How Far Can You GLIDE?

There was an early (1904?) Olympic event called plunge for distance. It starts with a dive and the competitors go as far as possible until any part of the body breaks the surface of the water. We do this all the time at the beginning of pratice. I"ve done it for many years. Always the person with the greatest body mass will go the farthest. It is like a row boat and a super tanker going the same speed (i.e. at the outset of the entry) and seeing which vessel stops first. PFD is the highlight of the annual Cal alumni meet.

Interesting, what I did was like a plunge for distance from a push then coasted after surfacing till I ran out of pool Let's do a Tshirt PFD: It's a BFD OK I read the Plunge for Distance rules, Let's include Plunge for distance in this thread too Let's mark our plunge distance from the starting area to the furthest point we reach, when we either: 1) touch the bottom, or 2) break the surface, or 3) stop, or 4) 1 minute goes by or 5) when you move your hands or feet for starts: plungers can dive in when they choose, the clock starts when their feet leave the block they don't have to do a "take your mark" racing start (as I side note: I'd love to have a 25 or 50 "from a running start" sprint event electronic timing on both sides. we could contest freestyle & underwater / SDK, give swimmers a 75 foot non slip takeoff runway, an 8 foot x 4 foot wide take off zone, & a take off block that's 18 inches above the water. What fun! Probably need to have no flags at the starting end for the great runner jumpers) Look forward to seeing how far I get in my PFD attempts, Yep big people, breastrokers, & good jumpers are likely to have an advantage. This thread can include PUSH for Distance and Plunge for Distance. Like the Cal alums, we call it PFD. We do it all kinds of ways as long as everyone is doing it the same way. E.g., we do it off blocks, with proper racing dive form, with a big arm swing, from the side, with a running start, etc. It's just a fun way to get in the water at the beginning of practice. I totally agree that superior form will allow a smaller person to sometimes beat a larger person. However, all things being equal, big people rule. And breaststrokers do particularly well. Our local champ is Big Wave Dave Gray: 6'4" and 250 lbs. who has held masters *** stroke records. Breath control is also tricky. You have to start letting air out or you'll surface too quickly. In my pool avoiding the pool bottom at the trasition from the diving area is critical. BTW, I can only go around 50' before I either sink to the bottom (too much air let out) or break the surface.

how long was that diving well? I can push off about 2ft under water and glide the 12.5m diving well at my pool no problem. I might try to get someone to film my attempt in a 25m to see if I can go further. I might even try to start a little deeper.

(as I side note: I'd love to have a 25 or 50 sprint from a running start event, with electronic timing on both sides. Both for freestyle & underwater / SDK, give swimmers a 75 foot non slip runway & a take off block that's 18 inches to 2 feet above the water. What fun!) Side note to your note, We used to do exactly this to practice turns. Run down the side of the pool and dive in at about the 15y mark at full running speed. You glide for about 2 yards, take 1 or 2 strokes and try to flip turn fast. Really helps to get used to turning at speeds faster than you can swim, especially at taper time when you're going to go faster than you have all year. Running divestart turns make a 50 turn feel like slow motion. :)

14 yd for the push off for distance today.I think I could have gone further if I had gone deeper.I won't try it again until after Nats,but then I'll be shaved too.A drill I recommend is the BR pullout for distance,either from a dive or a pushoff.I can't quite make 25 yd from a dive yet,but I am nearly there(ran out of air at 73.5 ft today.)This is an especially good drill for people who aren't good BR swimmers as the further you glide the less you have to swim.

I took 3 tries during my cool down this morning. 1st Attempt - Drag Suit, No Cap, push off at 8 feet - distance 12 yards with about a yard on the surface. 2nd Attempt - Drag Suit, Cap, push off at 8 feet - distance 10 yards 3rd Attempt - Drag Suit, Cap, push off at 8 feet, jumped in from deck before push off - distance 10 yards What I learned is that angle matters. My first attempt, I didn't push off very close to the bottom. As a result, I was able to stay flatter while I had speed from the push off and then gradually increase my ascent angle. On the last two attempts, I tried to stay closer to the bottom. As the pool floor rose, I was forced to change my angle with it and ended up rising far too quickly. Will experiment more tomorrow.

for people who aren't good BR swimmers as the further you glide (off the walls) the less you have to swim. You've told everyone my secret on how I swim my breaststroke. My strength is in my pulldowns, the kick almost makes me go backwards. :)

"Big Wave Dave Gray" Is that Dave Gray who swam for UC Santa Barbara back in the sixties? No, this Dave Gray is in his early 50's. I do know the Dave Gray you mentioned. He was a great masters swimmer in the 80's. I don't know if he's still competing.

1st Attempt - Drag Suit, No Cap, push off at 8 feet - distance 12 yards with about a yard on the surface. Don't give up so quickly. I've seen people do this, surface about halfway down the pool, and still make the entire 25 yards. They are NOT moving fast, but they are moving. Just keep that streamlined position on the surface and remain motionless.

I intentionally designed the streamline gliding rules to not have a depth limit because I want swimmers to learn how to use their float factor. I described this in SFF Tip 239 The Suit Surge If you float & properly angle your body, you'll gain some speed as you rise up. Before I jumped in I breathed in a big breath then held it the whole way. It'd be worthwhile to put a limit on how deep the pushoff can occur. It seems like one could gain some forward momentum simply from floating upwards at an angle... kinda like when you hold a kickboard at an angle underwater and let it go... it jets forward. Otherwise this seems like this could be skewed a tiny bit based on pool depth :)