Just how fast is the average diver

[grouchyturtle]

Never really thought about this one before, but in really numbers:

How fast can your average diver in full gear swim?

and/or

What speed current in knots can your average diver kick against for any significant period of time?

If it makes it easier, maybe breaking it down further would help?
1: single tank, wetsuit, minimal gear
2: drysuit, doubles
3: diver swimming with large video/camera housing

 

[maranda1389]

Hmmm, interesting question. Not sure how to go about answering it but it's a fun thought.

 

[Crush]

I don't know.

Tangentially, you may be interested in drag as a function of gear configuration If so, this post may be of interest: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/5534842-post93.html .

 

[grouchyturtle]

I guess a good start would be to use a knot meter, or even just the speed gauge on an anchored boat. There must be thousands of posts on here talking about dives where the current was running x knots. But in most cases I think x was pulled out of someone's butt. If you didn't actually measure that current, then you don't really know.

 

[grouchyturtle]

I don't know.

Tangentially, you may be interested in drag as a function of gear configuration If so, this post may be of interest: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/5534842-post93.html .

Interesting. So, I guess the question is, how fast does the average human swim. Then you could at least get some rough numbers based on that study.

 

[ianr33]

Wearing 2 tanks and a drysuit I normally average around 50 feet/minute when cave diving,so that's about 1/2 knot. Can swim faster than that but not for a long time.

Caves make it easy to measure your speed as many of them have markers every 100 feet.

 

[Cave Diver]

Ditto what Ian said.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

If I want fast I use my scooter. Otherwise I'm like a Percheron ... I can go all day, but I don't like to run ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Mike Boswell]

I believe the answer is in the range of 0.5 to 1.5 knots (50-150 feet per minute). A lot depends, obviously, on the diver, the gear he is wearing, and the length of the swim.

More here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/159244-swim-speed-scuba-grear.html

 

[grouchyturtle]

If I want fast I use my scooter. Otherwise I'm like a Percheron ... I can go all day, but I don't like to run ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Same here Bob...well except I don't have a scooter. Was just wondering what the real numbers were.