I know that sounds dumb, but I have never been to a competition and I have no clue what touch pads look like, how much room they take and how low below the water they are situated...Also, can you somehow miss the touch pads when you hit the wall or not press hard enough on them and not stop the clock?And how is it doing turns with touch pads on the wall?Are they not an unwelcome thing to land your feet on at turns?
Colorado Timing has photos and diagrams of touch pads at their web site:
www.colotime.com/.../Touchpad standard.pdf
Some of the older pads can be slippery, especially for backstroke starts. However properly installed modern pads have better surfaces than the typical wall.
And while they are sensitive to most touches, they do require some amount of pressure to activate them. My advice is to always touch below the water surface near the center of the lane. I have run the timing at many meets and the most common problem is with people who grab the top of the wall at the finish or backstrokers who whack their arm on the top of the pad. In these cases what sets the pad off is when the body bumps up against the wall a second or 3 later. Good timing console operators will be looking for these late touches and will take the backup button time.
Colorado Timing has photos and diagrams of touch pads at their web site:
www.colotime.com/.../Touchpad standard.pdf
Some of the older pads can be slippery, especially for backstroke starts. However properly installed modern pads have better surfaces than the typical wall.
And while they are sensitive to most touches, they do require some amount of pressure to activate them. My advice is to always touch below the water surface near the center of the lane. I have run the timing at many meets and the most common problem is with people who grab the top of the wall at the finish or backstrokers who whack their arm on the top of the pad. In these cases what sets the pad off is when the body bumps up against the wall a second or 3 later. Good timing console operators will be looking for these late touches and will take the backup button time.
