Bud:
About 25 years ago I saw these two twins that were swimming fly at the ISHOF pool. They were going to attempt to swim the English Channel all fly. They never made it but they set the World Record in the Ocean swimming 65.3 K/40.6 miles all fly. I have provided a link to a discussion about this last year.
forums.usms.org/showthread.php
www.penguinscanfly.ca/.../index.cfm
I like to think of it as a practice of Zen: while you are swimming you are meditating, there is no pain and you are one with the water...
Awesome. I'd like to get some of that.
Two years ago, I swam the 1000 fr as a fly event in the CO state SCY meet. This year Erica Leetmae swam the 1650 all fly in the same meet.
George Park will wade in with info about the Canadian woman who swam across Lake Erie or somewhere like that, all fly.
It can be done. I like to think of it as a practice of Zen: while you are swimming you are meditating, there is no pain and you are one with the water...
Tom and Meldyck
It all depends on what we call good form. I have really only seen good form when some one does a 50, 100 or 200. After that I see some very strange manipulations in the water that looks like fly. Some use butterfrog and call it butterfly.
A former teammate of mine, regularly swam fly in the 1650, with what looked to me like good form. (I have no idea what possesed her to do that :dunno: )
Just talking about *me*... currently I can swim fly with very good form for about 25 yards. I have not tried 50 yet because I am quite sure I would not make it the whole way with good form and I think there is not point to swimming it with bad form. I am doing one arm drills (3 strokes one arm, 3 strokes the other, 3 regular both arm strokes, etc) on the lengths beyond the first 25 and hope to soon be able to swim a 50 with strength and good form. In the past I swam the 100 and 200 fly and I think my form was good. I remember once doing a 1000 fly in workout and being the only one to finish it and I remember enjoying it. lol I had a very strong stomach back then. That was over 20 years ago!
I saw Mary T. Meagher swim the mile* fly at a meet at Belmont Plaza back in 1983. She was in a guys' heat and beat some of the guys doing freestyle. Her lap counter kept holding up 11's and 12's (her 100 splits) so she could break 18 minutes and win dinner from Mark Shubert.
My coach at the time told me there were few people in the world that could even attempt such a feat. It was pretty cool to watch.
*Actually it was the 1500 and not the 1650.
