Swimming

Commentary by Jeff Commings PHOENIX, Arizona, May 21. THE 2012-2013 high school swimming season will be remembered as one of the most exciting in recent history, if only for the extraordinary numbe...

SAN DIEGO, California, May 21. FOUR sectional and four divisional records fell during the CIF San Diego High School Division 2 Swimming and Diving Championships. The swimming events were held May 15 a...

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, May 21. THREE of the American divers who won Olympic medals last summer in London look to repeat or improve on their Olympic performances this summer at the FINA world champions...

When Captain Tim Johnson considers how best to advise an open water swimmer cross a channel, complete a circumnavigation, or compete in an open water swimming competition, he has a unique viewpoint on how best to plot a course. The life-long swimmer and Professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston defines an open water swimmer as a self-contained marine vessel that is human powered with a top speed of approximately 3 mph with low visibility. In flat water conditions, the swimmer can see his immediate surroundings, but relies on a herding strategy if swimming in a group and/or their coach if accompanied by an escort boat/kayak. We will present more useful and unique perspectives from the author of History of Open-Water Marathon Swimming over the next several days. Copyright © 2013 by Open Water SwimmingFrom Open Water Source's Daily News of Open Water Swimming

SAN DIEGO, California, May 21. THANKS to a trio of talented seniors and a solid swimming team, the Torrey Pines Falcons earned their fourth consecutive girls title at the CIF San Diego High School Swi...

SOMERS, Wisconsin, May 21. MARTYN Wilby, Anthony Nesty and Matt Tallman have been named Assistant Coach-of-the-Year by CollegeSwimming.com. Tallman, of Notre Dame was named the top Rising Assistant C...

There is arguably no open water swimmer who possesses a greater potential for positive change in America than Dr. Peter Attia, president and co-founder of the Nutrition Science Initiative. Dr Attia's recent TedMed talk in Washington D.C. was an outstanding success. Here is a little taste of what the remarkable doctor has to say. Copyright © 2013 by Open Water SwimmingFrom Open Water Source's Daily News of Open Water Swimming

SARASOTA, Florida, May 21. U.S. Masters Swimming has joined the fray to lower the drowning rate in the United States by offering grants to programs that teach adults to swim the length of a pool. T...

Susie Maroney used one nearly 200 km from Cuba to Florida across the Straits of Florida, but Chloë McCardel is going without during her upcoming attempt. Skip Storch used a shark cage in his Cuba-to-America attempt, but he found it less useful than a jellyfish cage. "The jellyfish got caught inside the cage which definitely did not help things," recalled the marathon swimmer. "Storch's cage worked rather well being supported by pontoons, a design he inherited (and improved upon) from Chris Green who swam across the Strait of Gibraltar in what he called a wash tub," explained Captain Tim Johnson. "Fibber McGee was the welder who made the improvements to Chris' shark cage that used inflatable flotation fenders. The improvement Fibber made were the addition of the pontoons whose height was adjustable allowing the cage to drop into the water or raised for towing. Ben Huggard also did a swim in these waters but, sadly, he too was no better than Walter Poenisch. Susie Maroney's cage was similar to Skip's, but only larger. It was fixed to create a draft just behind the leading edge with plexiglas so it wouldn't show that it literally could suck her along at 2 knots while she was eating and treading water during her first swim. Subsequent swims found a different cage directly behind and attached to the boat so she drafted off the boat. Fidel Castro is said to have participated in that cage's design." Photos courtesy of Captain Tim Johnson of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. Copyright © 2013 by Open Water SwimmingFrom Open Water Source's Daily News of Open Water Swimming

Eons ago, the ancestors of penguins could both fly through the air and swim. But evolution led to changes in the penguins mode of preferred transportation and penguin gave up flight. Why? Scientists believe penguins do not fly because the species would rather swim. The research looked at the amount of energy necessary to move through the air and the water by the murre that lives in Canada. Kyle Elliott of the University of Manitoba who contributed to the study found that murres "beat their wings really, really fast, and they're horrible at landing." Elliott and his colleagues outfitted the murres with sensors to learn how deep they dove and how much time they spent in air, underwater, and on land. Murres are much more efficient moving in the water. Their predecessor penguins evidently choose to grow larger, dive deeper, swim faster, and stay underwater longer, enabling them to feed on larger and more numerous prey. Air or water. The penguins choose the aquatic environment. We would do the same, given a choice. Copyright © 2013 by Open Water SwimmingFrom Open Water Source's Daily News of Open Water Swimming