Originally Posted by Velo Gator

Not intentionally. But yeah, you'll get knocked around quite a bit.

Originally Posted by edbikebabe

Wetsuits are better - harder to get a good hold on someone when they are slippery. Most of the chaos is unintentional, although I once had someone grab my shoulder, push me down & swim over top of me. That was interesting.

The more confident the swimmer, the less likely you are to be grabbed etc. Everyone just wants to get moving at their pace, so it's usually calm by 200-300m into the race. Turning around the buoys is a whole 'nother thing....

Originally Posted by wens

No, but if you're level with someone you are allowed to swim over them. By swim over them I mean grab their shoulder and pull on them to get yourself forward. I'm not sure how well people who are weaker on the swim would take that though.