Does drafting hurt the lead swimmer (draftee)?

Does the lead swimmer have to work harder or experience some other negative benefit? The lead swimmer works relatively harder. The person who is most hurt would be the drafter, since they are doing less work, and this has both mental and physical repercussions. Someone who drafts off 100% of the time has a very poor concept of how fast they are and never experiences how much energy it really takes to go that fast in a lead situation.

I personally think it takes more effort on behalf of the lead swimmer. Many others believe it does not effect the lead swimmer. I know that after getting dragged it was very easy for me to pull ahead of them when I made my move. At times I could stay with them by not even taking a stroke.

Question for you all. In practice, say there are several swimmers in a lane. What interval distance apart is best to reduce, if not eliminate, the drag effect? I would say 5 seconds is incorrect. What about 10? 15? Can it be eliminated in a pool where there are several swimmers in a lane? It assumes that all swimmers move at the same pace. I know if I am going second, I am trying to catch up to the person ahead of me. Not to be a PITA, or to get right on their feet but I think its a natural thing, in effect, racing the leader, trying to do the repeat in a quicker time than them. I would say by 15 seconds any effect of them having swum down the lane, especially with modern lane lines, should be gone. Assuming a decent swimmer in a SCY pool, they should be getting ready to flip around the time you are pushing off. Obviously not practical for more than 2 people in a lane unless you are doing 25s or 50s with alot of rest.

When I drafted off swimmers I was in very close to the draftee my head was at their shoulders. I seem to recall that Wennerberg had a funny anecdote about you WRT drafting in his book, "Wind Waves and Sunburn." -LBJ

Yes he did write about some of the stuff I said. We were in La Tuue Quebec. sitting in a group at The Pinion Rouge Resturant. What I was talking about was if a swimmer came up close to me I could draft off the swimmer who was behind me. Which of course was not true. I have told a few tall stories pn my day. One of my favorites about the sharks in the Saguenay River, Billy Barton can attest to this. I had seen a Baluga Whale in the Bai De HA HA but I changed it into a Great White Shark for Billy's benefit just before the Race from Chicotimi to Port Alfred.

Does the lead swimmer do more work? I would say no. The lead swimmer does the necessary work it takes to swim, for example, effort X. The drafter does X - Y, where Y in this case is a positive number, used to show that his/her effort is less than that of the lead swimmer. So it is the drafter who is doing less. Question for you all. In practice, say there are several swimmers in a lane. What interval distance apart is best to reduce, if not eliminate, the drag effect? I would say 5 seconds is incorrect. What about 10? 15? Can it be eliminated in a pool where there are several swimmers in a lane?

Question for you all. In practice, say there are several swimmers in a lane. What interval distance apart is best to reduce, if not eliminate, the drag effect? 5 sec should be sufficient in my opinion. Not to eliminate it completely but most of it. 10sec, no drafting effect remaining. The drafting effect is explained by a lowered delta of pressure between behind and in front of the swimmer (pressure in the front minus pressure behind = delta). The closer from the draftee, the more troubled the water is thus lowering the pressure. Less pressure in the front = lowered delta between front and behind. Now, picture a swimmer with a 10sec lead in front of you. Water will probably be still moving but not enough to significantly lower the level of pressure in front of you. When I really want to draft, I try to stay within a 2-3 sec gap.

Get 10 people going in circles, it will create a wild whirl pool. The water moves in the direction you are going. The faster you move the faster the water moves all of a sudden you are pushed by the water. It no longer drags you along it pushes you along.

5 sec should be sufficient in my opinion. Not to eliminate it completely but most of it. 10sec, no drafting effect remaining. Not a chance. If you're swimming 5 seconds behind someone, depending on the fluid dynamics of the person in front, you're likely getting a pretty huge drag. 10 seconds apart, especially in long course, you can still definitely feel the effect of the drag. It's really 15 seconds before the effect is gone. Swimming long course workouts, there has always been a big difference for me between swimming 1st or 2nd in the lane. In short course, 10 seconds is much more reasonable. But (at least in lanes that are in the 1:15 pace vicinity), you can only get 3 people into a SCY lane going 10 seconds apart. -Rick

www.jssm.org/.../v7n1-9pdf.pdf This article says that swimmers need to go between 6.5m and 9m apart if they want the trailing swimmer not to catch a measurable draft from the lead swimmer. For any pair of swimmers, the distance at which the trailing swimmer will no longer catch a draft from the lead swimmer depends on velocity and body shape, among other key variables. The article suggests that if the trailing swimmer wants to be sure s/he doesn't draft, s/he should go about 10m back. Most masters swimmers don't go 10m in 5 seconds, although lots can go 10m in 10 seconds at practice. Bottom line, in 5 sec, a 5-7m gap occurs. Right, which is why when I go last in a lane with our team's fastest swimmers, I can hold a 35s/50y pace comfortably if we go 5 seconds apart. At that pace, 5 seconds is about 7 yards, and I am catching a draft. It doesn't hurt in that situation, either, that everyone ahead of me is bigger than I am (and I am not a small woman). When I lead, or when I am the only one in my lane, that pace is much more challenging for me. My answer to the original question is: Drafting by a following swimmer does not physically hold the lead swimmer back.