Who said scuba was not competitive?

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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:

Underwater Orienteering:

Freediving (apnea):

Spearfishing:

Sport Diving:

Target Shooting:

Underwater Hockey:

Underwater Rugby:

Visual (Underwater Photography):

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.
CMAS is doing some great activities there.. promotes watermanship skills.
 
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?
Monofin specialty? Haha
 
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.

They make it look so easy.
 
My younger son practiced underwater hockey for many years at very high level, taking part to a number of international competitions.
He was also member of the national Italian team.
Now he almost gave up, albeits every year he comes back here to Parma, in September, for the international tournament organised here, the Parma's Cup: https://m.facebook.com/100057214610132/
I've been at it for less than a year but am already looking at National competitions here in the United States. It's a lot of time to commit to practice so understandable if your son is in-and-out.

You have just given me my first bucket-list international travel goal though. I absolutely love genuine Parmesan Reggiano, so if I can go to Parma to eat the cheese & play UWH I'll be in heaven!
 
I've been at it for less than a year but am already looking at National competitions here in the United States. It's a lot of time to commit to practice so understandable if your son is in-and-out.

You have just given me my first bucket-list international travel goal though. I absolutely love genuine Parmesan Reggiano, so if I can go to Parma to eat the cheese & play UWH I'll be in heaven!
You will be wellcome here.
A lot of international teams come to Parma each year for the Parma Cup, and many come here for the food, too.
You will enjoy much more than Parmigiano cheese. Parma's ham, salame di Felino, Culatello, tortelli (a variant of ravioli), Rosa di Parma, torta fritta, Vecchia, horse's raw meat (Parma's pesto), etc. etc.
And some nice red sparkling wine (Marcello, Otello) and beer (Birrificio del Ducato).
 
They make it look so easy.
Actually it is easy. A finned swimming course usually is 20 lessons, which is enough for mastering completely the technique.
 
You will be wellcome here.
A lot of international teams come to Parma each year for the Parma Cup, and many come here for the food, too.
You will enjoy much more than Parmigiano cheese. Parma's ham, salame di Felino, Culatello, tortelli (a variant of ravioli), Rosa di Parma, torta fritta, Vecchia, horse's raw meat (Parma's pesto), etc. etc.
And some nice red sparkling wine (Marcello, Otello) and beer (Birrificio del Ducato).
I love it when you talk dirty to me :rofl3:
 

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