FishWatcher747
Contributor
Okay I have never seen this before. It has never been brought up on SB as far as I know. If you needed a new way to use your Pony Bottle here it is.
Who said scuba was not competitive?
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OP
FishWatcher747
Contributor
Harder with an AL80 in open water.
...especially with that kick.
OP
FishWatcher747
Contributor
So do the competitive immersion swimmers using a Pony need to be Scuba certified? You know they would be tempted to go deep in the diving board pool just for fun. PADI specialty?
As the Finswimming Director for the Underwater Society of America in the 1980s, I tried to bring this competitive finswimming back into the USA. I was somewhat successful, in that we did have a few competitions, and there are still some finswimming clubs in the USA. This is an international sport, much more popular in Europe and Asia than in the USA. There are several categories, and immersion is the one with the use of hand-held scuba in front of the finswimmer. This is the most streamlined, and you can see from the times that these finswimmers are very, very fast. These competitions are also swam on the surface, using usually a front-mounted snorkel. This is also a great way to stay in condition in the off-season for those of us who don’t use the off-season to go to the tropics.
To answer FishWatcher747‘s question, I think there are CMAS (World Underwater Federation) rules requiring scuba certification, but am not sure. However, these finswimmers swim the immersion swims just under the surface, and make flip turns at the end of the pool. The 50 meter immersion swimmers are breath-hold swimmers, swimming 50 meters in an amazing time. There is no danger of embolizing while competitive finswimming with scuba, as the swimmers are only a few feet (about one meter) underwater during all of the swim.
There are actually several other CMAS (World Underwater Federation) sports: underwater hockey, and underwater orienteering are some of them. (Underwater spear fishing competitions started this too.).
Now, think about this, Ye Ting Sun was under 3 minutes for a 400 meter swim; that fast! This is one reason I’m so against things like using the frog kick for normal diving rather than reserving it for the reason it was created (cave, wreck, and areas of silt which could cause blackout underwater if stirred up). The frog kick is so inefficient compared to the dolphin kick it’s incredible that it has taken over the diving field.
SeaRat
PS, here are the CMAS (World Underwater Federation) rules for Finswimming:
The other underwater sports from CMAS:
Finswimming:
LATEST
In addition to organizing international underwater sport events it is at the forefront of technical and scientific research and development.
www.cmas.org
Underwater Orienteering:
ORIENTEERING
In addition to organizing international underwater sport events it is at the forefront of technical and scientific research and development.
www.cmas.org
Freediving (apnea):
Spearfishing:
SPEARFISHING
In addition to organizing international underwater sport events it is at the forefront of technical and scientific research and development.
www.cmas.org
Sport Diving:
SPORT DIVING
In addition to organizing international underwater sport events it is at the forefront of technical and scientific research and development.
www.cmas.org
Target Shooting:
TARGET SHOOTING
In addition to organizing international underwater sport events it is at the forefront of technical and scientific research and development.
www.cmas.org
Underwater Hockey:
HOCKEY
In addition to organizing international underwater sport events it is at the forefront of technical and scientific research and development.
www.cmas.org
Underwater Rugby:
Underwater Rugby
Under water rugby was invented in Köln, Germany 1961 and became popular in the Nordic countries under the name, UW-Polo. Before the first Championship in 1978 the rules had to be merged (different number of players, 4 vs. 8, playing above the surface, etc). The game has since then evolved and now...
www.cmas.org
Visual (Underwater Photography):
VISUAL
In addition to organizing international underwater sport events it is at the forefront of technical and scientific research and development.
www.cmas.org
PS2: The photo below shows the results of the 400 meter relay, with a time of 2:38:30. Think about the speed of these swimmers. This was a surface event, and so you see the front-mount snorkels. It was won by China in the CMAS World Championships 2022. You can view it on the Finswimming USA Facebook page link above.
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FishWatcher747,
This looks like this gal’s first attempt to use the monofin. If you look at the finswimming competitors, they use the monofin in a completely different way than this gal does. The monofin requires a very different style of kick than any other style of fins.
SeaRat
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FishWatcher747
Contributor
Wow, thank you John C. Ratliff for all that fascinating history and information.
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FishWatcher747
Contributor
Here is a good video of underwater hockey with great commentary. At times it looks like a shark dive when the diver takes the lid off the KFC bucket to feed the sharks.
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