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4 styles in finswimming

Ever wondered how fast dolphins can swim? The common dolphin can achieve speeds up to 6.7 metres per second. This equates to 14.93 seconds to swim 100 metres. It is fast. Interested to know how it would feel to swim at such speed? The sport that gives this opportunity is Finswimming. The fastest distance in finswimming is 50m apnea with the world record of 13.85s which is not too far off of the dolphin.

In many ways finswimming is similar to normal swimming. Finswimmers dive off the blocks and do tumble turns in their competitions.

However, there are still several differences between swimming and finswimming though, that allow higher speeds. The main one is that finswimmers use fins. Fins transfer the power of the human body into speed more efficiently, helping turn a person into more of a dolphin. There are 2 types of fins used in finswimming: monofins and bi-fins. The monofin is a single fin for both legs. Monofin swimmers use the dolphin kick which is very efficient and delivers higher speed. Bi-fins are the flippers similar to those that swimmers use during training sessions with the exception that finswimming ones are generally bigger and more powerful.

There are 4 styles in finswimming:

Apnea - 50m is swam on a single breath. Athletes use monofins and swim the pool length underwater.

Surface - 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m. Athletes use monofins and snorkel for breathing. They generally swim on surface, but are allowed to stay underwater for 15m after the dive and each turn.

Bi-fins - 50m, 100m, 200m. Athletes use bi-fins and a mandatory snorkel for breathing. They use the front crawl stroke and just like surface events they are only allowed to stay underwater for 15m after the dive and turns.

Immersion - 100m, 400m, 800m. It's the most technically demanding style. Finswimmers use an air tank that is held in front in the hands during the distance. Athletes use monofins and dive off the block (with an air tank which is pretty heavy when swimming 800m!) To make the tumble turn finswimmers must surface when approaching the wall.

Interested? Give it a try and become the fastest! #finswimming #BecomeTheFastest

A couple of videos of Neptune Finswimming Club from World Cup in Italy 2018

Classic snorkels in colours (click to shop)

Finswimming Snorkels

The snorkel is one of the main attributes of the Finswimmer. This is not just a training aid but is also mandatory to be worn in competitions for the surface and bi-fins events.

What is special about the finswimming snorkel?

Durability is a biggest difference. If you ever seen finswimming competitions, you probably realised how fast swimmers progress through their distances. The snorkels must be robust to survive the resistance from the water. As well as that, swimmers dive off the blocks, so the snorkels have to continuously survive breaking against the water. If you ask any finswimmer how many snorkels they have had in their lifetime, they will most certainly tell you 2-3 max, and the only reason they changed was because they wanted a different colour.

Classic snorkels (click to shop)

Most finswimming snorkels are handmade. They are comprised of a plastic tube curved into the shape of snorkel, a metal forehead band and a rubber strap. The snorkel is rigid from top to bottom with no valves. Some finswimmers use an attached mouthpiece, but most of professional and top level finswimmers don't.

Junior snorkel (click to shop)

The finswimming snorkel doesn't have a valve to let the water out, despite the water getting into the snorkel regularly. From the early days finswimmers learn how to blow the water out from the snorkel. For younger children, due to their lung capacity, it is difficult to use adult size snorkels. That is why narrower, junior snorkels exist for children up to the age of 11-12 years old.

Enjoy Finswimming and become the fastest! #finswimming #BecomeTheFastest

Source : Monofin.Co.Uk