I saw this article about the Wahooo (yep, 3 ‘o’s) Swim Monitoring System:
news.yahoo.com/.../swimming-made-safer-with-this-headband-145633514.html
Swimmers wear a head band or a small device on their goggles or swim cap, and if the device is submerged for too long lifeguards are alerted. The guards also have a hand held device that they can take in the water to locate the submerged swimmer if it’s not clear water. It’s not supposed to replace lifeguards, just make mistakes less likely. Didn’t see anything about the cost.
Anyway, I think it’s a really great idea. I could see open water swims and triathlons using something like that. An OW swimmer could even use it to signal that they needed help by pulling off their goggles and holding them underwater.
(I have no connection to the product, btw.)
At some point the technology will get small, tough and cheap enough it'll happen. I just wonder where swimmers would put a "drowning detection" chip in a long triathlon or OW swim. If you flipped over and swam backstroke for a while the only place that would be guaranteed out of water consistently would be one half of the face (and that half could change). The goggle strap right by the eye maybe?
At some point the technology will get small, tough and cheap enough it'll happen. I just wonder where swimmers would put a "drowning detection" chip in a long triathlon or OW swim. If you flipped over and swam backstroke for a while the only place that would be guaranteed out of water consistently would be one half of the face (and that half could change). The goggle strap right by the eye maybe?
