Is a swim cap a device that makes you swim faster?

i did a test on this a few years ago, and for a LCM 50m free, i was about a quarter second faster with a cap.

Never in practice, but in big meets - yes.

It definitely helps me swim faster, mainly because it keeps my hair out of my face so I can breath:) Agree... of course, I learned the hard way that it REALLY helps if the cap stays on! Recent open water swim: I expected to be slow, just wanted to swim the distance, get a baseline time for how I'm handling two miles these days. Well, slow would have been acceptable, instead of which due to a cap sliding off every several minutes, I had no real sense of how I'd have done without equipment interference, and my finish set a new standard of slow. :cane: (Well, at least it set a new standard of something....) The cap was issued by the race, but I don't blame them b/c caps they've given me in other races stayed on. The swim went partly against the current, partly with, and it seemed as if I had more of my trouble when swimming against the current. Note to self: do this swim with short hair next time--or request a cap with a chin strap, maybe one of those floral models. ;)

SF Bay Swimmers have lots of fun YouTube - South End Rowing Club (Merry-Go)Roundtrip Pier 39 swim 6-26-09 YouTube - SERC Golden Gate Swim 2009

LOL There are some SF Bay swimmers who use the flower caps to swim to Alcatraz and across the Golden Gate. The bubble strap caps work very well in open water either over or under a race cap. Several SF bay swimmers use these. as well as some Catalina Channel swimmers/English Channel swimmers. www.geocities.com/.../coldwatercaps.html www.geocities.com/.../scg.html