A Serious Lap Swimmer Tries Being Waterboarded - Find out what happens

Here's a story about a guy who was a former lifeguard, free diver, and all around fitness nut (he does those 100 mile run things), who decided to find out for himself if waterboarding was all that bad. I know I for one have wondered the same thing during many a flip turn where I got water up my nose. The author, after ruling out trying it first on the wife and kids (what a family man!), went a bit further than me and tried them for real, exposing himself to increasingly dangerous methods.

I won't ruin the ending, but let me drop a hint ... this guy is one bad-ass, nut job.

Don't try this at home kiddies. Oh, and BTW, I don't endorse any of this.

Sound in Water - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

No this isn't about waterproof mp3 players (I'll save that for another day), it's about how sound can influence the body in water.

The pool I swim at is part of a YMCA that recently underwent a massive renovation - except for the pool (never the pool). Seems like the construction guys were drilling or pounding most every day for about a year since they extended the footprint of the building by two, thus having to dig into the limestone rock to create a place to start the foundation.

What's all this have to do with swimming? Well, when they were pounding and drilling, you could hear it through the water. And on the pounding days, I could literally feel it rumbling my rib cage (the bad). I joked with friends that it was like lithotriptsy - which is how calcified kidney stones are destroyed by sending shock waves through a tub of water (the good).

Since the way shock waves travel through water is common knowledge, I'm confused why there is such surprise by the media when dolphins and other sea creatures spaz out where there are ocean shocks (the ugly) - think volcanic explosions, sonar testing (suspected), and other.

Dog Swims Six Miles - Ha Ha Jaws!

Other titles I considered ... "Why Lassie Should Have been a Cattle Dog", or better yet, "Aussie Dog Ready to Star on TV's Survivor".

In this true story, a dog fell overboard and swam about six miles through shark infested waters off the Great Barrier Reef to an island where it dined in rustic luxury waiting for someone to notice.

Very cool story. BTW, Sophie, you've been added to this blog's hero list!

Honey, I'll be doing laps out in the ...

... garage. Yes, a man in Baltimore has built a pool in his garage. Link has full story and pics. I personally understand the man's compulsion. I'd just think he should have used a four-car garage.

Crocodile Training

I'm not sure if I believe this CNN story about a coach in Australia who throws a crocodile into the pool to make his team swim faster, but it sure makes the imagination run wild. Eh, mate?

Possible New Material for Swim Suits?

I've hypothesized that one could make a swim suit even better than those used in the Olympics to break all those world records. Now someone has invented a product that is touted as "super hydrophobic". Using nano technology to create an invisible bubble, it creates super-floating, drag-reducing qualities.

Here's an article in Gizmodo, an online tech web site.

Wearing this, do you think maybe a mortal could beat Michael Phelps record? Remember me when you see this on the rack in your neighborhood sporting good stores. Are you listening Speedo?

Ever Dream of Swimming with Dolphins? That's so Old! Try This!

I came across this article tonight, while trolling the news. When I was a kid, I used to swim with my Labrador retriever. She would unintentionally claw me whenever she got near. I can only imagine what this might be like.

Freddy Kreuger Does Polar Bear Plunge? No it's stranger than that!

Freestyle - It's NOT supposed to be like Butterfly

During my kicking set, I was watching a swimmer in a lane near me do some freestyle. Her technique needed work, but she wasn't a bad swimmer. But her errors were so common, they screamed blog post!

Today, I'll focus on the one that really stuck out to me. Poor energy conservation. Conservation of energy is key to swimming any distance at all without tiring. This is especially true for occasional swimmers who haven't built up any distance in their routines.

In the case of the swimmer I was watching, she was retrieving her arm from its pull, by pulling it out of the water from the back, near her thigh (good so far) and sweeping it forward via a long arc, as one might do with butterfly (think how both arms sweep out in butterfly ... this swimmer was doing this same thing, just one arm at a time). This is where I contend she was wasting energy.

It's natural to do the sweep thing, but not the best way to use one's energy. I contend that for freestyle, it's best to bring the back of one's arm as close to the head as possible, and drag the finger tips across the water. Doing so eliminates the additional weight of holding one's arm out.

You can try this on dry land to see what I'm talking about. Simply hold your arm out for fifteen seconds (feel the weight of your arm?). Now (warning: this is awkward) try holding the back of your arm next to your ear with your hand pointing forward for the same length of time (see, I told you this was awkward! ... it's not so in the pool, really). Feel the weight of your arm now.

Which did you find heavier? If you found the head/ear position lighter, try out that stroke in the pool. You may find that you use less energy over time and can thus go further with less fatigue. Hope this helps. Good luck!

* * * *

Finally, I must apologize for focusing this blog's content of late on the silly and odd. I've not kept to the promised theme of swimming dynamics. Reason, quite frankly, is that it's just easier some times. Writing about swimming dynamics sort of gets old after a while, hence the silly posts. If you've stuck with me through the long haul, thank you!

More on the Mermaid - Nadya's Tail

Here's an article that ran in a UK paper (Telegraph.co.uk). More detail and a picture of Nadya swimming is included plus a link to the video embedded below.

I love these quotes from the Mermaid, herself, "A prosthetic is a prosthetic, and your body has to be comfortable with it and you have to mentally make it part of yourself." She goes on to say, "I thought rather than just having it as a plaything, I would take it further." What does she mean by that? Triathlon baby!

By her beauty and upbeat manner, one can tell that Nadya has not let being a double amputee ruin her life. She's made the most of it and now can give hope to others. Cheers!



This second video, where she's swimming in the open water, really makes you see Nadya as a real mermaid, what with the surprise peeks of her tail.

Mermaids are now real

My regular readers may recall that I pontificated on the idea of swimming prostheses for double amputees in a prior post after seeing an article about a dolphin that had a new tail made for it.

Well dear reader, my science fiction has come to pass. Check this out! I present the new mermaid.

Just call me Jules Verne or Gene Roddenberry. You choose.

Know Anyone Who Can Do This?

A Jet Pack for the Swimmer

Just when you thought you were too old for water toys, this little thing comes along.

So cool! I know what I want for Christmas, Santa.

What Hasen't Been Said about Michael Phelps and the Pot Thing

You've heard about it all week ad nauseum. Michael Phelps "allegedly" smoked pot. There's a picture of someone that looks like the Eight Gold Wonderkid doing a bong hit, splashed all over the internets. My opinion - Probably is. He's caught crap from the conservative media and some of his sponsors. He's also lost three month's of eligibility in US swim competitions. And as if that isn't enough, now the friends of marijuana legalization are making him their poster boy, saying "If MP can do it, everyone does it. So make pot legal! Now!" Today, the Diggs, Reddits and all the other online opinion aggregators are pushing the envelope in that direction, calling on their minions to boycott sponsor(s) who are pulling their support of MP (think big cereal company).

Here's what's not been said ... Michael, you were stupid. Pot is, if nothing else, smoke. Put it in your body and it goes into your lungs, where some of it stays there. Your lungs are what got you to the finish line first, more times than I'll ever count. Your lungs are as important (if not more important) as your big feet, long arms, and long torso.

Keep up the partying and you can wave goodbye to all that glory, for the sport will pass you, fast. You can count on it.

My final words ... Grow up buddy, and start thinking. By the way, I hope your coach kicks your butt.

NYC to Bermuda Swim Goal Completed

I completed another of my mini-goals today, which I started at the beginning of 2007. This one was the distance from New York City to Bermuda. Sure I did it over 517 swim days, but there it is - 775 miles.

I've set up these goals to keep me going. Seems to be working so far.

Onward to London!

Picture of Michael Phelps Spitting Water

Kidding ... still, does anyone know of anyone who was swimming when one of these water spouts came along? Amazing picture. Oh, are those two spots open-water swimmers?

Feesh Mawn wins one for Hollywood !

The documentary called "Big River Man", which featured Martin Strel's (also known as the "Feesh Mawn" by his fans) amazing swim down the Amazon River has won an award for cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival. Here's the entire list of winners. Scroll down to see "Big River Man".

Congratulations guys!

Two Swimmers who Challenge the Arctic

Hate cold pool water. Read these and you'll never complain again.

Here are two articles about swimmers who are challenging what it means to swim and thrive in cold water. What's cold? Try the South Pole and the North Pole.

This first one (about Wim Hof) appeared in The Telegraph UK last December. I had planned to post it in honor of Jan 1st's polar bear jumpers, but was out of town.

This second one (about Lewis Gordon Pugh) is in this month's (Jan '09) issue of Readers Digest. The only thing I didn't like about this story, is that Lewis is a lawyer. He already had ice in his veins.

Both are perfectly fascinating.

Martin Strel Goes Hollywood

I haven't posted much on Martin Strel in a while. If you are out of touch on my fascination with Martin ... he's the guy who among other minor achievements, swam the Amazon from the Andes to the Atlantic two summers ago. Anyhow, they made a movie about it and it is to be shown at the Sundance Film Festival later this month - I'm guessing documentary?

If you have missed any of the posts I've put up about Martin here's a great article that tells you all about him and fills in a lot of detail I may have missed. You can see my posts by searching my site with "Martin Strel".

How to Find a Pool When Away from Home

I found this, ugly, yet awesome Swimmers Guide website this past November and have intended to create a post for it for some time. Better late than never. After you read this, you may be p.o.'d at me for not having posted this amazing resource before the holidays.

The site says "Swimmers Guide contains the only international, descriptive directory of publicly-accessible, full-size, year-round swimming pools available. There is no resource available in any format with as many pool listings or as much information about each pool as you'll find on this Web site ... This 143rd monthly update of the database since May, 1996, lists 18,507 facilities with 19,742 full-size, year-round swimming pools in 10,521 cities and towns in 165 countries."

If this database is even half of what it says it is, it is still amazing.