How do swimmers eat and drink during the race?

• The pole: "Feeding poles are not to exceed 5m in length when extended."
• Nothing hanging: no object, rope or wire may hang from the end of a pole, except a national flag.
• The flag: no larger than 30 cm by 20 cm, of fabric, with no hard edges and no weight added.
• No throwing: "No objects can be thrown from the feeding platform to the competitors, including sustenance."
• How it arrives: competitors receive their feed "in biodegradable containers directly from their representative by a feeding pole or by hand".
• The bottles: at World Aquatics events the supplied biodegradable bottles are mandatory, six for each athlete.
• Coaching: "Coaching and the giving of instructions by the approved competitor's representative on the feeding platform or in the escort safety craft is permitted. No whistle shall be allowed."
• Standing to feed: a swimmer may stand on the bottom while taking a feed but may take no support from the platform.
• The platform: at least 60 cm of space for each feeder, fixed in place, with access from outside the course where possible.
• The judge: a feeding platform judge manages the platform and the representatives on it.

Two hours of racing cannot be done without drinking, so the rules provide for it and then fence it in. A pole of limited length, handed and not thrown, means a feed cannot be used to tow a swimmer or to hit another. The flag lets a swimmer find their own pole among thirty.