Use Of Paddles & Flippers VS Tech Suits

These arguments are meaningless for D2. He just doesn't seem to understand the concept of 'enhancement' versus 'addition'. Better swim suits are an enhancement, flippers and/or paddles are additions. But additions in the sense of increasing the application of force, rather than reducing the effect of drag (swim caps) or reducing potentially harmful conditions (goggles).

I think more than anything it is a matter of simple principle, a suit is a necessity to make the sport decent, if you'd rather have olympic records set in the nude, I'm sure they have a league for that. Suits are intended to increase the hydrodynamic characteristics of your body's shape, cutting out sharp edges and such to reduce drag, effectively just altering your body's form. Flippers and Paddles are both extensions, they are not alterations of an existing area of the body (excluding calling them feet and hands), they are longer and wider than any human hand. If flippers and paddles were allowed for use in competition, the goal would be to have the largest peripherals, rather than the best form. The disparity between 'haves' and 'have-nots' in terms of suits would grow even further since most people would be unable to afford the cleancut compound that a fast flipper is made out of and thus, world records would shoot downward and the average swimmer would stay in place. If flippers were to be legalized, records would have to be marked with an asterisk to differentiate a fin run from a regular run as I'm sure the world record would fall by AT LEAST ten seconds. I also think that if fins were legalized many strokes would have to be altered, the 15 yard rule on the Backstroke would have to be removed because it would almost be impossible to NOT go past it even with a below average kick. What adding peripherals and tools would do to swimming would make it more about a strong kick than ever, Mr. Phelps would very much enjoy setting new records by utilizing a pair of fins intended to increase the force delivered by a single dolphin kick. I think the only stroke that would be largely unaffected would be the Breaststroke, aside from paddles tools are not much assistance in swimming. I understand the discrepancy here but it's simply unreasonable to compare a specialized suit to flippers and paddles. There is no way a suit will EVER deliver the same effects as a fin. Thanks, Bare. :)

Quote from Bareblar02 “Suits are intended to increase the hydrodynamic characteristics of your body's shape, cutting out sharp edges and such to reduce drag, effectively just altering your body's form. Flippers and Paddles are both extensions, they are not alterations of an existing area of the body (excluding calling them feet and hands), they are longer and wider than any human hand”. The above quote shows how the debate over paddles & flippers VS tech suits is an example of a “Making distinctions without differences” and "Slicing & dicing and bending the rules". If paddles and flippers are considered an addition to the swimmer’s body, then a tech suit is also an addition –just with a different function of reducing drag by altering and modifying the swimmer’s personal body form and also increasing bouyancy. This concept could (and already is) also being carried to its illogical extreme. In the process of "pushing the envelope" by allowing the use of suits with enhanced streamlining and bouyancy characteristics, there is the risk that world's records could be nullified or voided because of all the variables involved. As I’ve said until I’m blue in the face, if FINA would have never "twisted and contorted the rules like a pretzel" and allowed the use of previously prohibited “personally applied devices or substances”, this huge tornado of a debate would have never developed. :agree: Dolphin 2

Well, if we are going down this road, what about using science to help understand body position in the water? Changing our body positions in the water is probably a greater reduction in drag than the suits. Going from somewhat of an uphill position to a position that is more inline with the water is a huge drag reduction.