommend is the Blueseventy Contour goggles, these provide great vision in the water by allowing for a wide field of view. They are also really low-profile and hydrodynamic. You can consider checking them out on SwimOutlet by clicking here or Amazon by clicking here.

The last pair of open water swimming goggles that I like are the Aquasphere Kayenne goggles. These are a bit bigger in size but provide some of the best wide-angle vision out there. They are also hydrodynamic and their lenses are polarized to reduce glare on the water and light from the sun. You can also check them out on SwimOutlet by clicking here or on Amazon by clicking here.

If you’d like a bit more detail about these goggles and also a couple more options then I recommend reading my article on the 10 best open water swimming goggles.