Does Pool Depth have an effect on surface turbulence?

You bet it does. Thats why nearly all premier meets are in "competition depth" deeper pools. Deeper pools mean less waves are bouncing back up towards the surface and make it a lot easier to swim. However, if your lane is really crowded, even in a deep pool, you're going to have a lot of natural turbulence, especially around the walls.

Most certainly. Have you seen the underwater videos of swimmer who go low and deep off the turns to avoid the incoming wave? They don't want it to prohibit their off-the-wall streamlining, so they go deep to avoid it after they turn. Donna

TI encourages me to put my head too deep in the water to breathe. On backstroke, I submarine if there is the slightest wave. On freestyle, I have to crane my neck to a rediculous angle to breathe. Without seeing you doing these drills it's hard to give advice and I'm not a TI guru but if this is the case I don't believe you're doing the drills right. Particularly on freestyle where you should be rolling to breath without changing your body alignment. Have you attended a clinic or are you just going by the books/videos? Terry, where are you?

So Donna, how do I make myself swim higher in the water and stay streamlined (i.e. legs not sinking) kick. keep your head looking straight down (a more natural standing straight up and looking straight forward, but in a pool type head position) try using a pull-bouy to keep from sinking

Interesting. I think I'm going to start to diverge from TI-only drills. They don't seem to cover breathing very well (at all?) and without that down, all of the other technique is essentially useless. TI encourages me to put my head too deep in the water to breathe. On backstroke, I submarine if there is the slightest wave. On freestyle, I have to crane my neck to a rediculous angle to breathe. I don't see _anyone_ else swimming that low in the water in real life -- only in TI videos.

Alphatree, You are not alone in your observations here on TI. Many are advocates, many are not, but low in the water, well, I see too many other problems not addressed. One of my largest issues is if a swimmer is very low in the water, then how do they swim without drag (water over the shoulders, slightly underwater), and how do they rotate, not roll? How far do they have to turn their bodies to breathe? I could expand on this, but I won't for now, even though I am hunting for ways to endorse TI swimming. The search goes on. Donna

Alphatree, You are not alone in your observations here on TI. Many are advocates, many are not, but low in the water, well, I see too many other problems not addressed. One of my largest issues is if a swimmer is very low in the water, then how do they swim without drag (water over the shoulders, slightly underwater), and how do they rotate, not roll? How far do they have to turn their bodies to breathe? I could expand on this, but I won't for now, even though I am hunting for ways to endorse TI swimming. The search goes on. Donna As far as I know, TI does endorse "rolling to breathe". It's just that I'd have to roll to an unbelievable angle to do it. On freestyle, TI says "have a thin film of water running over the back of your head." I can do this easily, and it's great for streamlining. But now imagine trying to breathe with a thin film of water rolling over the back of your head. That's right: you have to roll so far that you practically face the ceiling. If you're drilling, that's fine.. you can just roll to your "sweet spot" as they talk about in drills. But no one looks UP to breathe in freestyle that I've seen. I've tried it and it's certainly awkward. I watch plenty of good swimmers swim -- and they know nothing about TI to my knowledge -- and they simply do a quick turn of their head to breathe as they swim higher in the water. It doesn't look awkward and it doesn't affect their stroke. I wish I could swim like them. On backstroke, I notice people actually do crane their necks a bit to breathe. If I try the "water around your goggles" approach of TI, it works great in very calm water... but during a public swim, all the other people in the pool easily drown me unless I tuck my chin to keep my head up. Similarly, if I try any of the drills in a public pool, I basically drown unless I crane my neck. I get in the pool and say to myself, "okay, calm, relaxed, mindful swimming" and then I let the water settle around my goggles... only to have all the turbulance from passing swimmers wash over my face and mouth as I'm trying to 'calmly' breathe. I start struggling and then give up. Long story short: I started swimming just a few months ago and I put a lot of faith in TI because TI swimmers looked so graceful. But I've now discovered that what has really helped me progress is the 20 hours of private lessons I took (non-TI instructor). I've also found that while my form is good for a new swimmer -- I've been told as much by lifeguards and my instructors -- I can barely breathe unless it's calm water due to the low-in-the-water approach. I've also developed an irrational fear of kickboards which has made me ignore a lot of the non-TI drills that other swimmers have been suggesting -- including my girlfriend who is a former competitive swimmer and coach. I think I'll start listening to her more =)

So Donna, how do I make myself swim higher in the water and stay streamlined (i.e. legs not sinking)

I've read that Lenny Krayzelburg used to tilt his head back so that water was at the tips of his goggles and sometimes a thin film covered his goggles, this works much better for me, but I'm not sure if it's affecting my rotation ...

Everyone has a different point or fulcrum point on their body, determined by many things but the percentage of body fat and where that body fat is located are usual determining factors. So, how high you lift your head will depend upon how low or high you need to position your hips. There's a lot of ways to determine your fulcrum point but the best way (TI does this nicely) is to experiment on kicking with your hands to your sides and then one infront (alternating) then both infront, then both at your sides. You'll experiment by rasining and lowering your head until a "Sweet spot" is found or the efficient balancing of the body during swimming. There's other neat ways to test your "efficient spot" (my term) but I've got to get going (middle school swim meet). Bye and good luck, Coach T.