The swim for the 2008 Sammamish triathlon was advertised as 1/4 mile. There is no way it was anywhere near that long. The fastest swimmers were clocked at barely over 4 minutes, which includes a significant run to the transition area. At that pace they would have qualified for the Olympic finals in the event (and you go faster in a pool)! I myself have a time about 30% faster than I have ever had for a 1/4 mile. So I'm guessing it was really more like 300-325 yards.