More on Drafting - The Basics

In my last post, I provided a short silly clip of my kids' goldfish. I said they were drafting. They really weren't since they were barely moving, but the point I wanted to make can be seen be watching their positioning and the move the fish in the back makes to sprint to the front. You really can draft when you are swimming, but few folks know this because swimming adjacent to another swimmer or right behind is so rare. Usually we are in separate lanes. Only kids on swim teams who are advanced usually know this trick. Try it yourself sometime. You'll need a friend or someone who won't be weirded out by you swimming so close. You might ask a regular during your lap-time to try it out with you. You'll both get a kick out of it, I promise. To take advantage of the flow of water being pushed behind the swimmer in front of you, stay within about two to five feet of the front swimmer's feet and a little bit to the side. You don't want to get too close or be too far away. You want to be in the wake of the front swimmer it is the strongest. If you do it properly, you will notice that you can reduce your "efforting" considerably while you are in the drafting position. It can almost feel like you are swimming without even trying. If you don't understand this description, watch the goldfish video. It's a great example of swim drafting. Really!