Tuesday, June 30, 2009

You too can use Echolocation

Wired Magazine is reporting a new way to tap into your inner dolphin. Scientists have confirmed that humans can learn echolocation or the ability to make sounds to detect objects in their immediate surroundings. Check out the article for more details.

No word if this would work underwater, so don't start thinking you are going to win all those Marco Polo games now.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Lifeguard!



Check out the lifeguard station in the bottom right corner. Click link for a huge blowup of the picture (no pun intended ... pretty good pun though, huh?).

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Yard Art

This is just too cool for me to describe in words. Check it out.

Even shows good form!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Heavy Breathing Required

Here's a video of William Trubridge doing a freedive that will absolutely make you feel like a whimp, I guarantee. Awesome. BTW, I may have mistitled this post. He doesn't even look like he's out of breath at the end. Watch how cool he is in his ascent (where I would ... if I could ... be freak'n out to get up).

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Craziest Swimming Pool Trick Ever - I Promise

I am guessing this guy understood the ramification of failure had he done this wrong. Scroll down to the fourth picture.

DO NOT TRY THIS!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

How to Clean your Goggles

I get goggle glop, do you? Goggle glop is my term for the cake-like buildup that forms on the outside of goggles around the frame. If you take your fingernail, you can dig it off. If the goggles are wet, you can scrub it off with a firm finger (note, neither is my solution ... keep reading).

I imagine the glop is a buildup of sweat and other body crud (any other theories?). It's very odd, since I don't wear the goggles outside of the pool, aside from a quick trot to the showers. One would think any body excretions would simply wash away in the pool. But no, it cakes up.

My solution is to place the gloppy goggles in a bowl, filled with dishwashing detergent in water (lots of suds), and place the bowl outside in the sun (or a warm, sunny window). The glop, rinses off given a few hours in the solution. Sometimes you must rub it just a little. The sun is to keep the solution warm so there is more energy to break down the glop bonds. A warm lamp near the solution, might do as well (I do not suggest boiling your goggles or anything of that sort).

This works for me, what works for you?

Note: I still haven't figured out how to deal with discoloration (nice clear rubber turning into greenish/yellowish rubber over time - perhaps I need to keep the goggles outside in the light, rather than inside my bag all day).

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Why the Phelps Phenomenon is Not for Me

If you were a kid watching the Olympics late last summer, I'm guessing you probably got at least a small itch to try swimming as your chosen sport. And it may have even stuck with you through the spring-time. How do I know this? Well the number of kids who have joined the premier swim team (the ones who build the Olympic athletes out of the XBox generation) in my city has grown by 25 percent this summer.

Good for them you say? OK, I'll agree, good for them ... but not for me.

I happen to work out at the same time the team practices - dawn - and the coach, flush with cash from his new arrivals, has bought the rights to an additional lap lane in the pool. Until this year, they had always used half the pool. Cool, right? We get half, they get half. Not any more.

Thanks to the Michael phenomenon, they're taking over our space. This forces us early risers (of which there always have been quite a few), we of all varieties of skill and speed, to move over, smile and pretend we loyal members still count for anything.

Thanks for your time and chance to rant.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Cause Linked to Lakes ... please, no!

Last year I posted a topic concerning a parasite that lived in southern waters that you probably want to avoid at all costs (very nasty). Now it's the northern lakes' turn.

It seems that there have been some clusters of ALS(Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), more commonly called Lou Gehrig's Disease, identified around a lake in New Hampshire. Scientists believe it is linked to Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) blooms. This article goes into pretty good depth using terms a layperson can understand.

BTW, this makes me very sad.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Gulf of Mexico Swim Goal Complete

Yesterday I finished my 900th mile since I set a series of goals (about two and a half years ago) to keep myself inspired. Coincidentally that 900 miles is the same distance as it is across the Gulf of Mexico from St. Petersburg, FL (next to Tampa - see map) to Corpus Christi, TX. Google Maps shows the auto route - lots of turns. You can visualize my route on the map below by looking at the two cities (click on the "-" button in the top left corner of the map to see both FL and TX coasts). I went straight.


View Larger Map

Monday, June 01, 2009