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I'm looking to buy a snorkel suitable for speed-swimming. It needs to be sleek enough not to cause excessive drag. Honestly, I don't know how people manage to move even at slow speeds while using modern-day snorkels - they are clunky and a burden to use. They're so heavy and have such a large cross-sectional area that any external force tends to rip them out of the mouth. Totally over-engineered, especially for small-stature folks.
My local dive shop told me that there was one company that designed a very streamlined snorkel and marketed it specifically to spear fishermen who need to move fast through the water. However, the shop guys thought that this had ceased being manufactured about a decade ago and they could not remember the name of the company.
Anybody have any recommendations here? Thanks so much...
It seems as if a basic snorkel is best for speed swimmers. I suggest you visit any local dive shops and check what they have. The link above should be able to help out.
Cressi-sub Corsica is a very lightweight and highly flexible snorkel. I tuck it under my mask strap whenever I'm free diving. You'll get no wobble whatsoever if you secure it this way.
IST sport also makes a "knock-off" so to speak. It feels exactly the same and cost just as much too.
If you can't get your hands on a cressi corsica for whatever reason, Riffe makes a Standard J Snorkel that's soft enough to slip under your mask as well. It's a little more rigid however.
Cressi also has a lot of other models, not as soft as their Corsica model, but soft enough.
The only way to get rid of snorkel wobble is to slip the snorkel under your mask strap. Snorkel keepers won't help for fast paced swimming.
I'm looking to buy a snorkel suitable for speed-swimming. It needs to be sleek enough not to cause excessive drag. Honestly, I don't know how people manage to move even at slow speeds while using modern-day snorkels - they are clunky and a burden to use. They're so heavy and have such a large cross-sectional area that any external force tends to rip them out of the mouth. Totally over-engineered, especially for small-stature folks.
My local dive shop told me that there was one company that designed a very streamlined snorkel and marketed it specifically to spear fishermen who need to move fast through the water. However, the shop guys thought that this had ceased being manufactured about a decade ago and they could not remember the name of the company.
Anybody have any recommendations here? Thanks so much...
There are many great snorkels available....problem is dive shops don't usually "teach" people the proper way to use a snorkel, so many prefer to sell the cr*p with the purges and other nonsense you dont want.
Freedive shops cater to freedivers, so they carry the good snorkels for divers with enough coordination to use a real snorkel.....
You know it really is pretty pathetic for a diver to feel it is "too hard" to learn how to use a j shaped snorkel.
I can see it to give to a kid that is on your boat as a bubble watcher, for a first time snorkel experience....but that is about it.
With a good Omer or Riffe or Cressi j shaped snorkel, a freediver can be very comfortable in a surf zone or in 12 foot seas on open ocean. There is nothing to it, if you have the simple skill. Unless you are a scuba diver that wants a roll up snorkel with you on scuba dives as an extra safety device, you dont want the flexible hose snorkels--they flop around too much when you use them as a freediver, meaning non-optimal function.
For you, a short and wide ( high volume/large diameter) snorkel barrel will allow better high speed breathing if you are swimming flat out as fast as you can go ( equivalent of a time trial on a bike).
I can swim faster without a snorkel. Just a swimsuit and goggles.
Speed swimming? If I go flat out for a short distance less than 200 yards, I suck in a lot of air. A normal snorkel bore diameter is too small for unrestricted fresh air breathing. I would not use a snorkel for sprinting unless in choppy water. This would limit my top speed to probably about 85% of normal.
I work out in the ocean with a snorkel, mask, wetsuit, weight belt, and fins for exercise. If desiring a workout, then size and weight of snorkel may not matter. Get the most comfortable for working out. I use a large bore Aqua Lung Impulse 3. A lower profile snorkel would be the TUSA Platina 2. These are semi-dry snorkels.
It all boils down to what works best and is most comfortable for you. If doing alot of swimming in rough or windy seas with water splashing overhead, do not want to worry about sucking in saltwater when you are trying to breath and only care about moving forward. A semi-dry snorkel may work best. Also a comfortable mouthpiece may be important when working out or sprinting.
If in a swimming pool or calm seas then any large bore snorkel will work.
We do not normally move fast through the water while freediving since we are underwater to conserve energy/air while hunting. Maybe there are bluewater Spearos that only fish from the surface. but I am not familiar with this.
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Originally Posted by steeleam
