I'm back at school now and it feels so much better swimming at my schools pool than at my local Y becasuse my school pool has a 13 feet deep end. the Y is shallow, its 3 feet on one end.
Deep water is so much better than shallow water.
How about discussing the turbulence and volume of water?
There is no stream of water following you into a wall to turn, just the turbulence created in the approach. If your streamline is nice and tight and you push off square to the wall, you will not notice very much past 3 feet from the wall where your (kicking) feet last were.
And quit being such babies about 3 feet of water in which to turn! In college, I regularly swam in park pools during Summer practice that were 24 inches or less deep at the wall in the shallow end. THAT was hard to turn on. But my fingernails were always nicely trimmed.
Deep water is faster? Probably. But consider this. In 1974, John Trembly set an American record of 20.066 for the 50 Freestyle in NCAA Championships held in Long Beach, California. The pool was 3.5 feet deep at the start end and less than 5 feet deep at the wooden bulkhead turn. it was 10 years before anyone went 19 seconds in any pool. Fast is fast in any location or condition.
Michael:
Yes back in the early 1970's there were a lot of Championship caliber meets held in facilities you describe. I believe the NCAA Championships of 1974 and 1978 held at Long Beach State might have been the last in those type of pools. Cleveland State University is a very deep pool in the diving section they use for Short Course Yard meets. I believe when they hosted the NCAA Championship meet in 1975, 1977, and 1979 everyone agreed that the pool helped swimmers with the fast times and American Records being set in almost every event.
Usually a deep pool like Cleveland State has superior gutter designs along with the depth resulting in minimal wave action and surface turbulence. In the older shallow pools of less that 5 feet, you will have choppy water because of the waves bouncing and usually those pools did not have the gutter system to dispose of the water at a fast rate creating a surface that will be slower for swimmers, affecting there progress rather than a nice calm deep pool of the same type that would not create these difficulties. This along with advancement of lane line technology in the 1970's made for faster pools. In many masters swim meets where swimmers are of different abilities, a swimmer will be fighting the backwash of the leading swimmers in a shallow pool. This is especially true when you see a 50 sprint and 7 seconds separating first and sixth.
When John Trembly went the 20.06 and set the American Record in 1974, he beat Joe Bottom who finished 2nd. Joe Bottom won this event the next 3 years and went :19.75 in 1977 at Cleveland State to set the American Record, so it was 3 years and not 10 years when someone would go 19 in any pool. Gary Schatz was the second in 1977 at a 19.95 and he was the second man to go under 19 seconds.
The significance of this swim is very equal to the record that Fred Bousquet swam in the 2005 NCAA Championships and went 18.74 for the NCAA and US Open Record. Both men broke the record by the exact margin of .31 (20.06 vs 19.75) and (19.05 vs 18.74) which is quite a large margin for a 50 Free. The one difference is that only one man went under the 19 time mark as opposted to two when the 20 time mark was broken. Duje Draganja went 19.01 just missing that.
How about discussing the turbulence and volume of water?
There is no stream of water following you into a wall to turn, just the turbulence created in the approach. If your streamline is nice and tight and you push off square to the wall, you will not notice very much past 3 feet from the wall where your (kicking) feet last were.
And quit being such babies about 3 feet of water in which to turn! In college, I regularly swam in park pools during Summer practice that were 24 inches or less deep at the wall in the shallow end. THAT was hard to turn on. But my fingernails were always nicely trimmed.
Deep water is faster? Probably. But consider this. In 1974, John Trembly set an American record of 20.066 for the 50 Freestyle in NCAA Championships held in Long Beach, California. The pool was 3.5 feet deep at the start end and less than 5 feet deep at the wooden bulkhead turn. it was 10 years before anyone went 19 seconds in any pool. Fast is fast in any location or condition.
Michael:
Yes back in the early 1970's there were a lot of Championship caliber meets held in facilities you describe. I believe the NCAA Championships of 1974 and 1978 held at Long Beach State might have been the last in those type of pools. Cleveland State University is a very deep pool in the diving section they use for Short Course Yard meets. I believe when they hosted the NCAA Championship meet in 1975, 1977, and 1979 everyone agreed that the pool helped swimmers with the fast times and American Records being set in almost every event.
Usually a deep pool like Cleveland State has superior gutter designs along with the depth resulting in minimal wave action and surface turbulence. In the older shallow pools of less that 5 feet, you will have choppy water because of the waves bouncing and usually those pools did not have the gutter system to dispose of the water at a fast rate creating a surface that will be slower for swimmers, affecting there progress rather than a nice calm deep pool of the same type that would not create these difficulties. This along with advancement of lane line technology in the 1970's made for faster pools. In many masters swim meets where swimmers are of different abilities, a swimmer will be fighting the backwash of the leading swimmers in a shallow pool. This is especially true when you see a 50 sprint and 7 seconds separating first and sixth.
When John Trembly went the 20.06 and set the American Record in 1974, he beat Joe Bottom who finished 2nd. Joe Bottom won this event the next 3 years and went :19.75 in 1977 at Cleveland State to set the American Record, so it was 3 years and not 10 years when someone would go 19 in any pool. Gary Schatz was the second in 1977 at a 19.95 and he was the second man to go under 19 seconds.
The significance of this swim is very equal to the record that Fred Bousquet swam in the 2005 NCAA Championships and went 18.74 for the NCAA and US Open Record. Both men broke the record by the exact margin of .31 (20.06 vs 19.75) and (19.05 vs 18.74) which is quite a large margin for a 50 Free. The one difference is that only one man went under the 19 time mark as opposted to two when the 20 time mark was broken. Duje Draganja went 19.01 just missing that.
